Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-04-11
SCHOOLS IN GEORGIA.
MR.. ORR ON THE WORK OF A DE.
CADE.
derful RecuperaSIon The Needs
of the State Clearly Presented.

OF tMe State clearly presented
WASHINGTON, April 9-There have been
printed 10 pamphlet form. by Congress, the
notes Of the Treasury before the Committees
on Education and Labor of the two Houses of
Congress. quote in full the remarks of G. ].
Orr, State Superintendent of Education for
Georgia
Mr.. Orr-Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of
the committee. the duty assigned me on this
occasion is a very simple one. have been Ia
boring in this work in my State for the last ten
wears. l have been the representative OF the
Department of Education since 1872. do not
| pronose to detain the committee by any length
ened remarks. propose to give YOU. gentle
men. some plain facts showing our condition,
showing our necessities, showing the temper
and spirit of our people. and feel that when |
do this. when put before you the condition or
the State of Georgia. shall have given you
type Of what prevails throughout the entire
South.
In the year 1860, when one of the honored
Senators from my State, now present was our
| chief executive, the tax returns. according to
| the documents in the office of the Comptroller
| General summed up S672OOO,OOO. After en-
| tered the Office which now have the honor of
filling went to the files of that Office for the
| purpose OF trying to ascertain the aggregate
value of property at the first return made
after the war I found it to be $170, 100000.
| The property of the State was thus reduced
| $780, 90 900 in value This made great change
| in the condition of the State, as you NAV well
| know; but this does not represent fully the
change. 1t lacks great deal of it. will put
| before you, gentlemen. a few other considera-
| tions which will show more fully the great
change which was wrought. Everything that
| we had accumulated during the four years OF
| the unhappy struggle in which we engaged
was invested in Confederate securities, and
was held in the shape either of bonds or of
Confederate currency. Thus what re-
| after the devastation of your army and the
| support rendered ours, was blotted out in one
| hour. Hundreds, thousands, and tens of thou
sands Of the best men in the State OF Georgia
were thus left in a condition in which, under
| the old postal laws of the United States, when
postage was paid at the place of delivery, they
| could not have taken letter from the post
office. You will very readily understand, then,
how we were situated as to our capacity to
commence life again.
Not only this, but the whole labor system of
the country was thrown into disorganizatjon
The agriculturists had means of going to
work agaio, and we are an agricultural people.
as you we'll know. They had no capital to be-
gin with. They had to borrow. They had to
give lien upon the products of the soil in
order to enable them to pay the debts, and
those who held the capital exacted exorbltant
interest. Our farmers and agricuturists have
been paying from 80 to 100 per cent for ad-
vances. Having their noses thus put to the
erindstone they have been kept there up to
the present time, for every intelligent man
knows very well that farming cannot be con-
Quoted successfully when the capital used in it
costs such a per cent The lack Of resources
and the utterly disorganized condition of the
labor OF the country put us in very helpless
condition.
Let me glance for a few moments at certain
other facts. We had in the State of Georgia
two kinds of citizens, those who had always
been citizens, and number of persons, very
nearly equal who had been made citizens as
the result of the war. The last school emu
meration, which was taken four years ago;
showed that we had 19S 900 colored school
children in the State. The entire school popu-
laton is 433, ,444 The difference will show You
how many are colored-nearly half, you will
see.
Let me say O few words about the cOlored
paople, They were made free without re-
sources. They had no capital: they had no
habits that would lead men when thrown upon
their own resources to accumulate capital.
They have been gathering capital gradually
until am very glad to report that the last re-
turn of the property OF the State showed that
there were in the hands of the colored people
Of that State some 600 worth of prop
erty. think the colored people of my State
have done noblv; say it here to their credit.
Fut the point l am now making is the i'm
mense burden which was put upon us. do
not give you an idea of that burden by telling
you the number of persons who were suddenly
made free without resources. That does not
give you an idea at all.
There is no means of getting at the number
exactly but think at least one-h half of the
utterly wrecked, ruined financially by the
results of the unfortunate struggle
in which we had engaged. For one, / want
TO see the last remains of that struggle
buried forever so deep that the hand of resur-
Tection will never bring them up again. l
think it becomes us of this generation to begin
to think about living for the future, to forget
the past We have great country, and here
we must dwell; our people want to dwell with
you in unity and harmony. I know what
say; have visited in the course of the admin
istration OF my office almost every county in
the State Of Georgia 1 have made two hun
dred addresses to the people. have stated to |
you the difficulties now. know the condition;
l know the spirit of the people, their present |
sentiment know it from mingling with them |
in their cottages and in their cabins, for Rave |
visited the colored man as well the white |
man. have mingled with all. 1 know their |
feelings.
want to ssy to you, gentlemen, that in the |
State of Georgia, under my administration of |
ten years, the entire loss Of school fund will |
not foot up more than about S. 600. In an |
administration covering ten years there has |
not been a single dollar misapplied with |
that exception that l know of. We try |
to make. it do the greatest possible
with the greatest economy. We admit to
our schools all who want to enter them. We |
commenced in 1871 with a school attendance |
Of 4S,OOO We have gone gradually upward /
My brethren here will excuse me for using the |
same illustration which did before the asso-
citation when in session. One of the fathers,
a man contributed to us by New England, one
of our most honored men in the early history
of that State-I allude to Abraham Baldwin
in speaking once of central power, illustrated |
it by that. wonderful power known as the |
screw. He stated that at every revolution it
gained little, and 1t held all 1t gained quote
his illustration not making the same applica-
tiOn of it; make q very different one. We
have gained at every revolution a little in
Georgia. and we retain all that we gain We
are moving steadily forward We commenced
with an attendance of 48 900 the first year. The
second year we had 5000, the next year
10000. the next year $4,000. shall not fol-
low the statistics along. Year before last (my
years work has not been footed up as the re-
turns are not all in,) we went up to school at
tendance of 236 0C0. We have never failed to
gain as much as 1900 in any year. We have
gone over that in attendance every yer, and
the colored people have proceeded part
DGsSu with the whites in their attendance |
They commenced with 5000 and went up ac-
cording to the last return, to $1,000 col
ored children In our schools. There is
no discrimination made; no man can
afford to do 1t in an office in my State So /
strong is the school sentiment in favor OF the
administration of exact and equal Justice that
to do the very best we can with our limited
means
have read good deal on the subject OF the /
school history of this country, and Of the diff |
ferent States In addition to that, Ihave been
giving my attention to this great subject of the
years. have been reading whatever fell into
my hands, and you will excuse me when say
that considering the circumstances in which we
we're placed, the great disadvantages under
which we labored, the immense difficulties |
which we had to contend with-considering |
all these things, and considering the work
achieved, do not believe the equal of it has |
been done in any State Of this Union, in any
time during the past. II it has, it is not within
my knowledge. We have wrought a marvel