The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-06-03

~~ AA0 NhoN
every school officer should bestir him
self to advance the cause, Professor
Washington Catlett, superintendent Of
of public instruction in New Hanover
county. issued a call for a convention
OF the school committeeman of the
county.
In accordance with his cali. there was
a large meeting Of the committeeman
yesterday morning at 10 o'clock at the
Cape Fear academy building, on Third
street, next door to the court house.
About fifty committeeman were in at
tendance, representing every school dis
trict IL the county Besides the COM
mitteemen there were present the Hon.
Alfred NJ. Waddell, MI. James H. Chad
bourn. chairman of school district No
2 Tin the city,, Mr.. w. H Sprunt, of the
county board of education. and Mr.. w.
NJ. Cumming. A few ladies' were also
in attendance.
Superintendent CaUett called the
meeting to order, briefly mentioning the
object Of the meeting and in doing so
he said it was novel from the fact that
so far as he knew no such meeting has
before been held in the state. He said
his policy is to give the people of New
Hanover county the best facilities for
education, and it was also his purpose
to give the committeeman the best Will
mington can afford. He had therefore.
invited to address this meeting Colonel
Waddell, the distinguished son of illus
trious ancestors, who was always a
leader Union nnn - Io~ornIol --l
whose ancestors wera always leaders,.
He said 1T was not necessary to intro
duce Colonel Waddell in the county or
the state, for he is Well known here,
and in fact throughout this country He
then presented Colonel Waddell who
spoke for about fifteen minutes and
made a telling speech. Colonel Waddell
said in part:
M friends: Professor Catlett did me
the honor to invite me to be here. and
to say something to you upon the one
great absorbing question which is now
attracting the attention and enlisting
the sympathies of the people of this
state as never before, and I am glad to
be here to manifest, as 1 have done for
nearly a half century, my cor dial SYM
pathy with every effort to advance the
cause OF education among my people.
1T is nothing new with me. When
many of those who are now distinguish
ing themselves by their labor in this
cause were little children, and before
some Of them were born, I was doing
what I could as a citizen to compel
public attention to the great overpower-
ing need of greater educational facilities
for the children Of my native state, and
1 have never failed, in all the lnterven-
ing years, to respond to any call upon
me for service in that cause We are
in the midst Of an educational revolu-
ton. which has been differently charac-
teriZed as an awakening revival
and a crusade" You can scarcely
pick up a newspaper published in North
Carolina that does not contain an &C
count Of some educational convention,
or conference, or gathering that has
been held in or near the locality in
which it is published. :
S great has been the enthusiasm on
the subject of popular education that
some extremely cautious and conserva-
tive people have complained that it
amounts to a craze Well. if it is a
craze, it is that peculiar form of insan-
ity that I have long desired to see gen
orally prevalent in North Carolina.
But, while delighting in this belated
enthusiasm for a great cause, / am not
one of those who are ready to admit
that the people of North Carolina are
benighted, and have always been at the
tail end of the procession OF the states
in educational matters. Some people
among us who are not as familiar with
the facts as they might be. seem ready,
if not eager to admit that all the lies
which have been published about us in
this respect are not lies but the truth.
and. further, that they were published
by those who knew more. even about
our own affairs, than We ourselves
knew. I am not One Of this company.
God knows our people have been shame
fully negligent of duty in regard to edu-
cation, but any of those who are so
ready TO make degrading admissions
onthe subject would be less inclined to
do so If they had made a comparative
study of the history OF education in the
United states during the last century.
In this, as in other matters affectlng our
history, there has been gross misrepre-
sent2 ton for many years, which has
been permitted by US with cnaracteris-
tic indifference. Under the radically
hanged conditions resulting from the
war of 1875, there has been a tenden-
CIV to accept not only the political and
economic views of our former antagon-
lists, but their ideals of life IN all other
respects. This I regard as a misfortune
because there are differences of civili-
zatiOn between us which the welfare OF
our people demands should not be de-
-strOyed. We ought always 10 recOS-
nize facts, but this does not necessarily
mean that we should surrender convic-
Iions.
TT was stated in d leading magazine
within the past two years that there
were no common schools for the educa-
ton of the people in the south until al
ter the war. I wrote to the editor OF
that magazine expressing my astonish-
ment at such a statement and giving
him certain statistics about education
in North Carolina before the war: he
acknowledged the receipt of my letter
and promised to publish the statement
He never kept his promise. ana tht
thousands of readers Of his periodical
accepted his statement as true. ina
is a fair sample of the manner In whlcE
an honest statement Of facts in regarC
to education in the south has peer
treated by northern publications
Now, what were those facts stated
- -oao Thay were as follows. viz. tina