The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1894-11-28

foundation of strong, sturdy, mani y
| independence, our college is pledged,
bv the very charter of its existence, to
perpetual warfare. 1t is the duty of
the State to put the opportunities OF
an education within the reach of all
her children. 1t is the duty of the in
dividual, in obedience to God Al
mighty's first great law, to seize those
opportunities by hard, unremlttlng
toll.
After studying the questionin all its
phases. I would recommend to the
board that all agricultural students be
permitted to work forty hours, and
only forty hours, per month, at not
more than s cents an hour for good,
honest labor. Exceptions should be
made in cases where the nature Of the
work, such as milking, may require
deviation from this rule, but for all
such additional labor I would recon-
mend that only cents per hour be
paid. At the Mississippi College, me-
chanical students are not paid at all.
Here | recommend that they be paid
according to the monetary value of
their work. We have paid out for
students laboring the last seven months
81, ,403.04.
Ihave dwelt at length upon the
problem of student labor, for upon its
successful solution depends the veal
Or woe of Clemson College. Labor,
labor of the hand as well as of the
head, labor in the shops.a as we'll as in
the fields, is expected and demanded
of all who enter here. The dignity of
manual labor is the foundation stone
upon which our educational edltice IS
raised, and must be maintained or the
whole structuretumbles to the ground.
To put young men in the way ofmain-
tanning themselves in honest indepen-
dence, to send out real providers, men
who earn the bread they eat and the
clothing where-with they are clothed,
this is the mission of our State College.
Ours is the duty of teaching the youth
of South Carolina the quaint old truth
that for those who do not work there
are three other things to do; to beg, to
steal. to starve. Of the youths who
leave these halls let it be asked in the
language of Ruskin: Can they plow9
Can. they plant at the right time, or
build With steady hand2 Is the eff
fort of their lives to be chaste, knight
". faithful, holy in thought, lovely
in word and dced?" l trust that in
the coming years we may be able to re-
ply: Indeed it is with some, nay,
with many, and the strength of South
Carolina is in them"
QUESTION OF EXPENSES.
The experience of the past yearleads
us to believe that expenses may, dur
ing the coming year, be considerably
reduced. and, while the probabilities
are that we shall have more students
applying for entrance than we can ac-
commodate, l think it but justice to
the classes for whom the school was
established that expenses be reduced
to the minimum. I therefore recon-
mend for adoption the following sum-
mary of expenses for the school year:
First term, two and one-half months:
Two uniforms S2S. 40; board SIS; ;medl-
cal fee 81. 25; washing 81. .25 ;incldental
fee SOC; total $3.50.
For each term following the first:
Board S15; washing $1.25; medical fee
S1.25: incidental fee SOC. total S1S.
Hence, expenses for ten months, in
cluding board, washing, fuel, lights,
medical attendance and uniforms, will
be S100 10.
A poor boy may by work, cut down
this amount to about $40.
AGRICULTURAL WORK.
Professor W. L. McGee, associate
instructor of agriculture and superin-
tendent of farm, reports that the acre
age of crops grown on the farm this
year will aggregate about as follows:
Sixty acres in oats; $50 acres in corn :;
thirty-fve acres in corn for silage; ten
acres in sweet potatoes; fifteen acres in
peas; eight acres in sorghum for silage
and soiling purposes; eight acres in
cotton for experiments; five acres IN
rye: five acres in Bermuda sod.
The oat land was all planted to peas
for hay or to corn for Silage. The corn
was all sown in peas at the last plow-
ing.
The crops harvested so far are as fol-
lows: One thousand and two hundred
bushels of oats; thirty tons of hay; $50
tons silage; 1875 bushels peas, 5000
bushels corn; $500 pounds of fodder
Cotton and sweet potatoes not yet
harvested.
The expenditures of the department
are as follows: Forfertilizers S621.1S; :;
for seeds S24S. 56; for tools, repairs,
tilling. etc, S33t.75; for wages-farm
foreman S263. Is; for labor 81, ,507.51.
The energies of the farm for the
next few years must of necessity be
devoted to building up Of the farm
ing lands, terracing and ditching the
uplands, and ditching and draining
the bottoms. This cannot be neglect
ed. for it is ostproitable to cultivate
those lands which have been improved
to the highest degree.
Student labor has been utilized as far
as possible at milking, attending cattle
work on barns, work Oh campus, i'm
provement of grounds, etc. Their
work on the farm has been devoted al
most entirely to hand labor, as the
limited time which they work, on ac-
count of recitations and other duties,
makes it impracticable to have them
handle teams and machinery. Such
work is performed by students only
when it is necessary in an educational
way. Student labor, pecuniarily con
sidered, improbable, but from an edu-
cational point ofview, and as an assist
ance to deserving boys of limited
means, it is Invaluable.
THE MECHANIC ARTS.
S. Tompkins, professor of mechani-
cal engineering, says:
Il would recommend that agricultu-
raj students take shop work eight
hours per week throughout the Fresh
man year, instead of taking two hours
per week throughout the four years,
and that this work be devoted to wood
work two-thirds of the time, and black
smith work one-third of the time.
With freshman class of say 200 this
would give the equivalent of 1873 men
to wood work for the entire session.