The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-19


! done their utmost for their poor and Ignorant
| neighbors, and have failed The state OF
Georgia needs good schools in the Blue Ridge
counties and the wire grass as much as ID
| fire richer sections and the prosperous cities
| For these people are our brethren and they are
our partners in the difficult business OF govern
ment. a..
whole property of the people provide ,good
schools for the children of the whole people.
NOT THE CHURCHES WORK.
Those are dreamers who talk of educating
| the people BY the churches. This is idle talk
| The churches can not do it, do not say tne
| church but 1.-THE churches are many.
! Their divei Stiles not to say diversions, make
unity of effort impossible. SO far from being
! able to provide schools for all the people so lar
! the churches in Georgia have not been snle 10
take Droper clre of their three or four colleges.
| They have beEgared and slain them rather !
nave said not able" TO take care OF t1elr col
| leges 1t is intolerable to think that they could
and would not But why ask sicn questions
about TIE churches 10 relation to the common
schools Whether able or unable TO do this
work, every BODY knows that The churches never
have done i.-have never tried TO 90 II, ana are
not now so much as thinking OF trying 10 90 II.
And yet VITA half a million children IN georgia
more than half of them out OF school. ano
part outgrowiny the period of school lnstruc-
iiou-many good church people, with not pur-
pose or thought of doing anything themselves,
regile the public schools, not because the state
have starved them, but because 1t so much as
set them going at all If in theory these were
unanswerable arguments against s;ate-sup-
ported public schools these arguments are
overturned by inyinciDle facts.
We have the public schools, and they have
come to stay The question is whether we VIII
make the best OF them or the worst Of them
The people, in their organic law, have declared
that the state, which belongs TO the people.
must provide for the elementary edu a ion OF
the children Of the people.
After what manner is the state carrying out
bp nil Let soak cold facts
without reference to any incident or collateral
matters. What are the facts? 1 will not weary
you with statistics. few statements taken
from official records VIII be enough TO make
men and women think, who ever think, to make
ashamed all who care for the honor OF their
state, to make anxious all who nave
hope of its future, to stir the hearts and
consciences of all who love their fellow men
The department of education for Georgia has
this year taken new school census-the first
since 1885 Between the ages OF 70 and Is
the school age in Georgla-there are
560,1S children and Young people.
Whites 292, 627; negroes. 267, 74 CThe negro
is not. it seems, dying out" lie is not solving
the problem that way. There were only 23l, l4i
colored children of school age in Georgia IN
1850. What is the sum total of public money
from all sources provided for the primary educa-
ton of this army of children! We will take the
figures for 16S7-the returns for 1888 not being
all in hand The entire sum raised by the state
and by cities and counties under local laws for
1887 was S795,9S7 &6 OF this sum cities and
counties under local laws raised S30247 -.
But most of Georgia's children are outside
those cities and counties that, under local OPP
ton" so noby supplemented the meager state
fluid. OF the whole number, 560,2Sl, 49O,27O do
not live in such cities and Counties II is worse
than this, for 465, 1913 of Georgia's children, OF
school age live outside of all Incorporated cities
towns and villages AS we are accustomed TO
phrase it, they are country children If Ian At
lanta audience would know what the state
school fund can do for half million children,
whose only denpnQRnCp for HELM is the state
fund, let us imagine the condition OF things in
this city il the fund Atlanta raises for her splen
did school system were all taken away and your
children had only what the country children
have.
Add to the sum disbursed directly by the com
missioner, minus the cost of county Superin
tendence, which in 1887 was So, 552 II, the pol
tax retained in the counties lt was SlSl, lol W IN
1887 and we have a total OF S4S8749 40. This is
to be divided among the 500 PSI children. If all
were at school it would yield Sc cents for each
chill for the school year of about three months
Let us see how it works Take particular
county-a county better off than the average
| my own county of DeKalb. In this county, for
1888, ars 63 schools receiving public school
money. The total school fund for DeKalb (esti
mating as the county superintendent does the
poll tax 500 more than last year, is Si.S3i 81
| The total number of children of school age il
the county is 8, $50. The amount actually pait
| for each scholar is 81 10. Tha
is if each child received 81 60.
| il was because only about one-thrd Of the chill
| dren were at school at all Our backwardnesS
in public education is illustrated by the method
we employ to raise our 81 cents for each child
as well as by the meagre sum itself. II is gath
ering of odds and ends. The only certain item
of consequence is the yearly half-rental of the
Western and Atlantic railroad that our fathers
built. There is a small item, tolerably certain
but less than So 600, dividends on a little Geor
gla railro I'd stock owned by the state. Their
we have the tax on shows" small and uncer-
| tain, and not quite $1,000 The liquor tax, a
variable quantity, comes in to the extent of
| S65. 392 70. Ut might be discussed by some de
batting society, whether a contribution as small
| as this is an Offset against the consequen
| tial damages incident to the business
| itself. The hire of conVctS-another variable
| item-is nearly $4,000 The inspection of fer
tilizers yields nearly 100000, but this also is
| variable quantity. The poll tax also variable
is about SlS5 ,0G0. If our law should remain as
| it is, the commissioners best hope for al
increased fund must bs in the increased use o.
| imported fertilizers; more shows, more whisky
| drinking, and more convicts. Truly, il is a dis
| tressng case; we sadly need more money 70
! our schools but most of the sources of suppl,
! are themselves evils so farreachng that W,
| might almost choose the Unreasonable evils oil
| ignorance.
| BLOOD AND MUSCLE NEEDED.
| Now. let us look at the schools that our beg
| carly school fund Keeps going for about tw
| and half or three months in the year, for les
| than half the children. What sort of school
are they? Exaggeration is hardly possible
| Most of the are poor and miserable a
! America can show. If there are any inferior L
| them, do not know where they are. In seek
| ing to be perfectly just in describing them per
haps 1t is best 10 say they are eter than nothing
| 1t would be risky TO 20 further There is M
| trouble with our Georgia school system. 1t il
| patterned after the best in America. Its anat
| omy is all rght~-the bones are sound and il
| place. What it wants is muscle TO cover It,
| bones and blood TO round out its muscle.
II is the simplest thing in the world. poo
teacher makes poor school, poor pay secures
a poor teacher, and will Co the end of time
| Some men would rather own q scrub COW thar
| a jersey of "Tenella's line; but even thos,
| men, despsing thoroughbreis in the name OF
| conservatism" know that they can't get
| Jersey for the price Of a scrub, yet demand
| good teacher for the pay of a od-carrier, ant
| woman, wants her labor for less. Cheap doc
| tors" cheap teachers Cheap judges.
| cheap governors'-to say nothing of "cheaI
prelchers' These words tell of poor economy
Nothing known TO me better illustrates Solo
mons meaning in one phrase of our text
There is that withholdeth more than is mee
and it tendeth to poverty and nothing /!
| further from illustrating the other saying
| There is that scattereth and yet increaseth"-
! than our use Of the school fund of Georgia
| Nothing is so wasteful as the parsimony tina
| does not spend enough to accomplish its pur
pose; by so much as it falls short, il is as water
| poured forth.
| We spend just enough money in primary edu
| cation in public schools to do the least possib,
| good and the greatest possible harm Jus
enough to cripple little private schools, but no
enough to make good public schools. This is
| fair statement OF the case in Georgia to-day il
| the rural districts, where most of our people
are; it is not much better IN tn,
small towns and villages. As il 1