The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1902-04-17
The Final Reply.

EDITOR BAMBERG HERALD--My dear
sir: truly regret that my Interpretation
of your English has not given me the
proper conception of your editorials. |
heartily agree with YOU that such words
as malicious and 'stealtly rogucry" are
far reaching and carry with them IN un-
hallowed meaning. All words i'll the
English language have their specific
meaning anu | have used the ones you
have specially mentioned, that my appre-
citation of your arraignment may be fully
understood. Parts of your editorials gave
me personal concern, being at the head
of Denmark schools. assure you that our
Board concurred in the sentiment have
advanced, because they felt as did, that
you had used strong language in the out
set, so strong that we could not afford to
ignore it. To wit about 5000 collected
in Bamberg district goes to schools out
of the district, while Denmark gets every
dollar paid in hers This big negeo en-
rollment enables her also to get the great
est share of the dispensary fund. Small
wonder that she can have eight or nine
hundred dollars left over each year. This
is not an injustice only to Bamberg dis
trict, but to every school district in the
county, for if this padded enrolment was
cut off there would be over 5000 more
each year to be apportioned to the
schools"
What do you mean by padded enroll
ment?" Define fully. If you can show
me that you did not intend to convey the
impression that our Board of Trustees
was presenting each year fictitious,
stuffed enrolment, then | owe you an
apology. The word "pad,' as transi-
tive verb means, "to STUFF and felt that
you were charging dishonesty, since you
added, "that if this padded enrolment
was cut off there would be over 5000
more each year to be apportioned to the
schools"
| came to the conclusion that to 'pad'
school roll, to stuff it with names, that
a good appropriation may be assured, rep
resented the Nervousness of 4 malicious
person, an act of stealthy roguery. Don't
you agree with me? Upon this construc-
ton of the word padded" have based
my honest reply. 1t was the hinge upon
which my purposes turned, and the far
reaching, cutting words, were only q
manly resentment, backed up by pure,
sincere intentions, that you and your
many readers may become apprised of our
indignation. I realize I have done you
an injustice if you purposed to paint a
different picture.
Ism ts>natnral then to warm up, as you
describe it? The scope of my recent re-
ply aimed to enlarge the circle of light
because the shadow Of darkness, which
we considered about us, made easy con-
tentment inadmissable On the contrary
if you did intend to charge our officials
with dishonest, irregular, illegal work
how courteous was my tone after all. Ii
really reminds me of bowling to royalty
In order to answer some facts of your
last editorial, will be compelled to quote
certain parts and answer in detail: etc
come to the real question at issue: Mr.
Virgins does not attempt to explain OF
reply to the facts and figures cited by US
except in the matter of the salaries paid
the negro teachers. There the mistake is
not ours, for we took them from the
official report and the difference is very
slight anyway, a total of only $50. The
annual report of the State Superintendent
Education also gives the total negro
population of Denmark of school age
between six and twenty-one years. as
225-1OO boys and 1875 girls-yet it gives
the total enrolment in her schools as
56S-265 boys and 303 girls-an enroll.
ment OF 343 more pupils than there is
children He is right when he says these
figures perplex US for they do, and we
cheerfully admit our inability to under,
stand how an enrolment of 56S pupils
can be returned when there are only 22j
of school age. If these figures are wrong
who is to blame? The report is official
and was the best source of information
open to u.s." Take up the report of State
Superintendent Education and turn tC
table I, page 17S. Here you will find the
facts about the district schools. You will
observe that we have one white school,
in district, situated at Denmark; three
negro schools, one located at Denmarb
and two others in country. The white
school has an enrolment of 192-the three
negro schools 56S. So much for the dis.
trict statistics. Kindly refer to table 9
page 222, for receipts and expenditures
The expenditures should be for negro
schools 1910 You can verify this by ex-
amining County Treasurer's books. Table
8, page 27S embraces facts about Denmark
town school for whites. Having nc
country schools for whites, the DenmarE
school is classed as a town school. Table
number 8, page 274 gives information
about Denmark town negro school. The
atteniance-225 Should be 29C, means
that this is the enrolment of the negro
town school only. There are two more
negro schools in country as stated above
that have an enrolment which CORE
spends to the perplexing feature of the
Herald's figures. Then in conclusion
where do we get 343 more pupils than
recorded population of negro town school:
| modestly answer from two country
schools, by names, Zion Hill and Caper-
naum. You can find record of these
schools in the Office County Superinten-
dent Education.
can answer you most emphatlcally
that the enrolment of town negro school
is distinctly made up of pupils residing in
this district. A few boarding pupils are
here. The two country schools draw on
such plantations as those owned by Dr.
Guess and Senator Maytield. Besides
IuCSC tuClC iiis'uy III StN iNheSiS . IL s'@'AA>
territory. l must acknowledge that a
good number come to these country
Schools from adjoining districts, prefer
ring our schools, because they are nearer
The law gives us the explicit right to en-
roll and we are glad to have them, both
white and colored. The free banner floats
over our school. am conscious of the
tremendous enrolment of our schools,
but there is no fiction about it. The ma
terial is here You can't blot out the fact.
You might still continue to discredit our
presentations; however, we can put them
in parade before you at any time, if you
will 90 to the trouble of coming up to see
us. Two of the schools have just closed
They are the country schools, with COM
bined attendance of 297. The enrolment
of town negro school will probably reach
$50. The white school will report $50
or more. Therefore the total will stand
for the year in close touch with preceding
terms.
In previous article tried to explain
to you the working of the Lizzie Wright
school. From what has been given, ]
think you will readily agree that what has
been said fully establishes the point made,
81. 81 .obo,l 10 f,>r H., nnhlin .nl 40 n