The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-05-08
STATE AID FOR HIGHER EDUCA-
TON.

presence OF the writer q few weeks ago
perhapsgmay not be out of place. If
this friend was the only M entertain
ing these ideas, Ncertainly I
could not claim your indulgence, and
furthermore, the influence of any n
man is not universal, and so it would
not be necessary for me to ask the
favor. The statements by some means
have gone out, and it is probable that
a good number of people believe them.
No. 1. A young man can take a
course at the University of North Caro-
lima so per cent. cheaper than he can
at Wake Forest or Trinity. I cannot
answer for Trinity, but for Wake
Forest I can.
A student of Chapel Hill 1892 and
1898 and one of Wake Forest for the
same year compared accounts for their
necessary expenses. Tuition was given
the University student, the Wake
Forest boy paid for his, and yet his &C.
count was $15 less than the University
student. In other words, a young man
can come to Wake Forest and pay his
tuition and all his necessary expenses
for $15 less each year than he can at
Chapel Hill with free tuition.
No. 2. A graduate of the University
is a better educated man than one of
Wake Forest or Trinity.
A member of the faculty of this in
stitution took one of his own catalogues
~1892-1893 and one of the University
for the same year, and after a careful
comparison it was shown that a young
man taking the A. B. degree at Wake
Forest did more work and was a better
educated man than one taking the
same degree at the University, the
ratio standing 81 to 81 in favor of
Wake Forest. No one will question the
veracity or integrity of this professor,
nevertheless I will ask you not to take
his word for it, but take the catalogues
and compare them for yourself.
It is not our purpose to hold up any
one UNCONVENTIONAL college as the su-
perior of all other colleges, but it is our
purpose to state facts as far as we know
them. If they are favorable to
favorite institution, very well if not
we will try to honestly remedy the
evil. We would not knowingly do the
University an injury, unless truth and
State aid accomplish this. If the life
of the University depends upon State
aid, then 1 will gladly welcome it's
death, and spit in the face of the
corpse.
If our UNCONVENTIONAL colleges should
throw any obstacle in the way of our
common school system, Iwould proud
Iy trample them under my feet. 1t has
been truly said that "we need all the
schools and colleges that we have and
more" but the need is not sufficiently
great to justify taxation. The need of
the common school would justify a tax
double the amount that we nov collect
for that purpose. We are not willing
to increase the rate of taxation, but
the money used for educational pur-
poses independent of the common
school system is Incorporated and
should be discontinued.
While I stand out upon the hilltop
and look over and beyond the colleges
of the State and see the 300, 900 poor
children who are h%ungering and thirst
ing after an education, then it is that
1 am unalterably and irrevocably %,
posed to State aid for higher education.
1t is to these that our colleges must
look for their Goth century students.
The efficiency of our common schools
of this day will be determined by the
number of students at our higher insti-
buttons of learning only a few years
hence.
I want it understood that I have
never been to school a single day at
Wake Forest, indeed I have not been
to school one day anywhere since l
was IL years old 1 have not a kinsman
on earth or beneath it who has ever
been a student at Wake Forest; I have
not one dollar invested in it's endow.
ment; [ have never received one cent
from the college under any condition
whatever, but as a Baptist I have an
interest in Wake Forest that every
other Baptist ought to have, and if l
had one dozen boys the last one of them
would be educated at Wake Forest.
Rev. O. Durham in a recent issue of
the Recorder intimates that this educa-
tional question must be settled in poll
tics. Send the right men to the legis,
lature and that will be worth more
than all the memorializing that the
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