Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-07-31
From the Winnsboro News.
COLONEL COWARD AS SUPERINTENDENT

week replies at some length to our recent
editorial comments upon the structures OF
the Temperance .Horker on Colonel Coward.
Among other things our contemporary says
We will be very much obliged to the Winns-
boro Ne,Us and Herald if it will explain to the
public how any school teacher can comply with
these the very first requirements of the law pre-
scribing the duties of State Superintendent OF
Education.
Colonel Coward may have spent few, days in
the wear attending the semi-annual meetings OF
the Boaad of Examiners, but he certainly neg
lected his official duty to "visit every county in
the State" How could he faithfully discharge
the duties of the office of Superintendent of Ed
ucation while teaching school nine months OF
the year?
Tie most conspicuous act of his official career
was that of his famous journey to Washington
to testify before the Congressional Educational
Committee, where he proved concluslVely, to
our mind at least, that his knowledge of the
public schools and the school system of South
Carolina was unequal to the task of furnishing
the desired information.
Will somebody explain by what right the EX-
ecutive Committee contracted with public Off
Ger to excuse him from the duties off office for
nine months of the year-the very nine months
in which nearly all the work of his office should
be done?
By the denomination Of that officer, did not
Executive Committee by which the services OF
one of the most important officers of the State
were lost for nine months in the year?
Our article some weeks ago upon this
subject contained these points: Q That
there had been up to that time no COM
plant against Colonel Coward in the dis
charge of his official duty; (2) That we were
in the position to Judge Of his work in our
county, and that the educational interests OF
the State had gone forward, not backward,
as asserted by the Worker (0 That he has
l,,f; III wi
them above) as we'll and as faithfully as did
Governor Thompson. The official record of
Colonel CoWard's work will compare favor
ably with that of Governor Thompson, and
this is saying good deal.
We are now prepared to defend the posi-
tion we then took, and nothing found in the
criticism of our contemporary proves the
contrary to be true. 1t is true perhaps as
claimed elsewhere in the article under re-
view, "that the superintendent has not dur
ing his official career, visited any county
along the line of the Columbia & Greenville
Railroad, although we scarcely think his
official report would establish so much.'
But why all this hue and cry against Colo
mel Coward, and why this demand for his
declination of the trust again committed to
his Democratic predecessor in office?
Is the present Superintendent to be judged
by a more rigorous code of public ethics
than others who have occupied the same
important position? We think not. Yet
we venture the assertion that Colonel Cow
ard has done his work as faithfully and has
visited as many counties as Gov. Thompson
did, and the latter was generally regarded
as an admirable Superintendent, and upon
his record in that Office he was elevated to
the chief magistracy of the State. Colonel
COward's official report is not yet out, or at
least we haven't it at hand for reference, but
in this connection it would not be out OF
place to let the public know just how many
official visits Governor Thompson made to
the different counties during his terms of
office. In his official report for 1861 we
find that he visited officially se0en counties
lS77-7S he visited ten counties !; in 1S7S-79,
nineteen =; in his report for 1S79-S0 no official
visits are mentioned at all, and we have no
official proof that he visited any counties
during that time in 1SS1-S2 he visited but
eight counties. Now, in the light of these
facts, let our complaining brethren of the
press await information as to what the pres
ent Superintendent has done. If he has
done as we'll, and we believe he has, it is
but Just and proper that if the Well-done is
to be awarded the one, equal credit should
be given the other.
Now that we have heard from the editors,
what will the teachers and school officials
have tosay in the premises? In spite Of all
that has been said, has the proposition we
controverted in the outset been established,
to wit: That the public schools have gone
backwards under Colonel Cowards Super
intendency? We think not. We have re-
piled to everything in the article of our con-
temporary we esteem pertinent to the issue,
and until the question propounded above be
answered, we Shall remain silent for sea-