The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-12-09

OuI tApehaltuIeS WILL thosG WI any otHSt
State will, l am sure. fully Justify Ibis
assertion While looking, then, with
continued care to the exercise of this
cardinal virtue OF economy in the admin.
istration of oIir affairs, especial attention
should be paid to maintaining the credit
of the State, now at a point of ex.
celIencc never before reached in the his
tory Of her finances. II this credit is
fully sustained the opportunity vii! soon
be presented, by the early maturity of
our securities, Of rcfuuding them at a
much reduced rate of interest, and thus
relieving the taxpayers, by q single trans
action, of ai annual burden Of perhaps
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
This surely will prove measure Of econ
omy that would be sensibly felt as
relief to every industry and occupation,
and should enlist, therefore, for its ac-
complishment, tho active sympathies and
co operation of ALL 4 practical test Of
tho feasibility of this project must soon
bo mads in the case Of cur deficiency
bonds and stocks, which mature as early
as July, 1883, for The refunding of which
timely provision, will bave, of necessity,
to be made.
But however rigid the ideas entertained
upon this subject, bowever great the
apparent necessity for retrenchment and
reform, there is ono direction in which
they cannot be exercised without sitting
the young life of the people and snap.
ping the very sources oil our material and
intellectual strength. allude 10 Our
public schools and the system of colleges
we call the University. The one is the
essential complement of the other, and
neither can accomplish the full measure
of its usefulness without its necessary
coadjutor in the grand work Of education.
In the common schools are to be laid the
broad foundations, and in the institutions
of higher learning are to be reared the
beautiful and lofty structures, of intel
lectual development, that render a people
prosperous, happy, great and respected
among the nations of the earth. Ap.
pIause. Such institutions are not like
mushrooms-the growth of night.
They require long years of patient sacri.
fee, of patriotic effort, of liberal and
unstinted support, to attain their full
statue and grand proportions, where
their pinnacles, reaching to the sky, will
shed beam of transcendent brightness
over the land, vivifying every industry,
and warming into active life every dor
mant energy.
In the matter of education we cannot
afford to contract. Tho true policy
should be to broaden, to deepeo and to
widen, as the resources of the Stale per-
nit, until the last vestige of mentaa
darkness is swept from our borders, anci
every r!.ild in the State shall become the
recipient of the berignant influences OF
Thorough instruction. The accomplish
ment Of this great work, with us, car
only be gradual, for none but the will
fully blind can fail to see ard feel the
prevailing embarrassment, 50 widespread
and universal. But, at least, 10 step
backward should be taken. The march
must be ever onward, with the steady
determination not to be outstripped in
the race by our sister States of the Union,
who are bending every energy TO the
most complete and perfect development
of their educational systems.
South Carolina, among if not the first
to establish system of free schools, i'm
perfect though it WAS, has the added III
centive of noble ambition to maintain
her ancient proud position among the
most advanced and progressive OF the
States. Nor will the fruits OF such
liberal policy be either meagrc or desti-
tute OF certain and abundant compen-
salion. How richly has she in the past
reapcd the reward of her liberaiity to her
institutions OF learning? Need | tell of
the illustrious names that have illumed
her annals both in peace and IN war?
Or how her sons, trained in these institu-
tions and imbued in every hbre Of their
being with Caroiaa sentiment ard Car
olinn devotion to princi pie, have carried
her Aag often to victory, but always to
glory, and have won for her reputation
for loyalty, learning and eloquence not
bounded by continents Or oceans? How
the heart thrills with emotions of the
lof,iest State pride rs We read of-the men
who were indeed giants in those days,
the acknowledged peers Of the greatest
ard best in the land. Not to mention q
hundred others almost equally famous, |
have no hesitation in asserting that the
production of two such men az McDufie
and Thornwell, both poor boys, would
fully compensate for every dollar expsrd-
ed in the maintenance OF tbs institution
which nurtured them. The South Curo
lima College aud the State Military
Academy, as the capstones to perfected
system of common schools, and aided by
other institutions of similar character,
will most assuredly prove, in the not
distant future, the unfailing source of
prosperity, happiness and advancement
in all that oleyatcs and ennobles. From
their gates will issue sn annual stream Of
cultured Carolina youth, with hearts
filled with grateful love of country,
whose genial and refreshing influence
will pcrneale aud spread through every
nook and corner of this fair and boauti-
ful Stale, and will, like running waters
in desert land, cause to spring up every
whore new life, vigor and wealth.
But there is another direction in which
We NUT lcok with thoughtful care, If
the interests of the people are to be pro.
teclcd against 5urdensome and unequal
taxation, AM! arc to be relieved from the
unnecessary and unjust impositions ''at
are crushing them to the earth. With
two separate and entirely distinct centres
of power in our most happily conceived
form of government, there is constant
necessity that neither, i'll the exercise of
its fuHclions, should ever escape the vigl-
Ian. watcLfulness OF the citi2sn. The
lnnmentous events Of our recent past
tcelning with the clash Of armies, politi-
cal conYulsions ard mighty problems yet
unso.ed, have contracted our range of
vision, and bounded our interest almost
wholly within the limits Of State lines.
This should no longer be the case, when
as now, the overpowering cause OF press.
ure has nearly ceased to exist, or, at
least, its incentive. Tire time has, then,
surely arrived when our attention should
be directed with careful scrutiny to the
operations Of that central government in
our duplex system which is 50 far removed
from popular observation us to give it
comparative exemption from responsible.
itv. In its remorseiess absorption of
legitimate State functions, in the cruel
exercise of its dangerous powers OF taxa
ton, all the more dangerous from their
iusidnus nature and manner OF opera
tons, there is well founded cause ,or