The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-12-25
REPLY TO DR.. MANNING.
.sEr. Culley Takes Issue With Him on the
Question of State Aid to
Higher ducation.
l1orrespondenee "a the Progregsive Farnaer.


ming, of the University, has an article
that seems to require short reply,
although. matters demanding my at
tention, together with a natural dis
inclination to engage In any kind Of
controversy. have delayed my writing.
In the first place it seems little
strange to me that DE-. Manning should
have written The PROGRESSIVE FARMER
reply to DR.. Taylor's article in the
Recorders. Why should he have desired
% change the venueQ It is more
strange when he goes SO far as to accuse
Dr.. Taylor of unfairness in the discus
lion. may not be judge of what
constitutes fairness" BUTT does seem
30 me that if the good doctor had any
s1lch charges to make that it would
cave been proper to have made them
through the columns of the paper In
which the original articles were pub
fshed and not through a different pa
ser, with set of readers largely diff
Ierent from those who read the paper
~ which the discussion had been pub
Iished. But this is largely question
If ethics; let's leave that for the mat
tor at Issue, to-wit: State Aid to
Higher Education" DR.. Manning de-
nies that ''Dr. Taylor and his friends
have any peculiar property in or devo-
tion to the doctrine of religious liberty
ovar the rest Of the people of the State"
When did we claim any such monop
olyH The majority of the people of ur
state are familiar with the struggle for
religious liberty, and 'Ds. Taylor and
his frieads" are content with the part
they have taken in the fight and we
will leave it as history has it. DIR. Man
ming says that the question is not Re
ligioua Liberty Against Toleration. In
reference. to this matter he says:
In my article in the Recorder of the
sSh ultimo, quoted the sections in
our Constitution relating to religious
liberty, not for the purpose of estab
hing the right of the State to main
Ucsin Cne pu0nG SCHOOLS, but to snow
that according to these sections our
public schools could not be colorless as
to religion, for that our State is a
Christian State, and being of Almighty
God and mans responsibility to him
is distinctly declared in our organic
law"
If our schools, according to the Con
stitution, cannot be "colorless as to
religion Of what "color" must they
be9 If the fundamental law of the
State require the teaching of any reli-
gion what kind of religion is it9 ut
can make no law. to aid any denomina
tion or creed" Then can it require the
teaching to be of any denomination or
creed3 If DR.. Manning means that the
teaching must be free from all denomi-
national Influences, just the principles
OF the Christian religion that are held
in common by the leading denomina-
tions of our State, and thus "does not
surrender its distinctive Christian
character" then I insist that for the
Jew, the Mohamedon, the Buddhist
and possibly for the Roman Catholic
and others within our borders there is
no such thing as religious liberty, but
the State simply ''tolerates all religious
belief" Now gentle reader is it ques
tion of Religious liberty against Tol
erationp The greater part of DR.. Man
ning's article is devoted to questions
from the Constitution to show the pow
er of the Legislature to make appro-
priations to the University. All the
readers of The PROGRESSIVE FARMER
are familiar with the Constitution of
the State and do not suppose there is
a man amongst them or anywhere In
the State who has ever questioned the
potcer of the Legislature 20 make these
appropriations; the only question has
been 40 TO whether they OWgbt to make
them. Considerable stress b laid upon
the fact that the several constitutions
adopted at various times during the
lest hundred years or more have pro
visions for . University. This is q
favorfto argument with all the writer's
on the other side of this question, so
far az the articles have reached nay
eye. They say that the Institution is
an old one; has been supported by the
State and therefore must continue to
be so supported. Now I have this to
say, that a thing is not necessarily bad
because it is old, nor is it necessarily
good because it has age, and if the only
right it haa to existence is simply the
fact that it has existence why then it's
days are numbered. This is an age of
and these men who are
relying on the maxim, Whatever is
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