The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-04-20
GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD; OUR ATTITUDE


/ figures staring us in the face, where this
/. board ought TO work, If it is to work at
1 all? Suppose this board, after its organi-
j "a tlon, had issued a call to the country
/ TO give funds that it might promote edu-=
cation in Minnesota, Iowa, Dakota, and
i Nebra ska. Would we not have said that
lit is not a national board. but a sectional
I hoard, and that hatred of the South had
caused it's great needs to be ignored!
/ These figures show that If this board is
! to promote education at all, it ought to
give special attention to the Southern
I States, and that is just what it has de-
. cided to do. II the purpose of the board
/ ia good. the purpose to work esecially IN
/ the South is also good, for there the need
| is create
| How does it propose to help us IN our
| educational work?
/ First and of prime importance. it does
! rot propose to come among us and take
/ charge of our educational system, or to
! put Northern or foreign born men IN
i charge OF our work. It does not come
| with a demand that we shall surrender
all OF our traditions, and conform our
views on social or political questions to
! men of other sections and OF different
training. This should be strongly en-
| phasized everywhere. for were there sucn
a purpose, we would be obliged to decline
/ the. proffered aid and continue to struS-
/ gle on alone against adverse conditions,
as we have done for nearly forty years.
But this movement is characterized by
I its sanity on this very point. This board
! has recognized the face that if it is to
/ do the work needed to be done, it must
do 1t through men who can do it. and that
/ these men are our Southern men. The
plan of this board. therefore. is to select
meh who are known to US, who are OF our
| reople, who understand us. our feelings,
! our customs. our needs. and to gain
through our own men knowledge
! Of our needs, and to cooperate
| with us in meeting these needs. Is not
/ this a sensible method? Is it not a great
Improvement on anything we have had
before? Money has come into the South
| from the North for many purposes. The
i funds for yellow-fever sufferers. for the,
/ flooded districts Of the Mississippi and of
Galveston for drought and famine in
Texas, all have been largely helped by
/ the North. Millions of dollars have come
to establish negro schools and colleges.
| And moreover our white people have not
only not refused money from, the North.
/ hut have in many cases sent their agents
to the North to secure funds for our edu-5
catiOnal work. Emory and Wesleyan Col
E1eges, OF Georgia. Vanderbilt University.
and right here in Virgini2 within the last
/ year or SO Richmond College, Washington
/
.tsHampden-S Sidney have all received and
ice glad to receive money from the
North This giving has not been consid-
/ cred doing out OF aims to beggars. but
/ an effort of broad minded men to foster
/ noble enterprises, and to invest their
money where it would bring. the great
EesA returns. But it is true that many OF
! the gifts of Northern men have been made
without any comparative idea OF the
/ IF kToy
whether they were doing the best thing,
/ when they gave their money. The great
! educational needs in the South have never
been presented to the wealthy philan-
] throphists of the North. Only a few of the
str,lore prominent white colleges have been
| brought to their notice. They know very
| little of the struggle we have had to
maintain our colleges. academies, semi
raries, aye even our high schools and
/ common schools. The privations and self
/ denials of the men and women who
taught the present generation have been
=Itoo great to be recounted here. Suitable
I Houses equipment. and textbooks have
al been lacking, and the three or five
| month term of the common school has
beer the despair Of all good teachers and
1 scholars. It is a constant wonder that
/ we have done so much. But of these
! needs there was little knowledge at the
i North. saw in one of the Richmond
papers a few days ago that Robert Bill
/ :ings, of Boston. made public requests of
500 600. OF this amount $4,000 came TO
i the South. and all to three negro schools
The needs OF all three OF these schools
had, no doubt, been brought prominently
Ito his attention. and he probably knew
little of the other educational needs of
the South. Now II money is to be given
j to cur Southern educational work. Is 1t
I not better that 1t hAtld be- given after
consultation with men who have made a
careful survey Of the whole field. and
who are planning not to push one par
tlncular enterprise. but to elevate every
branch Of the work. Is it not better that
money should be placed In the hands Of
i this board to use in promoting the cause
i or education than that II should BIS given
Ebysmen because Of Individual appeals. to
Iespecial enterpr without any regard
|to tile compare i've needs of white orscel-.
ored, or common school OF uniYersit; e6u-