The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-06-06
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COUNTY CORRESPONDENCE.
That Graded School Again.

That Graded School Again.
EDITORS INrEL1IaENcER: Like Banquo's
ghost "will not down." and may, per-
chance, have come to stay, though it par
aly:e (q) trade and bankrupt the community.
Where is the proof that it will do either?
Is Greenville bankrupt, with her flourish
ing seats Of learning, and the hum of her
busy manufactures heard on every side,
and all the marts of trade crowded? But
1.-THE cases are not parallel" Are Winns-
boro Spartanburg, Yorkville, Rock Hill,
Camden, aud numerous other sister towns,
parallel cases, and are they bankrupt ?
Will Seneca do for parallel case, aud is
she a bankrupt Are graded schools such
deadly, dangerous things that they throw
q pail over every community, blIghting
every interest? We have not so read the
history of them. On the contrary the
universal testimony is, with SocSlcely an
exception, to thsiis-st1ccess and efficiency,
and whenever q failure has occurred, it has
hesn the fault of the administration and
not the fault of the system. But lit will
iniure the Military School and the pro-
posed Female College," How? Bare as
sertions are not proof. The writer yields
to none in his pride in the Military School
and in his desire To see the Female College
established, aud if shown conclusively
that it will co either or both will drop the
matter at once. Possibly at first it may
draw off the primary patronage from the
Military School, but this will be more than
Offset by the increased patronage of higher
grade brought into our midst by increased
population. AS to the other, we thought
that the proposition was to establish g Cot
zeoe, and not an institution with which
Graded School would compete, and IL this
be true the statement of the proposition
furnishes its own answer. Not 8 compete
tor but feeder.
That it will ''iniure and destroy" our
present effective schools we deny, but that
it will absorb them and render them more
efficient we confess and desire. twill rem
der them more effective by opening the
doors of the school-room to every poor
boy and girl in our midst, many Of whom
are now. denied this privilege by reason OF
the great cost, and every one Of whom
have right to expect those privileges,
even though some of it does come out OF
''somebody else's pocket. The public
have right to expect it because it has
greater interest in the moral and educa-
tional advancement and material we'll
being Of the boys and girls than it he's in
"somebody elses pocket Somebody
else's pocket" demands and has right to
the protection of The law, and when I'some-
body else's pocket lies down to sleep at
night there stands by his door an eternal
vigil, the silent majesty of the law; and
what greater strength and support can the
law have than when founded and ground
ed on the virtue and Intelligence of an ed
ucated community And shall "some-
body else's pockets contribute nothing TO
the support Of the very majesty Of the law
to which it appeals for protection? !?
But this smacks Of Communism !" If
it does then make the most of it, for it ID
the kind Of communism that has prevailed
in this country for over two centuries, and
has in q large degree made our country
great, and is at once both our glory and
our strength, and is embodied in the prin.
ciple that the property of the State should
educate the children of the State-a prin-
ciple than which no other is more thor
oughly engrafted upon American institu-
tions. Away, then, with such niggardli-
ness as "me and my wife, my son John
and his wife,"
But s'those who are able should help ed
ucate Others" Exactly. But do they do
it? s''somebody else's pocket is close.
listed fellow, and generally looks out for
himself alone, leaving his poorer neighbor
to help himself as best he can. It seems
clear, then, that the fear Of injuring the
Military School and the Female College as
reasons for opposing the Graded School
will not stand the test of a critical exami-
nation, but that probably the true reason
is more sordid and more selfish one.
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