The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1902-05-22
old MAN OF THE SEA,
s1NBAD's STRONG SHOULDERS.
Status Of Southern Education,

SSSAtNS W 6OAbAVA II &1NA NAvdtlJus
The following extract from an ar
ticle by Edward Ingle in the Manufsc-
turers' Record bearing upon the cru
sade Of the Southern Education Board
indicates that there is more than one
side to the propositions advanced IN
the interests OF that Board:
There is a fact intensely dramatic
and absolutely truthful about the
statement that in the ten Southern
States south OF the Potomac and east
of the Mississippi adult white illiteracy
is as great as it was before the Civil
War, If that statement be reversed 50
as to read that in these ten Southern
States there is no more white adult
llllteracy than there was before the
war.
That is en- amazing TACT of self-re-
lance in education when facts about
the whole South Tor the past forty
years are recalled. Nothing should be
permitted to weaken that spirit.
War during four Of those years trans
ierred about $1,000 100000 worth OF
property from individuals to the State,
and at the same time reduced the pro-
ductive value Of that property to de-
gree which may hardly be estimated
in dollars and cents. War aud subss-
quent redistribution wiped cut at least
81 600, 900, 900 worth OF property repre-
sented in banking capital, Insurance and
the value o! land, houses, etc, and
weighted with grlevous debts a popu-
lation already depleted by the death or
permanent injury OF Thousands Of its
most sturdy members. In the past
thirty years the South, while overcon-
ing many Ct these evils, has maintain
ed the literacy of its white population,
in spite of The imperIeclions OF tne
school system, aud in spite OF the fact
that OF the $6l5, 1000, coo spent by 1t in
maintaining common schools, about
100000 have gone toward reduc.
ing by about 20 per cent. the ll!iteracy
of Its negroes, and this, too, Ill the
face Of hostility OF ignorance on the
outside ccnterlng in interference with
the negro. This fact, pathetic as it is,
and unparalleled for magnitude in the
history of education, ought to induce
we'll meaning individuals on the out
side to be slow to proffer advice OR
other aid, and enthusiastic Southern
ers to hesitate about accepting either.
The task is for the South to work out
Its own common. school system with
out regard to what has been done else
,here-a system best suited to its pc
cullar needs.
With the records in miLd there
seems to be more than coincidence of
time in growing determination on
the part of the South to devote more
of its energies to the proper education
of it's whites and in the apparent con-
ception o. the Southern education
board idea by men of the n N,rth or of
the South who have heretofore been
occupied mainly or entirely in promot-
ing the schooling CT the negroes. The
coincidence becomes more significant
with the putative founder insisting up
on the linking in the scheme OF whites
and negroes.
For forty years the Southern Sinbad
has carried astrlde his shoulders the
black Old Man OF the Sea, placed
there against Sinbad's will, or without
the Old Man of the Seas intelligent
action. Bent with his burden, Sinbad
has patiently but persistently advanc-
ed, keeping, however, his head erect
and bis eyes to the front, and doing all
within his power to loosen himself from
his burden, and at the same time, In a
spirit SO different from that OF the
original Sinbad, to prepare the Old
Man OF the Sea to stand alone and to
advance Oh right lines. At the point
where success seems in sight Siubad is
THAT PAIN
No matter where it is located will
! 1