The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-01-06
A NEW SYSTEM IS PROPOSED
Compulsory Education by Local Option and Gradual
Extension.
BY JOHN WILDER JENKINS.

That education is at this time the
chief concern of the South cannot be dis
nuted and it must be it's most urgent
business until illiteracy is no longer
menace and a disgrace to a dozen states
A great movement has begun for better
schools and for the stimulation Of a
noDular sentiment to support them, and
in this are enlisted able, eloquent and
devoted men who are giving their lives
10 the cause. They are striving to edu-
cate the parents, to show them the ne
ccssity for training their children and
to point the opportunity offered in the
vast systems of schools already in op-
Grafton. This has brought about d mighty
quickening Of the public conscience in
marked Improvement of the schools and
in turning public attention to the great
work OF the time. 1t must result in
better education of the children now in
the schools and more liberal support
Of all educational institutions.
RIGHTS OF THE CHILD.
But the most pressing problem is to
get into the schools the children who do
not now attend them. The child who
never enters the schoolhouse must be
brourht in and there must be some
method of reaching the submerged parent
before illiteracy can ever be wiped out.
VIII any ''force of public sentiment
ever compel the father who cares little
for his children and less for ''boOk lar
min" to send them to school? What ef-
feet Will a thousand eloquent speeches
or convincing arguments have upon the
parent who neither listens nor reads nor
thinks?
Along with the declaration generati tions
ago of the rights of man and in a later
day Of woman's rights there needs to be
another declaration-this time of the
rights of the child.
1t must be proclaimed that every child
brought into the world has the right tC
a sound body, free from taint Of blood
TO a sound mind, pure and clear as the
air CT heaven, and to a chance in the
struggle of existence-a right to have his
body and his mind trained SO that they
may meet the demands of this strenuous
complex modern life.
A free State, where every citizen has
a hand il government, cannot afford to
rear race of weaklings and ignoramuses
to cumber its soil and menace it's in
stitutions. It cannot afford to have its
vast raw material of mind and energy
go to waste for lack of training.
In our sytems Of free government op-
portunity for development must be af-
forded those who are in the future to hold
our country in their hands.
Many parents realize their obligations
to their children and toll and struggle
that they may reap in another genera
ton. Their sacrifice and devotion form the
brightest chapter in our national life.
They are the most useful part of the
State, and nothing can give them such
praise as the result of their efforts
MUST BE CARE OF THE STATE
But there are other children born tC
poverty and left to care and toll and
crime-children whose eyes of infancy
looked out upon ignorance and degra-
dation and who have always been shut
from the light like cave bats kept il
darkness so long that the light blind.
them.
These children who are not the care
Of their parents must be made the care
Of the State. And thus it can turn
menace into a blessing, source of ex-
pense and crime into mine of virtue and
civic wealth.
l contend that no parent has the righ
to deny to his child an education and .
chance for the development Of his ply
steal and intellectual powers. The faith
er who keeps his little one from schoo
and places him at work where the Ions
hours and unwholesome atmosphere stun
the body and dwarf the mind is as crinli-
nal as the villain VINO stabs it to death
One kills the body and the other slow
ly murders body and mind and soul.
The only thing that VIII reach ths
venal parent is the force of law.
No nation Or state has ever wiped ou
illiteracy by the force OF public opin
ion" Il has been done in every instanc,
by the same method that protects so
ciety and insures every man his right!
of property and person.
REMEDY LIES IN LAW
Law is based on the public good, which
IL it's last analysis is the good of the
individual-for the public is made up O.
individuals. There never was any danger
of general hardship in just and right
eous law to the man who was honest
It's penalties are visited only on the per-
sons who invade the rights of Others
and thus menace society-on criminals
who deserve punishment
And who shall say that the man who
denies his own tender flesh and blood
that should be as dear to him as his
hearts core, its right to a chance il
life, is not a criminal?
NO law, however can be enforced With
out the support of public sentiment Il
It meets not with the approval Of the
majority it remains a dead letter on the
statute books. So that no Legislative
act, no matter how good it may be, car
he effective if it comes not in it's owl
day. Revolution is justified many times
when evolution is the safer and sure
way.
No great reform, great movemen
comes to its consumma tion in an hour
Every revolution that ever succeeded ant
stood the test of time has had before i
years OF preparation, of tilling tn
ground OF sowing the seed though t.