The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-01-10
THE PROFIT OF EDUCATION.
The Pressing Need of Our State.

d une new building going up. Is 1t a
new city hall or a new court hOuse7"
Neither" ans wered my friend, 1T
Is a new school building"
What will it COST"
About $3.50, OO0"
Can Dayton afford to spend that
much money on one school bulldlngf'
asked with some astOnishmant.
The money Dayton spends on edu-
cation brings back a better return than
any other expenditure she makes or
public none. s."
In what way does the money come
backs"
I'm the shape of pay for what we
manufacture. We bring pig iron from
Alabama as part Of the materials for
making cotton oil machinery and
water wheels. We bring hard pine
from Georgia and send back to Georgia
passenger and other railroad cars ade
out of the very pine we bring from
there. The list could be extended IN
definitely. The money we get for our
manufactured products goes to pay for
our living, our profits n to support
our schools.
The schools in turn give us the III
telligent mechanics without which we
could not maintain our present position
of being able to bring here raw mate
rails from many parts OF the country:
apply to them our knowledge and skill
and return the product to n very
places, in many cases, where the raw
materials came from, pay all costs of
transportation and other charges, and
gtill have enough left out of the price
we get to keep Dayton in the front
rank of rich cities"
- RI,t North "a FOliOa iS head
way in manufactures also. Cur manu-
facturias of cotton and tobacco are
both large and important"
Ia happens that both these indus
tries require only the COmmOneRt kind
of labor. Besides this, in the manu-
faCture Of cotton, you are simply fol
IOwing in the wake Of New ENGLAND.
You use New England machinery IN
many cases your superintendent are
New England men; your methods are
Chinese copies of New England meth
DDS. You have no schools that fit men
to work in the vanguard of progress
even IN the art of cotton manufacture,
whichis probably your most important
Industry. North Carolina furnishes
the cotton and the cheap labor. New
England furnishes the knowledge and
skill by which appliances a system of
manufacture is created that makes it
possible for American manufacturers
to compete with English m3nufac
turers."
How is it you seem to know so
much about North CarOlinaT'
That i part of the value of our
school system. We must be always on
the look out to learn what raw mate
rial we can buy, wha5 Sc a make
out Of it and where We al sell the
product. This involves a close study
of the resources Of any section and of
the condition and requirements Of its
people. Your success in cotton manu-
facJureS is more the result of the re-
sources with which nature has endowed
that section, viz good climate, cheap
labor and native raw material, than
any development the people themselves
have made. If you would give to the
you h Of your country the same educa
ton that New England gives to hers
would not have to follow in the wake
of her progress, but you would have
equal skill and nOwledge and many
advantages besides, and New England
manufacturers would either have to
find something else to do or move, bag
and baggage to the South She main
tains herself in the compe iCion with
you by her skill and knowledge. and
tn It means by the superior education
of all her people.
The great development in the North
west is the result Of an early apprecia-
ton of the value of education. The
State of Michigan not only pr )vided at
an early date for an excellent system
of public schools, such as existed in
the Eastern and Middle States, but
established a great State University
and organized a comprehensive system
Of education by which the common
schools, the high schools and the col
Ieges of the State would be tributary
to the University. Wisconsin and
many Of the Northwestern States have
adopted the same system. Hence,
when a New Highlander goes to Wiscon-
sin he finds the standard Of life to be
as high as or higher than it was at his
home, and hence the popularity of the
Northwest to the New Engl+nder seek
ing to improve his condition by leaving
his home to find a better country"
NJ friend talked on at considerable
length in the same general strain and
I found all that he said exceedingly
interesting. l reflected also that in
the early days of the American Union
the people of the Southeastern States
we're in the foremost rank of the intel
ligence and enterprise of the new
nation The knowledge of iron making
was as perfect in North Carolina as 10
Pennsylvania. About 1910 the manu-
featured products Of Virginia, the
Carolinas and Georgia exceeded in
value those of the entire New England
States. The rail way constructed from
Charleston to Hamburg was one of the
SnOct JmnOPtont in tho WOplH u,hon
finished. The Southern people of those
days waited for no other people, not
even the English, to open up the way,
but they led in the enterprise.
The growth of slavery stif1ed the
growth of a well-established industrial
development. The reins of old blast
furnaces and the old abandoned iron