Mexico weekly ledger., 1879-02-13
EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
Unwise Economy i'm the Pay OF
Teachers.

Economy, that is, frugality in ex-
penditure, the intelligent avoidance
of all waste and extravaganza, the
application of our resources to the
best possible advantage, will ever be
ranked as a cardinal virtue. The
practice of it is a ure token of civili-
cation. The ignorant savage is i'm
prudent, extravagant, wasteful, inor-
dinately gratifying the desires of the
present moment without any thought
or care for the future. The civilized
man, on the contrary is thrifty, frugal,
saving, provident, wisely fo~recasting
the future, and arming himself against
its possible emergencies. Economy
lays the foundations of princely for
tunes. 1t converts grinding poverty
into a reasonable competence, and q
reasonable competence into a golden
affiuence. 1t is the nurse of patriot
ism. Frugal and economical people
have been universally patriotic. The
economical Scotch, the frugal peasan-
try of France, and the thrifty German,
are instructive examples of the union
of economy and patriotism. Eoono-
my is the mother of ~liberality, for, if
a man saves nothing, he can give
nothing. Men of economical habits
build churches, found hospitals, en-
dow colleges, educate the ignorant,
relieve the distressed spread light and
joy and blessing all around them.
The largest benetactions of this GEN.
tury have been made by industrious,
frugal, and economical men.
But there is an unwise economy.
1t is unwise economy in a carpenter
tn have a box of poor, dull, worn-out
tools. rather than spend money to
possess the newest, sharpest, and best
tools. For, with the improved tools,
he could do more and better work in
a shorter time, with less labor, and
at a higher price. He could make
money by spending money. The
lawyers with the largest and costliest
libraries have the most and best cases
We always employ the surgeon who
the best instruments. 1t pays
a doctor TO possess delicate surgical
Instruments ; he is sure to have alarge
and paying pratice. The preacher
who will not buy new books and read
current literature, must live on a short
allowance, and preach to small and
congregations. ''There is that
scattereth, and yet i~ncreaseth; and
there is that withholdeth more than
is meet, but it tendeth to poverty"
In these hard times the gospel of
economy is being preached from all
pulpits, by all lecturers, in all news
papers. The people are told they
must e~conomize, but they + not al
ways wisely told where to begin their
economy. The people of West Vir-
ginia are attempting to live more
economically by reducing the pay
of their intellectual and moral teach
All owe the State the salaries
of clergymen have been reduced with
in the last year or two, and there is
now a determined and persistent eff
fort Successful in many places), to
reduce the already meagre allowance
given 70 the teachers in our public
schools. At the same time il would
be difficult, if not impossible, to show
that the people c. this State drink
less whisky, wine, and beer, smoke
fewer cigars, chew less tobacco, eat
palmer food. or dress less expensive
ly than they did during the prosper
Gus years preceding the panic of
1873. Are our tables less bountiful-
ly spread than they were five years
ago? Are fewer cigars and less to-
bacco manufactured and sold? Is
the number of drinking places de-
creasing? Do our women exhibit
any signs of economy in their foolish
and extravagant modes of dressing!
We l. beginning to economize, but
where? In what we eat? No. In
what we wear? No. In what we
drink? No. In what ministers to the
body, its appetites, its ease, and
luxury, and all its qualifications? No.
W. are beginning to cconomize by
lessening the number of journals and
books we read and the number of
pictures we buy, by building less con-
venient and commodious school.
houses, by so reducing the salaries
of teachers as to drive the best mem
bers OF the profession froT he State,
and by SO diminishing the support of
the ministers of morals and relig-
ion as to turn aside from the calling
the most gifted and promising young
men. We feast the body and starve
the soul. VIZ crafty the palate and
dwarf and cramp the intellect. We
clothc ourselves and our sons and
daughters in costly and gaudy ap-
parel, and provide no garments. OF
beauty for the peerless souls within
us. AS much money as ever for the
body, less than ever for the intellect,
the conscience, the spirit.
Is not this unwise economy? Has
West Virginia too many schools? Are
her schools of too high a character!
Are her sons and daughters too liber-
ally educated? West Virginia needs
more and better schools, more highly
accomplished and more literally paid
teachers, larger, cleaner, and better
furnished school-houses, more money
and time and culture for the head
and heart, less for appetite, passion,
ignorance, pride, and all the evils
that follow in their wake. More pay
for the school-teacher, less for the
b~ar-keeper more food for the mind,
less glattony for the body; the en-.
slavement of appetite, the emancipa-
ton of intellect; the subsection Of
passion, the enforcement of con.
science; less costly food for the
stomach, more and better ailment fol
the divine minds God has given us
this is the economy for which West
Virginia has instant and supreme
need.
This article cannot be better closed
than by the following extract from
some remarks of William EllerN
Claiming on education, offered more
than fifty years ago:
''There is no Office higher than tina.
of a teacher of youth, for there i.
nothing on earth SO precious as tn,
mind eauI md oIouo Az