Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-12-08

condition Of almost absolute decay and
death. We should not forget to scan close
ly the expenditures of government, and
restrict them within the limits of wise
and liberal economy. This is but simple
justice to the taxpayer, who, however
cheerfully and omplainingly he may
pay his quota of tribute, should not be
subjected to greater burdens than the ne
cessities of government imperatively de-
mand. But it should also be remembered
that the smallestand feWest appropriations
are not always the wisest economy. Gov
ernment is business, and like any other
business, requires for its successful conduct
the use of money-such, for instance, as for
the adequate compensation of officials, the
proper maintenance of charitable and Pc
nal institutions, the prompt payment of
all public obligations, the liberal support
of common schools and higher institutions
of learning, the necessary expenses of leg
islation itself, and the numerous other in
cidenta purposes that foot up no incon-
siderable amount. We have already
achieved much in the way of economy,
having reduced expenditures to point
that places the government of this State
among the cheapest, if not the very cheap
est, of the States in the Union. A COM
parison of our expenditures with those of
any other State will, am sure, fully JUS
tify this assertion.
While looking, then, with continued care
to the exercise of this cardinal virtue of
economy in the administration of our af-
fairs, especial attention should be paid to
maintaining the credit of the State, now
at point of excellence never before
reached in the history of her finances. If
hic orofif ic ft,1I1, ct,sfo ipn1 tho nrnnrfr-
nifty will soon be presented, by the early
maturity of our securities, of refunding
them at much reduced rate of interest,
and thus relieving the taxpayers, by a
single transaction, of an annual burden of
perhaps one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. This surely would prove meas
ure of economy that would be sensibly felt
as a relief to every industry and occupa-
tion, and should enlist, therefore, for its
accomplishment the active sympathies
and cooperation of all. A practical test
of the feasibility of this project must soon
be made to the case of our deficiency bonds
and stocks, which mature as early as July,
1888, for the refunding of which timely
provision will have, of necessity, to be
made.
But however rigid the ideas entertained
upon this subject, however great the, ap-
parent necessity for retrenchment and re-
form, there is one direction in which they
cannot he exercised without sitting the
young life of the people and sapping the
very sources of our material and intel.
lectual strength. / allude to 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 it's useful
ness without it's necessary coadjutor in the
grand work of education. In the COM
mon schools are to he laid the broad foun-
datiOns and in the institutions of learning
are to he reared the beautiful and lofty
structures of intellectual development
that render people prosperous, happy,
great and respected among the nations OF
| the earth. Such institutions are not like
mushrooms, the growth of a night. They
require long years of patient sacrifice, OF
unceasing patriotic effort, of liberal and
! unstinted support to attain their full
stature and grand proportions, when their
pinnacles, reaching to the sky, will shed
a beam of transcendent brightness over
the land, vivifying industry and warm
ing into active life every dormant energy.
In the matter of education we cannot
afford to contract. The true policy should
be to broaden, to deepen and to widen
as the resources of the State permit, until
the last vestige of mental darkness il
swept from our borders and every child
in the State shall become the recipient O
the benignant influences of thorough in.
struction. The accomplishment of this
great work with us can only be gradual
for none but the wilfully blind can fai
to see and feel the prevailing embarrass'
ment 50 widespread and universal. But
at least, no step backward should be taken
| The march must be ever onward, with
steady determination not to be out.
stripped in the race by our sister States
of the Union, who are bending every en-.
ergy to the most complete and perfect de.
velopment 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 in.
rentive of q noble ambition to MAINTAIN
her ancient proud position among the
most advanced and progressive OF the
States. Nor will the fruits of such lib.
eral policy be either meager or destitute
of a certain and abundant compensation.
How richly has she, in the past, reaped
the reward of her liberality to her insti.
tutions of learning? Need l tell of the
illustriOus names that have illuminated
her annals, both in peace and in war? OF
her sons, trained in these institutions and
'mbued in every fibre of their being with
Carolina sentiment and Carolina devo-
tion to principle, have carried her flag Of
ten to victory, but always to glory, and
have won for her reputation for loyalty
and eloquence not bounded by continents
or oceans? How the heart thrills with
emotions of loftiest State pride as we read
of the men who were indeed giants in
those days, the acknowledged peers OF
the greatest and best in the land. Not to
mention hundred others who were al
most equally famous, have no hesitation
in asserting that the production of two
such men as McDuffie and ThOrnwell,
both poor boys, would fully compensate
for every dollar expended in the mainten-
ance of the institution which nurtured
them. The South Carolina College and
the State Military Academy, as the cap
stone to a perfected system of common
schools, and aided by other institutions OF
similar character, will most assuredly
prove, in the not distant future, the un-
failing soure of prosperity, happiness and
advancement in all that elevates and
ennobles. From their gates will issue an
annual stream of cultured Carolina youth,
with hearts filled with grateful love of
country, whose genial and refreshing in
fluence will permeate and spread though
every nook and corner of this fair and
beautiful State, and will, like running
waters in desert land, cause to spring
up everywhere new life, vigor and wealth.
But there is another direction in which
we must look with thoughtful care if the
interests of the people are to be protected
against burdensome and unequal taxation
and are to be relieved from the unnecessa-
ry and unjust impositions that are crush
ing them to the earth. With two separate
and entirely distinct centres of power in
one most happily conceived form of gov
ernment, there is constant necessity that
neither, in the exercise of its functions,
A. ;1o,, fol, ,,1