The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-03-22
FOR BETTER SCHOOLS.
Hon. Jno. S. Henderson Sums mp
Laws That Advance Education.

Laws That Advance Education.
The General Assembly Of 1903 has
/ labored faithfully and periodically to
advance the cause Of education i'm the
State The literary fund. amounting to
more than two hundred thousand dollars.
was set apart as separate and distinct
fund for the purpose Of building school
houses wherever needed i'm the rural dis
tricts. This fund is to be loaned out on
good security, the interest on each loan
to be repaid annually, witbaanS tenth O,
tho principal each year to The state
Board of Education, until such loan priu-
cpaI and interest is paid in fun The
/ judicious use of this literary fund Will
enable the county boards of education tn
expcnd the county school funds for the
purposes Of education alone; and tho
graded schools will receive a greater
proportion Of the school fund than thoy
DO now-thc county funds being no longer
used in the building Of school houses.
State superintendent Joyucr has already
/ fully explained in your columns the
great advantages which accrue to- the
cause of education from this fund It
is unnecessary for me to add anything
to what Prof JoynCr has so we'll said
provision for the speedy payment to the
counties Of the second hundred thousand
dollars which the State Treasurer was
unable to pay out last year Every oh
legation Of the State to the public schools
has been fully met. Two hundred thou
sand dollars are annually appropriated
to the public schools as heretofore, TIE
expenditure Of the second hundred thou
sand dollars being hcdged about with
such safeguards and restrictions as
will save to the State something like
thirty thousand dollars per annum. Self
help will be stimulated by the future use
not only Of this fund but Of the literary
fund also.
A section has been inserted in the bill
amending the general school law with a
view of keeping forever separate and
apart the education of the white ana
cOlored children. Children with negro
blood in their vcins-but who can scarce
ly be distinguished from white children
have been claiming that they had a legal
right TO attend the schools provided for
the white race, because they were not
ruled out by the school law, which made
section 1910 of The Code the rule for
determining the status Of colored chill
dren That section provides as follows
"All marriages between a white per
son and a negro or between
white person and a person Of negro
descent. to the third generation inclusive
+ shall be void
The new section in the school law reads
thus
"AH white children shall be taught in
the public schools provided for the chill
dren of the white race, and all Colorcd
children shall be taught in the public
schools provided for the children of tho
colored race; but no child with negro
blood in his veins, however remote the
strain, shall be considered a white child
and no such child shall attend a public
school provided for the white race"
This amendment to the law will stop
all suits brought for the purpose 0f
forcing into the white schools children
with the remotest strain of negro blood
in their veins. There have been un-
pleasant controversies of this sort in i
number Of counties
The General Assembly Of 1903 has full
filled every pledge made by the Demo-
cratic party in the campaign last f.
to uphold the cause of education in North
Carolina and has provided that every
child in the State shall be afforded the
tpIol LuHity " diAtHu Il puBllC StHOOi dL
least four months each year. as con-
tempIatCd by the Constitution.
Every bill on the subject of education
formulated and agreed upon by the Com
mittees or Education of the two Houses
of the General Assembly was enacted
into law Every public educational in
stitution in the State, including the Uni
ycrsity, the A. and NJ. College, and the
Normal Schools, was sufficiently pro-
vded for. l hone the General Assembly
Of 1905 will not only continue the good
work for all public educational purposes,
but will be able to make more ample
provision and larger appropriations for
the University and for every school and
college supported by he state. II North
Carolina maintains her present rate Of
progrcss--in population. wealth and bust
ness cnterprise-for the next five years,
it may be confidently expected that she
will rapidly move towards the top Of the
list of those States which give their
children the best educational oppOTtun-
les and facilities A contamination most
devoutly to Re wished
Salisbury, n. c., March 49, 1908.
JOHN S HENDERSON.