The age-herald., 1901-02-12
PATERNALISM
 IN EDUCATTON'S NAME
BY LucIEN JULIEN WALKER.


 Yet the tyranny would furnish children no food no shoes, no clothing no books.
 But the supreme purpose of this pro- posed law compelling the schooling of all children in the State, this so-called Com pulsory Education Bill now pending be- fore committee of the Legislature Is to destroy all the private schools in the State! The title of the bill should be made to run,
 A Bill For the Complete Destruction of Private Schools of the State, with Pro- vision for Putting Pious Parents and Others in Jail.
 That is a general title we'll suited to this monstrous and audacious proposi- tion.
 Imagine some swashbuckling, rum crazy, tobacco eating. pistol-shooting lout of ruff1an as inspector lunging and lounging and swaggering through the private apartments of Mrs. Talaiferro's noble, ideal private school for little gen. tlewomen in Birmingham. or through the beautiful Birmingham Seminary, or the noble private schools for girls at Athens Huntsville, Florence, Tuscaloosa, Annis- ton Tuskegee, Selma, Eufaula,s Union Springs Mobile, Marion, and so on!
 Such a scene of ruffian shame amongst the pure young girls of Alabama may be. probably will be, frequently seen If the proposed act of tyranny passes through the Legislature and receives the Govern or's approval.
 It is provided that persons charged with the duty of inspecting schools shall be named by the school authorities" meaning clearly the school boards. There is politics in most school boards. Ruffi- ans are often useful in politics, and such usefulness must sometimes be rewarded.
 Most of the private schools in Alabama arc girls schools, taught by women, and so a wrong against these schools is a wrong against those members of the community least capable of defending themselves.
 These true-hearted and noble women who teach the girls of Alabama depend upon men to protect them and their saintly young pupils from wrong, from insult, from ruffians in all positions, from the outrageous presence of inspectors clothed with the power of an outrageous law!
 No man shall say without baseness that this protest is written In spirit of opposi- ton or unfriendliness to the public schools. Most likely I have done more pleading for the public schools than all the promoters of that odious bill at Montgomery, and shall continue stead fastly in support of wisely conducted schools under public system
 But humbly beseech. implore. the General Assembly not to impose upon this people the accursed tyranny of pa- ternalism as deliberately. and for un- holy purposes, set forth in the bill under discussion!
 iltry shall emerge from committee I know not The main things originally aimed at I have endeavored to make clear in their monstrous proportions Tn its original form the scheme of iniQuitous usurpation of the peoples rights and the destruction of personal liberty and hu- man freedom cannot be explained away. It bristles with outrages upon the people of Alabama. The thing is devilish
 It will be understood that these are my personal yiews and are here given by the courtesy of the editor of the Age Herald.
 .-.-..-.....-- son Hobson by his friends and admirers. in token of his bravery and heroism in the sinking of the collier Merrimac in Santiago harbor, July 8, 1S9S."
 The design of the handles of the waiter Is nautical ropes and anchors. and that of the border nautical ropes. The etch- ings on the service are reproductions of some of the illustrations in the book on ."Tne Sinking of the Merrimac," which was written by Lieutenant Hobson.