The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-11-12
J, Y J0YAER CHOSEN
The County Superintendent
Make Him President.
In the Great Meeting 10 Progress He Makes
The Educational Address Of
the Day

The opening address at the meeting of
the County Superintendent of School,
held in the hall of the House of Repre-
sentatives yesterday, was an admirable pa
per in every respect By resolution il is
to lee printed in pamphlet form. Below
We print a portion of the address:
To us has been committed the chief
direction of the most vital and far
reaching work of the State today;
work that more than any other has
bound up in it the prosperity, the prog
ress, the happiness, the hope, the
peace, the liberty, the very life Of the
people Of this great Commonwealth.
Equality of opportunity is the only
foundation upon which true republic
can be built or can safely rest. Equal
ity of opportunity is an impossibility-
an iridescent dream in the twentieth
century without equality of opportun-
ity for education. Equality of oppor-
tunity for education for all the people
is an impossibility without public
schools In these immortal words has
been written into our Constitution the
declaration of the dignity of knowl-
edge and the necessity of education:
Religion, morality and knowledge be-
ing necessary to good government and
the happiness of mankind, schools and
the means for education shall forever
be encouraged" Nowhere can be
found a more concise and comprehen-
sive statement of the Trinity that fos-
tiers good government and happiness
and of the means for fostering this
Trinity Public schools are the only
hope of diffusing among the masses of
the people the third of this immortal
Trinity. At a much earlier day while
the fires of liberty were still burning
on the affairs of our ancestors hearts
and the precious price Of it was still
vivid in their memory, this clause was
written into their declaration of rights:
The people have right TO the privi-
lege of education and it is the duty of
the State TO guard and maintain that
right" Public schools are the only
hope, the only constituted means of ex-
tending this privilege to all the people
and of enabling them to enjoy this le-
gal and natural right.
To you men, you county superintend-
ents, more than to any others in this
great State, has been entrusted the
making or the marring of the public
schools. Upon you more than upon
any others must rest in the very ma
ture Of things the responsibility of
their success or failure. You can not
shirk this responsibility if you would;
you ought not, if you could. 1t is meet,
therefore, that you should magnify
your Office and seek and use every op-
portunity to fit yourselves for the sue
cessful discharge of such response
bility.
For your encouragement, therefore,
| deem it proper that l should give you
a brief review of the educational work
of the year, accomplished through the
cont ined efforts of the educational
workers OF the State. There has been
healthy and hopeful progress in con-
solidation of districts, in local taxa
ton, in building and improving school
houses, AMI in every department of our
work.
Rural Libraries.
One of the most important factors in
the upbuilding Of the public schools is
the establishment of rural libraries. |
am glad to report that every one of the
800 rural libraries, whose establish
ment was made possible by the $4,000