The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-06-24
LOCAL TAXATION
FOR SCHOOLS
Continued from first page)


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2. it is provided, 1T shall be the duty
of commissioners to exercise a general
supervision and control Of the penal and
charitable Institutions, schools, roads
and bridges" The courts have held that
the Legislature might authorize the
county to levy a special tax over anu
above the constitutional limitation for
the purpose of building jail or OF con-
structing an aims house or roads, or
bridges or for court houses or FOR the
expense of trying criminals or maintain
ing prisoners and yet they have denied
the same power for the purpose of build
ing school houses and educating the chill
dren of North Carolina. l am not seek
ing notoriety by criticising the courts,
and if you wish me so to express it |
will say that am quoting the law as laid
down by the Supreme Court of North
Carolina. and yet | cannot refrain from
pointing out to you two conspicuous in
stances of eminent judges who filed dis
senting opinions, the one in the Banks
dale case in 1885, and the other in the
Bladen county case in 1892, and / am
almost constrained to say that these dis
senting opinions will yet become the law
| in North Carolina when the leaven of
| educational sentiment shall permeate
| the minds and hearts of the people of
| the State, as it will at no distant day.
! / refer to those two eminent jurists-
| Judges Merrimon, ever the bold cham
pion Of the cause of the people, and of
| Judge Avery, who yet lives to illustrate
his zeal and his ability. Again, while
| the courts have held that the Legisla-
| ture may authorize the county commits
| sioners to levy a tax over and above the
| constitutional limitation for the specific
| purpose of building jails, court houses,
| bridges and feeding prisoners and yet
| they held that the same Legislature
| may not authorize the county to levy
| a special tax for the purpose Of building
school houses or educating the children
| without first admitting the same to the
| qualified voters and the decision is put
/ upon the ground that the bridges aoe
| jails are necessary expenses while
| schools are not. Local taxation affords
| the best means of lengthening the school
! term. These taxes are sanctioned by
| legislative authority and approved by the
| vote of the people of the community.
| Thus the people become identified with
| the maintenance and the operation OF
| their schools. They feel that the taxes
! are not levied by some distant authority.
! but by their own volition and thus they
! become interested in their management
! and take a pride in the prestige of their
success. Local taxation has brought TO
numerous cities and towns in the State
a system of graded public schools which
! are the pride Of their people and are
| rapidly taking first rank among the
| schools of the country. They are furnish
| f~r
who are likewise furnishing pupils for
] the normal schools and these are fur
nishng a disciplined army of educational
/ workers ready to go out into the fields
where the harvest is ripe. Local taxa
| ton will furnish the remedy for short
+! term schools in all the rural communi-
| ties of the State and should be encourage
| cd by all means at the command of the
J educators and public men and women who
/ have enlisted for the cause of increased
public facilities in every section Of the
State.
| | have been asked to declare the faith
/ that is in me upon the question of ed
ucatfon. What convictions l entertain
upon this question may interest very few
! persons and yet / do not hesitate to pro-
claim them. l believe that every child
has the right to demand of the State and
of the community in which he lives that
the facilities OF the public school shall
i be afforded him which shall be as free
and as gracious as the sunlight of heav-
en-. / believe it is the duty of every
citizen. both upon general principles and
by constitutional enactment, to pay his
taxes upon the property with which God
has blessed him for the purpose of main
tanning these schools for the benefit Of
the children of the State. I believe there
is no better investment which the tax
payer can make of his means, or which
will yield him better return, and | know
there is no expenditure of revenue more
productive of benefit to the State or of
blessings to the child than for this
cred purpose. / believe it is the duty
of every man, and particularly the young
men and of the young women of the
State to stand upon these ramparts and
proclaim these fruitful truths until con-
viction shall overtake the men and wo-
men of our State and the school house
and the trained school teacher are
brought within reach of the poorest and
most inaccessible child, The time for
plain speaking has come and ! am glad
to say that this fact is being recognized.
The young and aspiring man who seeks
| pOlltlc&l prOmOtlOn ana advancement
J and the intellectual young woman who
wishes to do her State a service and bring
her name into good repute can find no
! surer avenue for the accomplishment of
their purposes than to get in the process
! sion and stand for the cause of educa-
| ton. AS ! read in the newspapers, | am
/ glad to say that one of the candidates
| for the high office of Governor of the
/ State, man of education, learned adj
| vocate and broad publicist and withal
/ an unerring interpreter of the signs of
the times, is today going about among
o the people proclaiming that the greatest
, issue of the present and of the future is
the education of our children. So may it
be with all the candidates of all the po-
litical parties. We invite discussion of
this issue. We challenge debate because
we not only have the organic law OF our
| State to sustain us, but the promrtings
J of a high sense Of duty-a high ideal of
! citizenship.
! Young ladies the records Of this ipst-
| tuition show that more than 9 per cent
| of the young women who have received
| it's instruction became teachers, and most
| of them teachers in our public schools.