The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1906-06-06
a social and parental breach Of

trust.
Thomas Jefferson said in speak
ing as an advocate Of universal
education, "the object is to bring
into action that mass of talent
that lies buried in poverty in
every country for want of the
means of developing and thus
giving activity to a mass Of mind
which in proportion to our pop.
ulation shall be the double or
treble Of what it is in most coun-
tries" The information of the
people at large can only make
them the safe as they are the
sole depository of our political
and religious freedom. A re-
public is possible. says Napo-
leon. only to people Of high in
telligence and high character.
My plea is a plea for training.
It is training that we need. The
acquiring of ideas that can be
used when the occasion requires
it. and the ability to use them.
The athlete goes into training
and lifts heavy weights not that
he may be able to run a pile
driver or lift a derrick, but that
his muscles may be strength
ened and he may be able to win
the race and lift heavier weights
anywhere and everywhere when
ever the occasion requires it.
I'VE wish to make sensible.
industrious and thrifty men and
women able to meet all the emer.
gencies of life, to deal justly and
rightly with social and industrial
questions. To this end we need
cool, keen intellect and tender
consciences and a habit OF
thinking
In education we need to sup.
press the bad and the evil ten.
dencies and to bring out, train
and develop the best that is in
US. That life is richest thai
is in US. The life is richest that
gives out the most and is the
most helpful to other lives.
The highest ideal to which the
State or the nation can reach
must be attained by the individ
ual citizen. Then it follows that
We must educate and develop anc
train and lift up the citizen, anG
in proportion we lift up and ele
vate and magnify the State. The
power and strength of our gov
ernment does not vest in kings
and potentates, but in the virtue
and moral sentiment of the peo
pie who are the sovereigns.
My plea to you then is, I re.
peat. for universal education, fol
as we lift up and elevate the peo
pie we strengthen the govern
ment.
The wealth of the State is moi
in the products of the soil, its
manufacturing enterprises anc
industrial growth and develop
ment, but in the intellectual anc
moral strength of its citizens
1t is then the duty of the State
to fit the Individual citizen tt
understand and apply the prin
ciples that ought to control
free people and to exercise his
right as a sovereign.
About eighty per cent of oul
people dwell in the rural dis
tricts. But for the young and
vigorous: pure blood. which
comes from the country to the
town our large cities and towns
would deteroriate and decay.
The history Of all civilization
plainly teaches that the creates
calamity which could befall
nation is the deterioration or the
destruction of it's bold peasantry
The tendency for the last few
years to leave the country fol
the town and city is not a gooc
omen for the stability of our in
stitutions. The chief cause fol
this unrest in the country. is tx
be found in the lack Of those
things in the country which g
to make like pleasant and hap
py. The school, the church
good roads, the social inter
course. I want the slogan of this
generation to be: 'sBack to the
farm young man." Remember
that science as applied to the
farm, the garden and the forest
has as splendid a dignity as as
tromony; that it may work just
as many marvels and claim as
high an order of talent. If I had
some magic gifts to bestow. il
would be to impress upon the
youth of our land this truth.
In the forty years since the
greatest war of ancient anC
modern times, we have had g
revolution greater than any rev
olution of blood. The old South
had a civilization peculiarly hel
own and one thelike Of the equa,
of which the world has never
seen. It produced the highest
type of the true and patriotic
citizen and he lived on his plan.
tation in ease and luxury and
had time and inclination to de.
vote to the study of literature
and the science Of government.
Times have changed and we have
mot tho chonroS conditions lie