Fitzgerald enterprise., 1906-11-22

Ady USCOult
Jude which il
lion that tends tx
Try.
impression it may ap
a 20 require individual pro
fIetS who do not reside in the
Duntry districts to aid in the support
two sets of schools, one for the
country and the other for the towns
Bat that which contributes most te
he value and security of property is
n enlightened citizenry. Every dol
Ear expended in the support of good
schools is an investment in property
as well as in brains, and If education
Is sufficiently diffused to raise com
nunity to a 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 its
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
molished and a modern structure, hav'
ing respect for comfort and elegance,
rises in its place; it must have a
church in which the people may as
semble 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
avocation 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 or
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
tiplied. 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 hrst-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
caIculable loss. Their most trust
worthy support is gradually drained
away.
Its effect also upon the material in
terests of the people is perhaps no
less disastrous. The grand old home
sseads-the crown and glory OF a re-
ceding civilization-the old mansions,
l1allowed by the memories OF our
fathers and mothers and around
which cluster the joyous recollect1ons
of our childhood, are fast falling into
decay. SCHOOLS fall off in patronage
or become extinct, churches lose
their membership, mechanics and artl-
sans sink into idleness or seek EN-
ployment elsewhere, and the general
tone of the deserted community lapses
into depression and apathy.
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 loca
ENTERPRISES looking to the bettermen
of their communities, and young peo
ME who aspire to improve their con
11itions and who, if held in the country
wnuld become its most active and III
feIligent agents in working out 1T
reformation. The loss of these enter
s,rising spirits-most valuable because
H,ey do ASPIRE to a better future, be
rause they are hopeful and optimistic
Efs more serious than We are apt tt
suppose.
Among the enigrants from th'
country are thrifty landlords who SUI
render their fertile and wealth-pfo
Eiding farms to the control OF the un
skilled and improvident negro. Sool
thereafter his buildings and other IN
urovements become dilapidated, nj
Iards washed, his live stock deterlC
rates. and a lack of thrift, industry
and intelligent oversight mars the pei
suective in all directions Deterlors
ton and decay are written ON ever
object that meets the eye. The onl
effectual cure for these evils is
thorough system Of common school
which makes the country as desirabl
for residence as the towns. And SUR