The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-10-16
STATE AID TO EDUCATION.
A Reply to Mr.. Averitt--The University
and UNCONVENTIONAL Colleges.

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peculiar contribution in behalf of State
aid. He argues that the University
cannot exist without aid from the
State. and reminds us of the fact that
our dencminational colleges are not
self-sustaining, and that they receive
aid from their respective denomina
tions.
If Mr.. Averitt's conclusions are cor
rect, why is it that the University did
notgo out Of existence previous to 1862
1t received no aid from the State dur
ing the first seventy years Of its life.
During It's infancy the Legislature ad
mitted q loan of a few thousand dol
lars; years after the loan was made a
gift. This money, I think, was used
for building purposes. Now the Uni
versity has become Cd and well
stricken in age, the joints cf its loiDs
are loose It's knees spliUe one against
another, its life is IN danger, and the
State with an OVERLOOKING bosom be-
comes vet nurse for the cid man to the
tune OF $50. 600 q year. l do not believe
that the existence of the University de
ponds upon State aid. Withhold the
appropriation and its friends will have
some inducement to rally to its sup
port. Continue the appropriation and
its friends will have 10 i~njuCement,
and they will never contribute to its
support Each denomination supports
its W college. 1t is a free will Cffer-
ing, given without compulsion; and at
the same time we are forced by a legis
lature chosen wholly or in part by the
University to support that institution.
We propose to enter a vigorous protest
at the ballot box in November.
John Manning, IL. D in his article
in the Biblical Recorder of the 18th
inst. gives Us a few paragraphs from
the constitution Mr.. Manning is a
lawyer and of course is well up in con
stitutioral law. He evidently believes
that the constitution is mandatory and
that it compels the State to support the
University. Is it not a little remark
able that for one hundred yearsnO such
argument in favor If the University
has been suggested, and that it has
been left to the Hon. John Manning,
LII. D., Professor Of Law at the Uni
versity, to make it professedly in the
interes5 of the University, against the
methods Of which institution a consid-
cradle number of the Christian classes
of our citizsns are making complaint?
It takes a lawyer to interpret the con-
stitution and laws OF our country, but
it will take something more than a
lawyer 10 convince the Woodworking
fathers we're fools enough to frame a
constitution that would compel US all
through the ages to come to take oath
that we aill support and aid other peo-
pies children to secure IN education,
those who r able to secure it without
aid, in preference to our own. If the
University is a public school, as Mr..
Manning indicates, what right has that
institution to charge any young man
for his tuition2 The common schools
of the State do not charge tuition for
their three months term. And if the
public schools, the University and the
common schools are depending upon
the same source taxation-Why are
special privileges granted the former9
Again, if the University is a public
school, maintained by taxation, what
right has that institution, in the alb
sence of a similar one for the negroes,
to withhold its benefits from that race?
The constitution, according to Mr..
Manning, requires us to take oath that
we will support higher education by
taxation and thereby kill out every
UNCONVENTIONAL school, male and fe-
male, in this State. That gentleman
and every intelligent man in
North Carolina knows, that there is no
denomination in this State
that can compete with the State. 1t
is protection of the highest order, it is
worse than McKinleyism.
Upon each specimen of humanity
that enters the port of Chapel Hill an
Gd UaZOrem duty is levied of about 500.
Upon each little bundle, whether it is
tied up in silk or rags, that attends our
common schools a specific duty of 25
cents is collected. We are willing to
pay this specific duty, and a large ma
jority Of us are willing to increase this
tariff from 800 to 400 per cent but we
are unwilling to pay this cd Ualorem
rate Of 500 to the University. 1t is
from $50 to $40 more than any young
man is worth to any college in the