The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-05-04

| its Importance. My early reading. my
| brief work as a teacher and my expert
| ence as the editor of a local newspaper
! all tended to direct my attention toward
! our educational condition in the South
| and its causes. For some years these
convictions remained in allegiance, of
| which | do not speak with pride, owing
| somewhat to local environments. Local
| taxation for schools could not be con-
| sldered, it was said, because of poverty
| or the community and because of the
perplexing race problem. l subsequent
| ly learned that these and other excuses
| constituted only a thin veneering in eX-
| tenuatiOn of other and more substantial
| reasons against the extension of the
public school system. My observation
| taught me that the opponents were OPP
posed to taxation for public schools I'M
der any conditions. | think perhaps my
happiest experience in life was on the
day that | threw off the shackles of
| cowardice and boldly proclaimed that it
was the highest duty and the most pre-
Ciious privilege of the citizen to foster
public schools and to contribute his pro-
portion in taxation for that purpose
| When a serious problem cOnfrOnts the
| individual and perpleXities surround him
and a condition presses for solution, he
feels that he has half succeeded when he
resolves to know the truth and confess
it. ! have no desire to pose as a critic
and yet | would not shun conditions
though unpleasant. 1t would be super
tluous TO speak in this presence of the
necessity of an educated citizenship.
mean the education not of part but of
the whole, not of the children of one
tall 1,,,4
| cation. The student of economic and
| social conditions in the Southern States
is bound to conclude that it is the SUI
premest question of the hour. In it is
Involved the material progress and the
industrial independence of our people.
| Out of it will come the solution of the
race problem Through it we shall be-
come more tolerant. BY it's light, situa-
tions which are now dark and difficult
of solution will be illumined and made
plain. BY it the existence of the dema-
gogue and the self-seeker who thrves
upon untruth and ignorance will be more
difficult.
1t has been said that "an ignorant
people can be governed but only an
educated people can govern themselves"
In truth I am bound to say that the
/
their full duty in the education of it's
children IN the past. What are the
causes that have contributed to this
| failure? Many have said with reference
to the period since the Civil War that
| the arbitrary conversion of the slaves
into full fiedged citizens and the poverty
Fof our people consequent upon that
struggle have operated to prevent the
| nf &c 1pfx- min
| imize the force of these statements. Yet
I must remind you that prior to 1861,
when these conditions did not exist
the people of the South at that time were
recreant in the discharge of this i'm
pOrtant duty.
| Speaking with due regard to limita-
tons, individuals usually accomplish
those purposes which are formulated by
! a sense of conviction and of duty and
which are promoted by unfaggng resolu-
| ton and persistence. SO it is with COM
| munitieS and with States. With q desire
| to be conservative, with no other pur-
pose than to speak the truth. l make the
| statement that the people of the South
ern States have not made provision for
| the free education of all of the children,
| because they did not properly appreciate
their duty in this regard and, therefore,
made no persistent effort to discharge
! their duty. | tender this proposition to
the educated, wise and broad citizenship
of the South and ask them to answer if
| it is not true.
What is the remedy? 1t is not beauti-
full panegyrics upon education and its
manifold advantages. We have heard
| these eulogiums until we were surfeitcd
! ! know one of these fine men who was
frequently in demand to deliver literary
| addresses at college commandments and
he would wax eloquent upon this subject
| and when a few brave men and women
| of his community were endeavoring to
| induce the citizens to vote for a special
| tax to support public schools, stood upon
| the streets corners urging with the same
| eloquence that it was not his duty to
| educate the children Of his neighbors
! The remedy lies in the crca ton of a
healthful public sentiment. We must
| tell the people that it is unsafe to live
! in a community where the children are
| suffered to grow up in ignorance. We
| must tell them that while it is their
duty to pay taxes for the protection of
life and of property and of the mainte-
| nance of police powers of government,
| that it is a still higher duty to tax
| themselves for the education of all the
children. We must declare that it is not
a charity which they are bestoWing but
! that it is the right of every child to de-
| mand and to receive the benefits of at
| least an elementary education. and that
mental and moral nurture and mental
| training are more important than all
| other demands of youth. We must point
out to them that the most profitable in
| vestment of the body polite measured in
dollars and cents, is the tax funds which
| is invested in the brains and the capa-
| bilities of the children. We must point
| out to them that recognition of duty and
| conception of truth are not alone essen
! tial but that works must justify the
! faith that is in them, that taxes must be
| levied and collected and that wise and
| intelligent supervision of these public
| agencies of education must be observed
| l congratulate these men of the North
| who have voluntarily formed this asso-
| citation and who come down annually
| among us to discuss this pressing ques-
| ton. With a cordial heart we welcome
! the contributions which they are making
| to this cause. We need their help, We
! need the inSOiratiOn OF their presence,