The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-28
EDUCATE THE CHILDREN.
A recent issue of The Columbia Stat has the following:


 shocked the other day as much by his | attitude of a Russian toward a wife as by his brutality. The man murdered 1 the woman and then calmly said: Tt Is nobodyfs business but my own. l have right to do with my wife as l please" | That was shookingi We Americans | Immediately give thanks that such bar ing in our country. We TS' deprecate toe admission of immigrants who entertain such views.
 But is that Russian. so far removed | ir his notions of posse ssion" from thousands of men sight here in South ] Carolina--some of them educated men, l too7 They do not claim to own their wives. because their wives have the spirit and ability to resist. But they do claim to absolutely own their chil- dren and have the right to do with 1 them as they will. They loudly pro tsrferiSss tsr % in f inc T manner tn which it's 1 future citizens shall be fitted for elti- I zenship They openly assert their rlgnt to murder the,r chiidren's minds ana to blast their future by keeping them l in the darkest ignoranre. They deny the States right to force those children to learn to read and wirte.
 ! Is there much difference between this 1 conception, inherited from the dark ages, and that voiced by the brutal 1 Russian?
 Notwithstanding all that civilization
 
 there seems to sti1i be strain of the brute in man. and in nothing is it more plainly shown than in the mistreatnent of his children. In the majority of cases, as The State argues. the woman can protect herself from actual viol- ence, though even she is not always safe from the savagery of the brute In the case of the child there is no such i immunity. The law gives to the fath- CT the custody of the child. and though the law itself is sometimes invoked In defence of helpless childhood the world is fun of instances where the cries of tortured children go up unheeded by | men. There arc brutes who are not quadrupeds.
 But beating and torturing the body is not the only method of brutal treat ment. The healthy physical boy or | girl can stand up under much physical suffering and nistreatement, and no real permanent Injury result, for the human body is recuperative and can repair many injuries, but not so with the human intellect. If the mind of the child is starved and dwarfed throughout the formative period there is small chance of recovering the lost ground after maturity Is reached. We know full we'll that in our country there have been many strong, good and useful men who were wholly illit- crate, just as there are exceptions in all cases. but if this iiiiteracy, was caused by the willful neglect of the father he was guilty of inhumanity for which there is little palliation. Times have changed wonderfully in this part of the world during the last half century. Now. education is no longer looked on as a luxury but as necessity. It is not only cruel to the children to deprive them of education but 1t Is a wrong to society at large and to the citizenship of all the coun. try. An illitsrate man is not only at disadvantage in the constant struggle for existence but he Is shamed and hu- initiated when he stands up with his ] fellowmen and feels that he is not real l Iy a complete man but is actually de- formed and stunted. He will find many | occasions where his want of education ! will not only be keenly felt but will be deadweight in the race for exist ence.
 The time lias been in this section, and not so far back as to be forgotten by many of us, when getting an educa- tion was e matter of difficulty Schools were few and scattered and the par ents had to pay all the expenses of ed | ucating their children. Sometimes it was not possible to send the children to school and in' other cases the parents were too poor to pay the cost of ed- ucating a family. Then there was some defence for illiteracy, and often the 1 parents were not much to blame if the l child " not educated.
 But that time is past. Under the liberal public school system which al- most universally prevails throughout the country the educational doors are ] open to ali who will enter. The com | parativelv small matter of stationery is about the only expense that parents and l guardians are subjected to. The, free | schools are for all and it is shame almost s-aounting to prime if any chill dren deprived Of educational advan- tages. The State saysy to all her c:ti- zens: Send the boys and girls to school so that they may prepare them selves to make good and useful citi- zens, and I will see that your children are taught and will pay the teachers"
 Is 1t excusable if any parent falls to take advantage of such an offer? The Advertiser, as is well known, is not an advocate of paternalism, nor does 1t favor governmental interference with individual rights but We agree that there should be means adopted to pre- vent children being deprived of that which we look on as one of the essen tials of good citizenship. There can hardly be found a man so poor that he cannot give his children time to get at least a rudimentary education which will help them through life. If fath- CT starves the body of his child there are laws to punish him, and shall he be allowed to starve the intellects? One offence Is as bad as the other, and if education cannot be given the chil- dren in one way it should be given in another. Call 1t paternalism or by any other name, the children should