The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-04-26
Common Schools.

fhc Aiken JouynaI and Reriew has
cvinccd great interest in the cause of
public edncation, and during, the past
few months has obtained the views of
q number Of leading men on the sub
jcct, besides itself expressing its own
ideas IN full. We are much pleased to
SEQ the interest taken in this matter,
and hail i. ms an evidence that public
instruction is taking firm hold upon
tho people.
Tho Abbcvillc Press and Banner
opposes public instruction upon the
ground that it tends TO communism.
public school system than in any other
system which employs cooperative
methods, or tends to the aggregation
of individual efforts under OF central
supervision. If communism means
the education Of the masses the public
school system is communistic, not
otherwise. Indeed, communism has
reached most dreadful proportions in
France, where illiteracy is greatest.
The socialists of Germany and the
nihilists Of Russia are chiefly recruited
from the mammoth universities of
those nations, so that, If education
makes communism, its effects arc not
confined to public schools. If the
idea be that all imperfect education
leads to communion, the objectors
must remember that the schools III
South Carolina have not yet begun to
reNch their goal, and that as they i'm
prove, education will become more
thorough.
Our purpose in this article, however,
is not to defend common schools from
such attacks; but, taking for granted
that they are beneficial, to inquire how
they may be improved. This leads to
the simple question Of raising money,
and here the Jou7Wal AID Reriew and
Che Press and Banner arc at direct
issuc-thc former advocating q. State
]eSS "s G>%:" 'D;oth oppose local taxa
tion, and IN this. in our opinion, both
are wrong.
The first scheme is impracticable.
Tho Legislature is too desperately
afraid Of increasing the levy, to double
the school tax, and the time has not
yet como when the ory Of the people
for intellectual bread will overcome
this timidity. BY opposing local taxa
ton the Journal and Revie,v uncon-
Sciously gives aid to the enemies of
the system, who feel that this is the
surest means; of increasing school
revenues. We say this in the kindest
spirit, for our Aiken contemporary has
defined its position very clearly as an
advocate of public schools.
The Press and Banner opposes local
taxation because it does not believe in
the system, and wishes no more money
expended in that direction. We have
answered its argument before. Under
contributory system the children Of
ahe poor are lebarred from their share
of the public fund, or else arc COM
PEELED to incur obligations they cannot
fulfill. Absolutely free tuition gives
equal facilities for practical educa-
tion Of the child of the millionaire and
the paupcr alike, and nndcr it any one
OF ability can rise to better things. A
glance at the Congressional Directory
wa4i sllow what Northern free schools
have done for men Of national rcputn-
tlon, many of whom mover darkencd a
college door.
Another argument Of the Press and
6"nncr is that a local tax law opens
Inc door wide to Wholesale pillage Of
the taxpayers; and it instances local
levy OF five mills in Abbcvillc during
the hadical 7cgimc. 1t cnngratulatcs
COLUMBIA upon refusing to vote tax
1or the ail"rcmcnt Of "pauper immi-
sration,' or from setting q precedent
ny which "paupcrs" may make whole
sale raids upon property in tho guiso
Ola local tax. a single glance at the
Act making Columbia a school dis
trict, would have prevented this re-
marx on the part Of our contcnlpora-
ry. The vote is so carefully guarded
That panpcrs have nothing to say in
the matter. The discretion is left
solely to property owners, and there
never can bc local levy of five mills
under This law. These arc facts. Now
rs to paupers. Every factory town in
the North has its schools. Our own
factories have theirs. The children
of operatives are not paupcrs. Co.
Iumbia yearns for factories. Sho win
not got them until her property own
c"s will 60 down into their pockets to
establish schools for these children.
Neither will sturdy immigrants, not
ponpcrs, come to Columbia, which
offers no educational facilities, when
by stopping in any part of the North
they find abundant work for them
ae!Tea and admirable educational "a.