The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-11-22

4. The subsequent induction of sla-
very served to aggravate existing
modes of thought and action by af.
fording the means for supporting this
lordly caste, and thus serve to fasten
the Gordian knot OF unjust and op-
pressive measures.
I have mentioned these things,
young men, not because it is pop
ular to do so, but because strict
honesty demands it. I trust my
words are measured, not by the gilded
scale Of the cringing, chameleon-hued
sycophant, but by that rugged, honest
standard of unyarnished Truth.
Absolutely nothing noble can be
attained by ignoring or winking at the
facts as they exist, The brave, the
manly thing to to do is to look these
facts full in the face, and by deter
mined effort attempt their reform.
We may we'll tremble ut the grievous
legacy ofthe ill-!imed policy bequeathed
to Us by the dead generations. While
we rejoice over the grand achieve
ments OF our sires, we are frank tolsc-
knowledge their unfortunate mistakes.
Error bears prolific offspring. The
distempered ideas of one generation
become firmly rooted principles in the
next; and every effort to break their
fatal grasp will meet with satanic op-
position.
7 have presented this tangible and
reel status of affairs, young friends, to
disabuse your minds of the delusive
idea that the "Golden Age" of our
Republic has come. We live in the
age that will try the very souls Of men.
Startling issues are being sprung that
will tax your strength, and test the
wisdom Of philosopher and statesman.
A wonderful revolution is sweeping
away the old landmarks. The ancient
foundations are being tried by our lat
ter day criticism. Traditions are los
ing their force on the public mind.
The people of every class from the
forum to the forge are beginning to
realize that every man must think and
act his own part in our national
drama; that this nonopoly-of-brains
policy is in direct antagonism to true
principles of equity and independence.
The "besetting sin" of the South has
been the dictatorial assumption OF au-
thority by the few to the private and
public detriment of the many. In
blissful patience and attenuated hope
the masses have been waiting for the
day Of their educational redemption.
One hundred years since the Revolu-
tionary War have marched with slow
tread to the funeral chant of blighted
hopes and fruitless aspirations.
At last the day-dawn seems to break
upon the peaks of self-independence
and intellectual freedom. Z
The poor man has found upon his
wrists two-fold chaio-the one self
imposed, the other forged by the re-
lentless usurper of bis rights.
The time has come when these
chains are to be broGen, and hence
forth be is to stand freeman among
his peers.
The first great step towards this end
in the South was taken early in the
present century 10 the enactment of
laws for the founding of free schools.
The various enactments, however, lay
virtually q dead letter upon the Stat
ute book, 30 sporadic were the efforts;
and 80 meager were the results. 1t
was not until the establishment Of a
permanent Free School System since
our last Civil War tast the doors Of
our school houses have been thrown
open to all classes. In the beginning
the system was more or less imperfect.
Ill-adjusted in some respects to the
deepest needs of our people; unwieldly
in its complex machinery; and abused
in its management, the system has at
length been shorn of its imperfections,
and is accomplishing an untold good
among our people.
Additional reforms will come, not so
much in the system, as in it's applica-
tion, until at no distant day the sig
ma Of our illiteracy will be wiped for
ever from the Census Report, and the
South with her triple burden will
proudly stand as the peer of the
North.
Following ip the wake Of a disas.
trous war, which, in the abolition of
slavery, broke down the wall Of sepa-
ration between aristocrat and COM
moner, this Free School system has
ameliorated the condition Of the labor
ing classes, in whose interest it was
mainly founded, by placing within his
reach the brain-directed means to an
easier livelihood. In the short space
of two decades the most wonderful re-
suits have been accomplished. With
marvellous success the splendid work
goes on; but stupendous burden still
rests upon our hands. Here Is the
presen: status of the case:
TnroiIaI IN tho p,,htio cob hnn1c in
toe South Atlantic States are 3,l97 ,83U
white children and 1,2l3,092 colored-
making total, of, say, four and half
millions of youth of school age. Add
to this, the fact that scarcely more than
80 per cent. of children are enrolled,
and we have, as Mr.. Mayo tells US, a
grand aggregate, in the SoutherDStates,
of 6, 500, 900 school population. In 1880,
IS per cent. of the white, and 10 Per
cent. of the colored youth between the
ages of 10 and IA years, and is
per cent. of the white ard69 per
cent. of the colored between the
ages of Is and 20 years, were unable to
write! And yet, 10 order to remove
this great mass Of iIliteracy, we depend
upon running the Free Schools less
than one hundred days in the year!
For the education Of these children
we expend $23,0O0,0G0 per annum,
making an appropriation Of $3.50 per
capita for their intellectual training.
FROM the U. S. Educational Report for
l88S-S9 we learn that the average an
nual cost of educating each pupil in
Common Public Schools Of the South
is 1851, leaving deficit Of sl3 90 pei
capita, or grand falling short of $685.
OO0, ,OOO annually in meeting the edu'
cational demands Of the young!
Figures and facts are stubborn
things, and yet they declare unmis
taxable truths. Every man upon our
soil is free, and be must be made
worthy of that freedom. I endorse
| the proposition of Mr.. Hogg, Superin'
tendent of Public Schools, Fort Worth
Texas, when he says, '1f universs
suffrage is based upon universal edu'
cation, upon intelligence, upon the
ability of the voter to read the name
of his choice upon the selected ballot
there is necessity, and a demand fol
relief at once"
These six and half millions will II
a few years form the tissue of our socia
organism, and assume by constitutions
3 l.,