The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1905-05-04
Distinguished Party From the North
Greeted by Prominent Southerners
SOME SPLENDID SPEECHES MADE
Meeting at Columbia Opens With
Cordial Address of Welcome by Gov
ernor Hayward, Followed by the An.
nual Address of Mr.. Robert c. o.
den, President of the Conference.

ference for EQucatlOn IN the SOutn
opened its eighth annual session here
Wednesday, with large attendance
of leading educators from both North
and South present.
The Ogden train, containing party
of ladies and gentlemen from New
York. Boston. Washington and other
Northern cities. arrived at 8: 10 p. M,
and the visitors are being entertained
in various homes in the city to which
they have been invited. The party
| numbers pinety-five, being educators,
| literary men and women and business
men interested in education. They
came in on special of ten Pullman
| cars. chartered by Mr.. Robert C.. Og-
| den, of New York. The members Of
the party arc his guests for nineteen
day trip to different points in South
SQrolina, North Carolina and Virginia.
DNring their stay il Columbia, they AS
wei as the many hundreds of other
visitors. mainly from the Southern
States, are guests OF the city Of Co.
lumbia. A party consisting of the may
or of the city, the State Superintend-
ent Of Education. Editor Gonzales, OF
The Columbia State two professors OF
the South Carolina College and several
other prominent citizens of Columbia.
met the party at Hamlet. y. c., and es-
corted it into the State. Every train
coming into the city brings from all
parts of the South visitors 70 the CT n
| ference
The conference opened its first ses-
sion here with ar address of welcome
by Governor d. c. Hayward. The
Governor said in part:
GOVERNOR HEYWARD'S SPEECH.
To-day throughout the entire South
the schoolhouse bell is ringing. 1t
rings from the university on the hill
and it rings from the little school
house by the roadside, and to you
teachers who are present at this con-
| ference from our sister States Of the
South and from every portion Of on.
| own State, | wish to say that in well
| coming you | must also congratulate
you upon the great work you have
done. | believe that you have ac-
complished more during the past forty
ever been accomplished by any peo-
pie in the same length of tine. No
people have ever worked so we'll or
| under the same conditions, and in
| your work YOU. have been accorded
loyal support by your people. In their
DAYS of poverty and in their days OF
| prosperity the taxpayers Of the South
have shown a willingness and a de-
sire to tax themselves to support the
schools. not only for their own children
the white children Of the South
but also for the children OF anotder
and dependent race. Though often
misunderstood, they have never let
their hearts fail them; they have never
looked backward, but always forward.
and today We can see in university and
| in college. in graded school and In
common school. in better teachers and
longer terms. a happy and prosperous
people-aye, in smiling fields and grow
| ing cities, the result OF their courage
and determination.
I'm welcoming you to South Carolina
| | welcome you to a State which mas
always had deep interest in the cause
| in which you are enlisted. With US.
| the modern schoolhouse stands beside
| the college Of century. From the
earliest history OF our State our peo-
pie have priced learning and cultiva-
| ton. Before the Revolution. South
Carolina sent her sons to Oxford and
to Cambridge. Shortly after the Revo-
luton We began to build colleges and
to establish public schools. The first
library in America to be supported IN
any degree at the public expense was
that established in Charleston In
| 1859.
IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION REA-
LIED.
Il am sure. however. 1t needs no ar
gument to convince you that the 1mpor-
tance of education in its highest sense
has ever been realized by our people.
The facts that | have just cited that
| before we had colleges of our own we
sent our sons abroad. and the further
fact that almost within sound OF our
voices stands South Carolina College
over 100 years old-these will show the
spirit that animated our ancestors.
"As to what we are doing today Tor
the sons and daughters of South Caro-
| lima, have but to point you to the
number of colleges CT our State, and to
our growing system Of graded and
public schools. The State supports
Winthrop College for Women. and
South Carolina College. the Citadel and
| Clemson for young men, and also
State college for negroes. In addition
! to this, each religious denomination
supports one or more colleges which
are doing excellent work. There are
also many private colleges. several OF
which are well endowed. Contributing
to these is our system OF graded and
common schools. Our State constitu-
tion REQUIRES that the General Assem-
bly, shall provide for liberal system
Of free public schools for children be-
| tween the ages of and 20 years. and
the constitution imposes an annual tax
exceeding one-half of our entire State
tax for general purposes. With us the
fight to allow school districts to levy
a special tax has already been won;
it is incorporated in the organic law
Of the State, and we are now extend
ing the battle lines to the various dis
tricts. 400 of which have already eXer-
cised this prerogative. New victories
are constantly being gained along this
line. ard within the next few years We
! confidently hope to greatly enlarge our
army Of educational progress.
During the past year we built It's
school houses, and we improved and
equipped many more. These buildings
ranged in cost from $500 to $4,000
T. In