Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-04-14
ATTACK ON THE STATES
PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM


Liberty of the press and freedom OF
speech are marks of advancement and
civilization, and should be cherished and
fostered by every civilized nation. Under
a normal state of affairs they are indices
OF conditions healthy and vigorous, and
should be protected by laws and pubic
sentiment that till not admit OF their
abuse With proper regulations and con-
servative restrictions they are blessed
privileges; unrestricted and open to the
abuse and extravagant demands of the
morbidly ambitious, the croker, the dis
affected, the politician, the demagogue,
they at once become veritable tools or
Islander and torture.
The above reflections are suggested by
the conglomorate mass of abusive publ
cations about the public school system OF
the state that has lately flooded the coun-
try through the newspapers. The Hood
gates of hate venom. and malignity seem
to have been thrown wide open and the
torrents Of nasty epistles and dark lnnu-
endoes showered upon every attache OF
the school system, from the highest to the
lowest.
The charges that have been made cover
ouitaaan the crimes in the catalogue of
which the would-be defendants could rea-
sonably be guilty; and, from the stand
pofnt of a novice, are as serious as they
are numerous. An old regular, however,
knows their ring and disposes OF them In
short order. Indifference, negligence, IN
discretion. incapacity, bribery, misappro-
priation of funds, extravaganza, favorit-
ism. demagoguism. public plumber, dis
regard for law, and malfeasance gener-
ally, all have been charged, or insinuated.
Strange the unearthing of such an army
of cunning rascals, holding public offices
that ramify every county, every district
every hamlet, in the state, does not pro-
-. tab he
world never saw. Stranger still is the fact
that the charges. numerous and grave as
they might seem, should have failed to
disturb the equanimity of the public mind
The serenity of the public pulse, under
the circumstances, can be accounted for
I'm but two ways; the public has either
thrown around these fragrant indicators
the broad mantle of charity and quietly
decided to merely wink at their foibles. or
It has simply brushed the insinuations
aside as nothing more than the natural
output of weak and erring, selhsh ana
suspecting human nature. Were the
charges specinc and based on facts, the
| situation might be truly alarming. But
such is not the case, and the reading pub
lie knows II. Absurdity marks quite every
hoof of them, and as for definiteness and
| facts, they are simply not in it. Under
/ some circumstances these charges might
/ be properly classed as the natural product
| of insatiate ambition, prejudice, malevo-
lence, spite, and such like ugly principles,
/ but rather than be uncharitable, we repel
] the thought of such motives, preferring TO
| think of them as the fruit of Ignorance,
/ the want of proper and sufficient informa-
J ton. and that perhaps, after all, the accu-
sations are less serious than might APP
pear at first glance.
| After serious reflection we find 1t diff
| cult to believe that even the accusers are
serious. Grant they are, and that their
wholesale charges are true; what di-
| abolical state of things! 1t would simply
mean that the entire force Of the public
| school system. from the state superintend-
ent down to the most obscure teacher, is
corrupt II we understand plain English
the last one of the gang is included in the
charges. The simple statement OF the
scope and meaning of the slanderous in
nuendoes is sufficient to unbosom their
| absurdity, their monstrosity.
| II is not our purpose to offer excuses Tor
the crookedness of any one, neither
would we be understood as opposed to the
exposition Of crime and to its punishment.
| but the wholesale, Indifferent, and reck-
! less charges that have been published TO