The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1902-10-31
JAMES B. FRAZIER
Exponds the Gospel OF Demoe'
racy at the Opera House
To a Large Audience, all Of Whom
Were Greatly Enthused by
Eloquence And Logic.

Senator CarmacK and II ON. James 3
Frazier came out from Nashville yes
terday morning on the 10 O'CLOCK train,
and were met at the train by a COM
mittee aud escorted to the Bethel
House in carriages.
The committee was composed of JAS.
A. Smiser. ESQ.,, Senator E. E. Erwin.
Capt. A. A. Lipscomb. F. d. Lander,
W. ]. fowler, Jno. W. Fry. A. B.
K aims, E. q. Grant and Congressman
Padgett.
MIR. Frazier was assigned room No. l.,
at the Bethel. where Democ rats from
the town and county began almost i'm
mediately to call and pay their res
poets. Senator Carmack clai med an
engagement ''up the street" and was
permitted to spend the intervening
hours with his family.
The speaking began about one O'CLOCK
Senator Carmack making only a bri lei
Introductory, yielding the time to Mr..
Frazier. that he might fully discuss
the issues of the day.
A good sized audience greeted the
Hon. James B. Frazier at the Opera
House Yesterday afternoon, the house
being we'll filled, and his speech walked
them from their lethargy. 1t was
magnificent speech. Bold and fearless
vet moderate and unoffending. Elo-
quent, logical and splendidly delivered.
Senator Carmack. in his always
ready and happy style. introduced MT.
Frazier, who said it was with more
than ordinary pleasure that he came
to the good county OF Maury to
meet and talk with the people. he
was a native born Tennessean. he
said, and was proud OF its fields ana
forests, mountains and valleys, men
and women. He spoke OF the won
derful resources of the State, and
it's growth aud development under
Democratic rule. The Republicans. as
tar back as 1859, spent more money
in administering the government OF
the State, than the Democrats did in
1900 and 1901. Under Democratic
rule the State was now giving to char
tiles, including the old Confederates,
over $500, 900 a year., and yet saving
every day over vi, 400, and applying
the same to reduction Of the state
debt.
Speaking of the Importance OF edu-
alton and the public schools. Mr.
Frazier said:
.tThat department Of the state gov
eminent which comes closest to the
people is that of public schools. l
need not tell you that education is the
great bulwark and safeguard of free
people. need not tell you that edu-
cation and prosperity go hand in hand.
I need not tell you that the richest and
most valuable asset of this great and
rich state ia not its mines and It's
factories, it's forests and it's farms, but
it is the 800, 600 boys and girls who
are to make It's future citizenship and
to build for it It's wealth and power.
"'When the people of Tennessee re-
turned from the bloody scenes OF a
great civil war to find their labor
system destroyed, their industries
paralyzed and their property wasted
and gone, one of the first things they
did was to grasp with courage and
patriotism this great problem of the
education of the people, and to pass a
law recognizing the public schools of
the state, and providing that 81
512, 500 should be fixed and established
as perpetual school fund upon which
the state would forever pay six per
cent. interest. Not only that, but
with the broadcast charity and the
highest craftsmanship, they provided
that every dollar of school money be
equally shared, in proportion to popu-
lation, by the children of their former
slaves. whom the war had left de-
pendent upon them. And for nearly
thirty years the negroes Of Tennessee,
Though laws passed and enforced by
the democratic party. have been receiv-
ing more than 25 per cent. of the
school money Of the state, while pay
ing less than per cent. Of the taxes
Of the state.
Rural Schools.
''While we spent in Tennessee last
year Al, 81, 900 on public schools. we
find that the average number Of days
taught was only ninety three. and in
many Of the counties of the state it
did not exceed seventy-five days. In