Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1904-01-23

without the whetted thirst for
knowledge-the glorious possibilities
of that mind would never be devil
oped.
How many rustic Milton has passed
by
Sitting the speechless longings of his
heart
In unremitting drudgery and care?
How many vulgar Cato has com.
PEELED
His energies, no longer tameless then,
TO mould a pin or fabricate nail?
How many Newton whose passive
ken
Those mighty spheres that gem in
hnity
Were only specks of tinsel fixed in
heaven
To light the midnight of his native
town
all because of the want Of opportu.
nity-the necessary climate to germi.
nate the seed of genius which had
fallen In the sterile oust Of adversely? =?
Yes, by fellow citizens, the first duty
Of the State Is to provide schools
OF the masses In the rudiments Of an
education specially those of her citi.
zens who live In the country districts,
The city schools are good enough. I'm.
til that can be done, until the children
living away from the towns and cities
in the backwoods are given the same
opportunity to acquire common
school education that is enjoyed by the
children resident in the city, let us not
establish any more institutions for
higher education than those we al
ready have.
Thus far what have said ON the
subject Of education has been with ref
erence solely to the white children
What shall we do with the negro?
/ Certainly the education suited to the
white child does not suit the negro.
This has been demonstrated by forty
years of experience, and the eXpendi
ture in the Southern States of nearly
three hundred millions of dollars. 1t
was natural and quite reasonable i'm
medately after the civil war, espe
cially by those who had made but a SUI
| perficial study of the negro. to expect
| that freedom equal educational facili.
! ties and the example of the white man,
would have the effect Of improving his
morals and make better man of him
| generally, But it has not, | am sorry
to say, AS a race, he is deterioratng
morally every day Time has demon.
strated that he is more criminal as a
/ free man than as a slave, that he is
| increasing in criminality with fearful
rapidity, being one-third more crlmi
nal in 1890 than he was in 1880 The
| startling facts revealed by the census
! show that those who can read and
/ write are more criminal than the illit-
| crates, which Is true of no other ele-
ment Of our population am advised
| that the minimum illitcracy among
| the negroes Is found in New England,
/ where it is tWenty-one and seven
| tenths per cent; the maximum Is
found in the black belt-Louisiana,
! Mississippi and South Carolina-there
it is sixty.fiv ard seyentenths per
cent. lnd yet he gro in New Eng.
land is fOl'' AMI le-half times more
criminal, lmdied for hundred, than
| he is in tao black belt In the South,
Mississippi particularly, | know he Is
growing worse every year, You can
scarcely pick up a newspaper whose
pages are not blackened with the ac-
count of an unmentionable crime com
mitted by negro brute, and this
crime, | want to impress upon you, is
but the manifestation Of the negro's
aspiration for social equality. eneour-
! aged largely by the character of free
education in vogue. which the State
is leyying tribute upon the white peo
/ pie TO maintain. The better class Of