The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1905-05-04

sources have been discovered to the
outside world, there is no question.
Every train that comes within our bor-
ders from the north brings men who
are investing their means in our lands,
men who are to promote great enter
prises, and skilled men who are taking
the responsible places at large salaries.
We are permitting these great nat
ural resources to fall into the hands
of outsiders. We, by failure to train
our boys for the higher work Of this
complex age, are permitting most Of
the skilled and high-paid work to be
done by people who come from places
that have put premium on prepare
ton for work. IF the names Of all the
civil and electrical engineers, archi-
tects, and, in fine, all the skilled men
who are doing work in the State could
be secured, it would show that by far
the majority Of them are not our own
boys.
Some say let us offer every induce
ment to encourage the capitalist and
skilled men to come into tn State for
the purpose of developing its great
natural resources. While few should
cordially welcome any good citizen
who wants to cast his lot with us, yet
should we rely on foreigners to do
this work for us? What use will a
developed state be to our people if it
is owned by others? Do you want your
boys to be satisfied to do the drudgery
and muscle work for low wages while
the profit on the investment and the
high salaries paid for skill go to out
siders? What is it worth to our peo-
pie to stand off and see great activity
without being participants in it, or
without receiving any Of the great
profits derived from the work?
No my friends, there can be only
one, true, genuine prosperity for Mis-
sissippi, and that is to have Missis-
sippi resources largely developed by
Mississippi blood. Old sensible people
will agree that it is the people and
not the physical state that should be
considered. How can this end be at
tanned? There is only one way under
high heaven, and that is to dignity
the training of the individual. First,
we should make our common schools
the peer Of any in the land. It mat
ters not what calling boy may final
ly adopt, it is in the common schools
! that he is revealed to himself and is
made conscious of his possibilities, it
is there that he can view the great
world and decide for himself his
course in life.
The common school is the necessary
basis fol all other training, and if the
future Of the State is to be determined
by the character of training we give
one fine Anglo-Saxon blood, then itsfol-
lows that the first work to do in the
great scheme for the states proper de-
|-velopment is to make better the
schools that all our people first attend.
In the first place, the training of
their children should be a parent s
first duty and highest responsibility.
That person has very low conception
Of parental responsibility who would
only look to his child s preparation for
life when there is nothing else to be
done. No one has ever said that chill
dren can be properly reared and train
ed without expense. To do SO often
means harder work and greater sacri-
Zee. But is there any other worthier
motive, or greater compensation for
increased toll and self-denial, than to
see the beautiful children God has Civ
en- you daily increase in usefulness to
Sheir family, to themselves and to
God9 Fathers and mothers, when you
see your children through the results
Of your toll and self-denial being rails
ed constantly to higher plane of life,
do you not feel that you have been
paid a thousand times over for all the
extra work and sacrifice it has oc-
casioned?
But unfortunately there are some who
look on their children as they do their
beasts Of burden-v value them only for
/ the service they can get out Of them
It is especially to such people | want
10 make an argument. Let us take
lit for granted that even the most in
| different parents to the welfare of
their children would like to send their
children to school when they are not
Of material service on the farm. Tn
other words, if you want to send your
children to school without losing their
services on the farm it is necessary
that they nave as much opportunity as
possible to go to school before they are
old enough to be Of material help on
the farm. Thede is a gap Of from five
to seven years between the time when
a child is old enough to go to school