Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1906-12-05

Let it be remembered, that in Geor-
g1a the greater bulk of the pronertv
lies outside the towns and cities
Many of its proprietors reside in the
towns, but the property itself lies in
the country, where it may become
subject to that servitude which il
owes to every institution that tends to
improve the country.
On the first impression it NAV an
pear unjust to require individual nro-
pr1etOrS who do not reside in the
country districts to aid in the suDnort
or two sets of schools, one for the
country and the other for the towns
But that which contributes most to
the value and security of property is
an enlightened citizenry. Every dol
lar expended in the support of good
schools is an investment in property
as we'll as in brains, and if education
is sufficiently difused to raise a COM
munlty to higher intellectual and
moral level its effect will conspicuOusly
appear In the enhancement of values,
besides its contribution to the in
herent qualities of a man, and it's
power to evolve all that is good and
great in him, education induces a
craving for better things. An edu-
Gated family will never cease to labor
until it secures an elegant home and
attractive surroundings.
Every community of educated peO-
pie must have a slightly academy; the
crude, primitive building is soon de-
mollshed and a modern structure. hay-
rises III its place; it must have a
church in which the people may as
semDIe for worship without shame
and modification; it must have good
highways for the sake of convenience
and economy; it will surround itself
with an atmosphere so pure and
wholesome that vice and criminality
can not breathe it and live. Every
ayocatiOn will feel new impulse, and
every individual, remembering the
old conditions now giving way to the
new, will realize the poets song that
men may rise on stepping-stones of
their dead selves to higher things"
Such a community is an anchorage
to every one reared within it, and an
invitation to every home-seeker to cast
in his lot there. What follows? Lands
appreciate in value, population be-
comes more dense, more stable, and
more cOntented, and the facilities
Of inter-cOmmunicatiOn are null
tiplieQ. Good schools, therefore. pro-
mote material prosperity and non
resident prOprietors have no cause to
anticipate the depreciation of their
property by the imposition of a school
tax. The tax should be high enough
to secure a teacher of first-class
qualifications for each grade, and to
furnish to every child of school age
honest and earnest schooling.
An adequate school system for the
country would arrest the tendency of
so many people to remove from their
country homes to the towns. Under
existing conditions people can not be
censured for seeking the superior So
cial and educational advantages of the
towns. From this movement, how
ever the country schools suffer in
calculable loss. Their most trust
worthy support is gradually drained
away.
It's effect also upon the material in
terests of the people is perhaps no
less uISdSJIOuS. II lie SIduu Ola NOME
steads-the crown and glory of a re-
ceding civilizatiOn-the old mansions,
hallowed by the memories of our
fathers and mothers and around
which cluster the joyous recOIlections
of our childhood, are fast falling into
decay Schools fall off in patronage
or become extinct, churches lose
their membership, mechanics and arti
sans sink into idleneSs or seek en-
plOyment elsewhere, and the general
tone of the deserted community lapses
into depression and apathy.s.
Those who remove to the towns are
generally of the thrifty class whose
presence and influence in the cOun-
try are the most valuable; they are
the people who are foremost in local
enterprises looking to the betterment
of their communities, and young peO-
pie who aspire to improve their con-
ditions and who, if held in the country
would become it's most active and in
telligent agents in working out its
reformation. The loss of these enter
prising spirits-mOst valuable because
they do aspire to better future, be-
cause they are hopeful and optimistic
is more serious than we are apt to
suppose.
Among the emigrants from the
country are thrifty landlords who sur
render their fertile and wealth-prO-
yiding farms to the control of the I'M
skilled and improvident negro. Soon
thereafter his buildings and other i'm
provements become dilapidated, his
lands washed, his live stock deterio-
rates, and a lack of thrift, industry,
and intelligent oversight mars the per-
gpective in all directions. Deteriora-
ton and decay are written on every
object that meets the eye. The only
effectual cure for these evils is a
thorough system of common schools
which makes the country as desirable
for residence as the towns. And sure