The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-06-03
Winston Sentinel.l

Winston Sentinel
The most hopeful sign Of these times
is the passing away of SO many mis-
conceptions in regard to the great sub
ject of education.
The adage that acknowledge is
power" -never true except in the
sense that a sledge hammer is power,
that is, when 1t is is pplied-has, in a
measure, given place to the practical
truth that all knowledge is but sound
ing brass and tinkllng cymbal if its
possessor has no ability to use knowl-
edge.
OF many so-called educated men in
the past it might truthfully be said:
"He had every talent save that ofusing
his talents"
The introduction Of manual training
and industrial education into nearly
all progressive schools today is a tardy
recognition of the fact that it is better
to know fewer things and to do some
thing than it is to know everything
| and TO do nothing.
The old idea that erudtion or learn
ing was synonymous with education
forced the logical conclusion that edu-
cation was not necessity but an or
namenta,ion of the mind and luxury
for the nobly born and the we'll to do.
| Practical education means that train
ing of the mind, soul and body which
will give productive power. |. means
culture and its means wealth. Proper
self reliance and general usefulness de-
pend upon it, and no human breathes
to whom it is not a necessity, both for
his own good and for the good of the
public.
Education is no longer to be con-
sdered purely private matter but is
the most important public concern. If
education means self reliance and pro-
ductiveness and if it teaches an indi-
vidual as it should, love of justice
and right and a respect for law and
order, then all life and liberty and
|
valuable where all the people are edu-
Gated.
Education is costly, but SO is physi-
cal food and clothing. And after all
education has the quality peculiar to
all necessities. 1t costs more not to
have it than it does to pay for it. Ig-
norance is more costly than education.
Enterprising people are leaving the
country every day and going to the
towns simply because they intend if
possible to give their children good
school privileges and they do this in
spite of the fact that their taxes on
poll and personal property will often
be greater in the town than the tax on
a large plantation in the country.
Thus our towns are growing, partly at
the expense Of the county, and the
country district cannot stand that
drain much longer. Just as individ
uals on account of ambition for their
children are forsaklng their farms for
the educational opportunities of the
towns and cities, SO it is equally true
that many ambitious spirits leave this
State every year for broader opportu
mites in States whose creed is univer-
sal and complete education in schools
supported by public taxes. And yet
to some men the chief glory Of para
disc will be the absence Of the sheriff
and the tax collector, and their politi-
cal gospel in this world is low taxes
and retrenChment reforms.
Did it ever occur to you that the
most productive capital of any State is
self reliant, educated citizens, and tina,
North Carolina suffers a net annual loss
of more than one seventh Of this CAPT
tai? The census of 1890 shows that
10000 natives of North Carolina
were living in other States, and that
$4,000 natives of other States were liv.
ing in North Carolina, showing a ne,
loss to the State of 24I,ooo human
beings. Mr.. Walter Page in his re-
markable address at the State Normal
and Industrial College last Wednesday
called attention to the fact that a negro
slave was supposed to be worth 81 ,ooc
and calculating that these 24I,ooc
people are worth that much the State
had lost in one transaction S24I,ooo,
900, which is just about the amoun
for which the property OF the State il
assessed on the tax books. We get les
than one citizen for every five We give
to other States.
We must consider too the characte
of those who leave us. Paupers and
illiterates do not move. The Wins
, tons and Pages and Osbornes and Til
lets are types of large class that bet
ter opportunity has called elsewhere
We talk about high taxes and ex
travagance, the large appropriation
for the asylums, the courts, the peni
Tertiary, the institutions Of learnn!
and the public schools, but the mos
expensive luxury in this State is GU
magnificent system Of illlteracy whic
we sustain without murmur excep
now and then a complaint from
cranky school teacher or some othe
educational theorist.
The speaker appealed to the citizen
of Winston, who had manifested inter
est in the cause Of education, to tax
n part in the campaign OF next Angus
). when the people of the respective town
: ships will vote upon supplemental
school tax, and to do something &c
wards making tire schools in the coun
try efficient.