The Forrest City times., 1897-09-17
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
r,oouent Address Delivered At For, Smith By Hon. h. L. RemmeI.
..r.enais Filled With Ammunition to De- .troy the Monsters: Ignorance. Super .titlon and Fear''-What the South
 Has Done For the Negro.

which is the nneSt puollc SCHOOL Dulld- ,,c in the state, Hon. H. L. Remmel, of Newnort. delivered the following inter- esting address;
 feel it distinguished honor and compli- ,ent to be called upon to address an audience Ike this on an occasion of this kind.
 you have come here to dedicate h onument o,he intelligence. the progress and the patriot -. o, vour people . This building is A nonument to the architectural skill and taste ot its des signer and will be perpetual glory and satisfaction to your distinguished school hoard as well as the citizen and the scholar and the visitor who is housed within your gates in the years to come. Here at this altar nartisanship is left at the threshold and all as one man meet within these sacred walls to learn the lessons Of wisdom, patriotism and ,ieht method of living.
 To America, one of the youngest and most nroeressiye of nations. must be paid the tribute of being in the vanguard of education. Eighty seven per cent of all the people in the United States of 10 years of age and upwards can read and write This includes the black pail of ignorance let loose upon our land S3 years ago. Inst think of iti-45 900 900 of people permitted ,o enjoy all the treasures of literature which have been gathered from the ages and placed fin the great libraries of our land We spend more money for education than any other peo- nle on the face of the globe. Great Britain spends tI 30 per head in the common schools France so cents, Austria 30 cents, Germany 50 cents Italy 9 cents, and the United States over s250. The school house is the citadel of liberty and the nursery of patriotism. Hence it is an arsenal filled with ammunition to de- stroy the monsters, Ignorance, Superstition and Fear What we want to do is to go on build- ing these monuments to our intelligence and progress doing as you have done here-build the best-for the nation can ind no place too
  which is to govern our land in the future. Pay higher wages: give the children of the rich and poor alike this God-given blessing The progress of this country in education is one of the marvels of history Two hundred and sixty-one years ago Harvard college was founded. In l647 the Massachusetts colony de- creed that when township contained 50house- holders teacher should be appointed to in- struet the children. From the seed sown by these Puritan people popular education has grown until 1t is a national sentiment through out the land today. In 1892 the college of Will jam and Mary was founded in Virginia From these historic institutions have flown influences that have gone far towards shaping our na- tional greatness and glory.
 For nearly 20 years I have been closely iden- tined with the school interests in Arkansas, and 1t is with pleasure and pride that refer to the progress in sentiment that has been made during these 20 years in favor of educat- ing the masses. In 1883 there was spent in Ar- kansas upon the public schools for all purposes E9,47l .45. Last year the amount expended was S l30, ,2S2 s5-a gam of nearly 9 per cent in IS 3years. Wonderful showing!
 Last year the per capita expenditure to daily attendance was ELY. while the per capita ex- penditure to pupils enrolled was &l l5.
 When We consider the position the south had taken before the war upon the question Of com- mon school education and the condition of this section, with ruined homes, ruined resources, prostrsted and bleeding at every pore, after four years of the greatest carnage and blood- shed ever known in all history, with four mill- Ions Of helpless, ignorant bondmen set free upon their hands, the comments of Rev A. D. Mayo Of Boston. Mass, who for 30 years was in the service of the Christian ministry, and for the past Y years engaged in the ministry of eoucatlon, will be most interesting recitation 70 those who have not before been informed of what the southern states have done toward educating the colored race. He says:
 And most wonderful of all the wonders of this era Of miracles. the old master class of the south joined hands with the educational public Of the north in the glorious enterprises of edu- eating the children of it's freedom for the new American citizenship"
 He further said addressing the colored peo- Die at Birmingham, Ala:
 All honor to the north and the nation for what It has done in giving to your people the greatest opportunity to train your youth for the ieaoersbip of your nation within a nation; but never forget that the Is states of the south in the oay of their poverty, rising up from the defeats ana humiliations of the greatest civil war of modern times, have given four dollars for the education of your children in the new southern sonmon schools to every dollar given by the psiance of the country. The south has struck nsnas once and forever with the north and the n.uon' ana In the establishment and support oI tne American common school at cost ounng the past 25 years of more than e4S3 0OO- "-%s,o ,ooOO 900 for its colored citizens-has done sucn work as no people under similar circum- stances evil did before while but s25. 900 900 nave oeeu contributed by the national govern ment. ey the churches and people of the states 'nat remained in the Union in lS63. Nothing tnat has happened south of the Mason and DiIon fne since the foundation of the govern .enl nas been so honorable to the leading class vI tne south as the voluntary contribution of
 n soWVOOO, under the peculiar condition of '~ pvers, for the establishment of the Ameri- osa common school for the children of their former bondmen"
 Ihh language from so distinguished an edu- oseof must be true statement of the facts, .au " Is with gratifying pleasure that recite 'nem here today.
 ihls occasion reminds me of those eloquent .o'us oi Philips Brooks, spoken in Westmin- s'e' Abbey on the occasion of his nations birth- TOT In our modern thought the nation IS Ao making place of men. not by traditions of V, history, not by the splendor of its corporate s.nliesements, nor by the abstract excellence Ns constitution; but by it's dtness to make .on 10 oeget and educate human character, contribute to the complete humanity the pe.iect man that is to be By this alone each aa''on .s must be judged today The nations are sAo golden candlesticks which hold aloft the ssuuies or the Lord. No candlestick can be so , en or venerable that men shall honor it If it to land"
 me schools of our land are nurseries from .'. on we have in the past and expect in the .s' 10 bring forth many brilliant candles .u .aa' snail stand as beacons upon the mountain sops ana in the valleys. in the slums and dark s.aoes sss or our great cities. or amid ignorance as sa superstition in the regions where the light ,n'eiiigence has never shone, to illume and .sa aAe oright all the dark places and hidden re- ,ssses ,s' or the world. Intelligence means civil- h,ason and civilization means that new har- s.I eer that will bring about the ideal period of oence which recognizes the fatherhood of wv ana the brotherhood of man.
 HOME HOMELESS.