The Tupelo journal., 1904-08-05
schools are open to all their children
from $50 to 100 days.

schools are open to all their children
from $50 to 100 days.
Better Classification and Graduation.
Before there can be such classified
ton and graduation of the work in the
public schools Is to make possible
thorough and successful instruction
in even the primary and intermediate
branches, some means must be found
to consolidate most Of the little schools
with one room and one teacher into
larger schools with at least two rooms
and two teachers. Investigation shows
that the average teacher in the little
one-room rural school must have from
twenty to fifty recitations daily. The
farce of this Is manifest on its face.
The advantages of fewer and larger
schools resulting from consolidation
are apparent. Among these may be
mentioned: % More money for bet
ter houses and better teachers; (2)
more teachers In n school, making
possible better graduation and classifl-
cation, with fewer and larger classes
for each teacher and more time for
each class, producing more thorough
and more advanced instruction; CD
increase in enthusiasm, pride, and ef-
fort on account of larger number Of
pupils and greater competition.
Public High Schools.
Another great need of the public
school system of the South is the
public high school. There are few
public high schools in the Southern
States, and nearly all Of these are in
the cities and towns. A public school
system without public high schools Is
sadly incomplete. In fact, like some
magnificent structure with only the
lower rooms complete. Such a syS-
tenn of public schools can never raise
the great masses of men to any high
plane Of general intelligence or civic
usefulness and power. 1t will do well
IL it raises them barely above the
plane Of absolute illiteracy. These
public high schools-township, coun-
ty and district-cannot be supplied
without more money. The money
spent on the rural public schools Of
the South is insufficient to provide
even five months of thorough elemen-
tary instruction. The money for pub
lie high schools must be supplied
here, as elsewhere, by State appro-
priatiOn, supplemented by local taxa
tion-county, township or district.
More Money by Local Taxation.
We cannot hope to supply these
needs Of the public schools Of the
South and place these schools on an
equal footing with the public schools
Of other lands and other sections with
out more money. Better houses,
grounds and equipment, larger salaries
and better teachers, longer terms and
better supervision are not to be had
without paying for them. There is
but one sensible and successful way
of securing the necessary funds for
any permanent public purpose, and
that is public taxation. We nave tried
for more than a quarter OF a century
to supply these funds by general tax
alton; we have reached the limit Of
general State taxation for schools in
almost every Southern State, and we
have failed. Other States in other
sections and certain communities in
the Southern States that have sue
ceeded in raising the funds necessary
for a successful and complete system
of public schools have been compelled
to supplement the general tax by a
local tax. More than So per cen of
the funds for public schools in the
United States is raised by local taxa
ton. We are forced to the conclu-
sion, then, that the South must adopt
local taxation by counties, townships
or districts as the only means found
effective elsewhere in supplying suf-
fcient funds for successful public
schools.
Equality Of Opportunity for the Chill
dren.
With this statement of the defects,
needs and remedies of u public
school system. as we see them, we
make our confident appeal, in the
children's name, to the people OF the
South. In the unmixed blood of your
children, strangely protected in the
past from faint of undesirable strains
OF foreign blood by the very isola-
ton, pride, independence, and i'm
puted provincialism of the South, you
have the richest heritage that any peo
pie can have. Shall these children
have a chance through the public
schools to be all that they are capable
of being and to do all that they are
capable of doing?
The "EverIasting Nay" or the ever
lasting Yea"
Equality of opportunity is the only
foundation on which a true republic
can safely rest. Equality of oppor-
tunity is an impossibility in the
twentieth century without equality of
opportunity for education. Equality
of opportunity for education is an i'm
possibility for all the people without
properly equipped public schools.
Shall these children of yours,
through public schools as good as
the best, have an equal oppor-
tunity for power, progress, prosper
ity, and service with the children of
other sections and other lands? Are
not your children as good as the best,
and do they not deserve the best? The
answer must come, and come soon,
from the plain people of these South
ern States. Shall it be an everlasting
may" or an everlasting 'yea?" Ever
lasting it must be. Upon the answer
hangs the blight or blessing of mil
lions of minds, the bondage or free
! dom of millions of souls, the veal or
woe of one of the fairest lands on
earth-may be the destiny of a ma
ton, the perpetuity of a government
the most beneficent the sun shines on.
Sacred Duty.
By the traditions of the past, the
facts of the present, the hopes OF the
future; by the love that you bear your
children by the duty that YOU owe