The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1894-01-24
IT'S A BAD BILL.
Compulsory Education Is not Want
ed Down In This Section
of the State.
People Express Themselves Free
ly and Almost Unanimous
ly 0ppOseIt.
Individual Rights Are Invaded And
Liberty Is Assailed BY It's
Passage.
sumptuary Laws Will Never b.
Swallowed Gracefully by
Kentuckians.
DON'T LET 1T PASS

from the Superintendent of Public In
structon asking the status of opinion,
in this section, on the law for coinpul-
sorry education, now pending in the Leg
islature.
We have made some inquiries, and we
do not hesitate to say that the feeling is
almost unanimously opposed to it,
We don't believe, that on reflection,
there could be ten reasonable men found
in Breckenridge county who would
favor the measure.
A good education is known to be so
great, so grand, so beautiful, and so rich
possession that, without thinking,
when the question is first put man is
likely to say 81 favor compulsory law"
but upon giving the subject sober and
mature thought, he is nearly sure to
change his opinion.
The liberty-loving people of this grand
old Commonwealth are not yet ready to
accept such law, and il they were will
ing to surrender their individuality on
this one subject, the educational facili-
ties are not sufficient to justify its
adoption. The unavoidable violations OF
the law would be so great that the courts
could not prosecute them. In portions
Of the State, the country is so sparcely
settled that school houses are many
miles apart, and children have to go long
distances, over mountains and across
rivers to get to their places of learning;
with compulsory law the state should
provide better facilities in these sections,
even if she had to build a school house
at the door of every mountaineer's cabin.
In large cities thousands of parents are
too poor to send their children to school,
The children must not only labor and
hustle for their own. food and clothing,
! but they must help support the family.
Must these poor, half-starved, half-clad
children and furnishing parents be made
law-breakers by law of compulsory
education, when probably their very
poverty is the result caused by the natu-
raj workings f other bad laws? To
force these children to attend school,
the state should not only properly clothe
and feed them, but it should also see
that the parents at home, who partly
or wholly depend upon the wages of the
children to keep the wolf of hunger from
their door, are comfortably cared for in
| IN ,l, Ill oh
also, are not so blessed with this worlds
goods but that they need the labors of
their children at home, and these per-
sons should be similarly helped if their
children are forced from them.
Several states have tried compulsory
educational laws, and their workings
have been fraught with distress and
dissapointments. They have proven
unsatisfactory in every instance. and
there have been so many amendments
and exceptions attached to them that
they are practically ineffective or dead
letters
Kentucky needs no such law. Ken
tuckians nor the children of Kentuck-
ians need to be driven to school. The
grand boon Of good education-so
sweet, so rch-is so dearly cherished in
the bosom of every citizen OF this great
Commonwealth that he willingly, gladly
and freely embraces every halfway fav-
orable opportunity to send his child to
obtain it. All that we, the citizens, ask
of our Representatives in this Legisla-
ture, or any other, is to see that we are
properly provided with school facilities,
and Wen do the rest.
There are many other good reasons
why this bill should not become law,
some of which are mentioned in the
following opinions OF some leading citi-
zens OF Cloyerport.
Mayor j. A. Barry says;-'I am not in
favor OF compulsory laws on any subject
where there is room for a difference OF
opini IN l believe that every child
should be made to go TO school, but think
that the parent is the one TO exercise
that privilege, and not the State"
Mr.. J. ID. Gregory, wharf-master says
81 am not familiar with the law, but /
don't think that Kentucky is ready for
such step. | am opposed to it because
don't think that it would be justice or
practicable"
Mr.. A. b. Skillman, banker, expresses
himself as follows-I am opposed to
compulsory education. Such law can
not be enforced on account of the poor.
A great majority of the parents in Ken
lucky depend more or less on their
children for support, and il their chill
dren are forced to go to school, you
deprive them Of their means of living,
consequently they have to be provided
for. All our people who are able, gener-
ally send their children to school
without being made 10 do so. am
strongly in favor Of education, but
law would be very Cypress
i've on some of our people "
Prof. j. H. B. Logan, Principal OF the
High school says:-'Theoret-
ically, compulsory education seems
- A.. Al l. a. "a +