The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-11-06

State Aid to E~ducation--The Constitu-
tion, Old and New, Quoted Some
History of the Appropria-

History of the Appropria-
ton to the University.
Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer
CHAPEL HILL, N. c., Oct. 3, "a.
In your issue of tie 10Th inst. is a
communication from Mr.. J. w. Las
tier, headed, "a Reply to Mr.. Averitt
The University and the Denomina
tional Colleges" Notwithstanding this
heading. your correspondent devotes
about one fourth of his article to Mr..
Averitt and three-fourths to me.
In my article in the Recorder OF the
18th uItimo, I quoted the sections in
our Constitution relating to religious
liberty, not for the purpose Of estab-
fishing the right of the State to main
tain the public schools, but to show
that according to these sections our
public schools could not be colorless as
to religion, for that u State is a
Christian State, and the being of AL
mighty God and mans responsibility
to him is distinctly declared in our or
ganic law.
DIR. Taylor, in his article in the sue
ceeding number of the Recorder, adroit-
ly but not fairly proclaims that the
issue between us is Religious Liberty
Against liberation" There is no such
issue between us, o have DIR. Taylor
and his friends any peculiar property
in, or devotion to, the doctrine OF re.
ligious liberty over the rest of the peo-
pie of the State. To obtain this catch
ing head note, DR.. Taylor wrenches
from its position and quotes from my
article this sentence:
1.-The State tolerates all religious be-
lief, it does not surrender its distinctive
Christian character"
The sentence Immediately preceding
and the one Immediately following this
question explain its meaning, and
these the Doctor did not quote. The
whole reads as follows:
THE State has no right to control re-
ligious opinion or belief. A man may
believe or diSbeLieUe what he pleases;
but the State does control conduct, and
compels all to obey the laws. 1t toler-
ates all religious belief. 1t does not
surrender its distinctive Christian char
acter. It can make no laws to aid any
particular denomination or creed"
Again, when commenting on Sec
tions &c and 81 of article 1 of the Con
stitution, I used these words:
so you see, religious liberty and
State education 90 hand in hand in the
declaration of rights. The State mnst
not interfere with the one, and must
maintain the other"
Now without comment I leave the
public to draw it's conclusions as
to the fairness of DR.. Taylor's head
note.
do not know Mr.. J.. w. Lassiter,
but I thank him for his article, rs it
affords me an opportunity to call his
attention and the attention of your
readers to the sections of the Constitu
ton bearing upon the question of State
aid to the public schools. The Consti
tuition of 1875, section Al, is in the fol
lowing WORDS:
THAT a school or schools shall be
established by the Legislature for the
convenient instruction of youth, with
such salaries to the masses, paid by
the public, as may enable them to in
struct at low prices; and all useful
learning shall+e duly encouraged and
promoted in n or more Universities.
The General Assembly Of 1889. in
compliance with this constitutional
mandate, Incorporated THE Uni
versity of North Carolina" and en-
dowed it with all a~rrearages owing the
public of North Carolina, either under
the former or present government, up
to January 1st, 1888, and with all es-
cheats, and in 1894 with all confiscated
property unsold, and afterwards with
all unclaimed land warrants, and be-
sides the General Assembly loaned it
$40, 600 which was afterwards con-
verted into a gift.
The receipts from these sources
amounted before the war to about $780,
900, which enabled the Trustees to pay
the debt of the University, and set
aside a permanent endowment fund of
$3.50, 900.
Every dollar received from these
sources might have been converted into
the treasury to pay the other State ex-
penses, and thereby lessened the taxes.
And while this is not an annual appro-
priation, it is an appropriation of pub
lie monies to the University, just as
much rs an annual appropriation of
800, 900 would be. This permanent en-
dowment of $3.50, 900 was lost, of course,
by the results of the war between the