The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-06-05

sertion that we ought to help the help
less rather than to discriminate against
them in favor of those who ought to be
able to help themselves. In order to il
lustrate what is meant, | call your atten-
ton to a few statistics furnished me by
the State Auditor. The total number of
children of public school age in the State
is 659, 9S3. The amount available from all
sources for public school purposes, in
Guiding the country, towns and cities, is
$1,01S, 1851. This means that the State
and communities both contribute only
$1.S4 per year per student for the public
schools The last Legislature appro-
priated 1923, 10000 for higher education per
year. We have no way of ascertaining
the real attendance of a single institution
of higher learning controlled by the State
to which these funds were allowed. None
of them make public report of their aver
age attendance, nor do they give us any
means Of knowing what is collected in the
way Of tuition and how much of this
money is applied to furnishing free schol-
arships. conservative estimate would
place the cost of every student in these
institutions at 500 each per school year,
not counting the interest on the hundreds
of dollars appropriated in the past for
buildings and equipment. ! leave TO the
decision of the sober minded and unpre-
JUDGED citizens of North Carolina wheth
er this is right and equitable-and ask
them to tell us how long it will take
us at this poor, dying rate to decrease
our average of illiteracy.
1t would be unfair to ignore the ex-
cellent efforts of the church in making
mention of our educational work. She
has always stood for the elevation of
her people, and l take pleasure in re-
senting as an infamous SANDER the as
sertion made by former official of our
State that the church has always been
on the side of human slavery. The
church may have erred at times by yield
ing to the ultra ecclesiastics and bigots,
but be it said to her everlasting honor,
that through her instrumentalities, in
the name Of Him whose bride she is,
! have been inaugurated and carried out
all the great movements in history that
have had for their aim the promotion
of human advancement and the ameliora-
ton of human suffering.
Il honor the church not only as an in
stitution Of divine origin, but as the
greatest agency today for the spreading
| of light throughout the dark corners of
ciple of that Truth which we are promised
shall make us free. But that particular
branch of the Christian church to which
we. the most of us, belong, honorable
and praiseworthy as is its educational
| history, has committed blunders in North
| Carolina which have proven very burden
| some to its colleges, to say nothing OF
| it's other educational interests. We have
| made the almost fatal error of failing to
unite on one male college, and as for fe-
male colleges, they are getting to be as
| thick as grasshoppers. We have not quite
| learned the lesson that we are still too
| poor to have college on every hilltop.
| The consequent fact is that we have no
really great college for our young wom-
| en-, and the further fact that Trinity Is
| getting to be great is not the fault OF
| some Methodists who profess great 10y
| atty to the institutions of their church
| We need to bury the Ratchet and get
| together on enc college. II we can do these
| things there is no limit to the posi-
| bilities before us
! .Anothcr serious trouble with Which