The progressive farmer., 1900-07-10
TIMELY QUESTIONS.


North Carolina will do much
good. For it has set the people
to thinking upon some very weighty
subjects.
First, it has made the people think
as never before of the Importance of
public education and the proper sup
port of our public schools. Never
before has North Carolina been so
aroused upon this question. Now is
a good time to see that your candidate
for the Legislature gets right as to
the matter. See that he pledges him
self, as we have said, to do every
thing short of bankrupting the
State, to make our public school
system a credit to the people. No
question Of greater Importance has
ever been before our voters and If
/ the Constitutional Amendment is to
be adopted, it. is even more essential
that our public school system be
made of greater efficiency. Proof
| conclusive of the great need for i'm
/ provement is found the fact that in
only one State in our Union is the
/ percentage of illiterate whites
/ greater than in North Carolina.
In the second place this amend
ment discussion has brought promi-
nently forward the question of the
( States duty to the citizen and the
/ citizen s duty to the State and to his
/ fellow-citizens. This question has
had far too little attention. The i'm
portance of the ballot and the re
sponsibility of the voter have been
I greatly underestimated Many a
voter of ordinary intelligence has
/ never realized that it is a duty he
owes to his fellow-citiz to study
/ the political questions of the day
/ carefully and in an unbiased manner
and to vote as Judgment then
dictates. Yet the American citizen
with his ballot accOmplishes results
no less far-reaching than the Ameri-
/ can soldier with his bullet and the
result of a contest Of ballots at one
of our elections is of greater i'm
pOrtance than the result of a bloody
battle. If the man who causes an
other suffering, and pain by care
/ less or wicked use of a gum or other
weapon is condemned, shall we hold
/ blameless the voter who by his bal
| lot elects corrupt lawmakers, fastens
unjust and oppressive laws upon our
people, enriching the few at the ex-
pense of the many, bringing pain and
sorrow to hundreds of homes, and
corrupting public morals? Shall we
send d man to the penitentiary who
apprOpriates to his own use money
committed to his care, while we at
the same time recommend as d good
citizen and a good Christian the man
who for reward or the hope of reward
cOrruptly uses the great privilege of
choosing our laws and law makers,
upon whose honesty and fairness in
( d great degree depends the veal or
woe of many people? Shall we laugh
at the folly of the man who refuses
/ to use any of the modern improve
ments but dresses and lives Il hun
dred years behind the times, while
we consider the man sensible who
votes a certain ticket for no better
reason than that it is ''the way his
daddy voted?" Shall we boast of our
independence, our freedom, and
lament the horrors Of slavery and
never think that a more cOntempti-
bic creature is the voluntary slave
who does the bidding Of the bosses .
unquestioningly, rejoicing in his
dOg-like servility and bOasting that
he never scratches a ticket?'
Lastly, should we excuse a man for
failing to alleviate human suffering
and do good to his neighbOr on the
and yet have no thought of the
meanneSS or carelesSness of the
Pharisee who sees the corruption in
political affairs, but holds aloof on
the ground that politics is too dirty
for good man, not realizing that
this true only because our good men
and Christians are careless in voting, |
dominated by prejudice, or taking
no part in politics whatever-a con-
dition of affairs that makes it the /.
more necessary that all hooest men
study public questions and vote for |.
the best candidates before the people. /