The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1892-11-17
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

person feduiHg all dFUlcle III Uuo
November Cosmopolitan entitled
"Edueation for the Common People
in tile South" and not noting its
authorship, would be very apt to be
lieve that it was written by North
ern South hater and would never
suspect that it was from the fear of
a man who served in the Confederate
army. But in truth the author is
George W. Cable.
A significant picture at the begin
ming of the, al ticle acts as an index
to it's contents. This picture at
tempts to represent the Southern
gentlemen He has the s'cut OF
the jjib" of the Southern brigadier"
as he was wont formerly to be sar-
castically represented by pencils ia
the hands Of Northern artists. He
hasa gootre and islong moustaches
are twisted to taper to fine points.
His eyes give him a drowsy, lazy
look and the smoke from the cigar,
which he holds aristocratically be
tween two fingers, envelopes in its,
haze an air castle which the ''South-
ern gentleman" is evidently suppos-
ed to be drea mily building. 1t repre-
sents panoplied knight of the days
OF chivalry riding on a snorting
charger past a group of mendicant
les hn
him. This, of course, is represented
to be "the consummation devoutly
to be wished" of the Southern gen
tleman."
The Southern gentleman, Mr..
George w. Gable, goes on in his arti-
Gle to give a pen portrait of. He
says ellis ideal of good government
of government good and best for
each and all-is the esta blishment of
the gentleman in an imperial lecture
of electoral, Legislature, administra-
tive and judicial power
Every true Southerner knows that
this picture is damEably false. There
may be some Jew persons left who
still NOPE over the old times when,
with slavery existing, there was sort
feudal system in the South, but the
true Southern gentleman of today is
a working man, not dreamer; he
does not even regret that what is
wont to be spoken of the old aristoc-
racy of the South is a thing of the
past. He is heartily glad of the
abolition of slavery and is williog
that the former slave should exercise
the right of franchise. He knows
that the best thing thatever happen
ed for the prosperity of himself and
his section was the passing away of
the old regime.
Mr.. Cables argument is that there
has been no "Oklahoman impour" of
immigration across the borders of
the South because of the existence
there of 'tgentleman's government. -
Gentleman's governments do not
provide for good common schools.
The States that have attracted i'm
migration have done SO primarily
because they have provided good
common schools. He says that
the Southern States are lavish in
their gifts to universities which can
only benefit the few, while they neg
lect to provide for the education of
the many by good public school sys-
tens. There may be much truth in
these statements but that "gentle-
mans governments" caused such
state of affairs we do not believe.
We have not statistics at hand but
We believe that Georgia and Texas
and perhaps other Southern States
have provided literally for public
education. We know that the ne.
groes in Georgia are said to have
voted largely the Democratic ticket
in tie recent State election there be-
cause of the hberality of Demo-
cratic legislature in providing furth-
er education.
Mr.. Gable lauds to the skies the
Reconstruction governments in the
Southern States for providing for
splendid systems ofpublic education,
and ends by contemning the gentle
mans governments" which after
wards came in and amended these
splendid systems to their ruination.
There is undoubtedly great room for
Improvement in the public school
system of North Carolina and other
Southern States, but there will be
many who seriously doubt whether
Mr.. George w. Cable has got at the
no OF canca of tho nuil