The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-02-20
TAINTED MONEY.
DIR. scherer Wishes Light as to What
3 He Should Do IL Some Of the Rock
efeller Donation Were rendered
His Own Institution.


inquirer" for that is the way feel.
Like Goethe, want more light. A
college president in these days is be
set behind and before. John D.
Rockefeller, alias the general educa-
tional board (alias also Standard OiD
strews the educational pathway with
thirty-two rosy millions, developed on
the American Beauty plan; the
friends of the college" prod the pres
ident on to get more money-s'hon-
estly if thee can, John;" while the
Baltimore Manufacturers Record
hings down a challenge to Southern
college presidents to show cause;
and the college president is also vex-
ed with at least the remnants OF
conscience. Will my brethren Of the
presidential chairs please tell me
what I ought to do?
The problem contains two elements,
and here they are. The first is all
mixed up with that black ghost that
Will not down, the ubiquitous and
semieternal race problem. Besiege I'd
by the Manufacturers Record, I turn
to the world Almanac and read as
follows:
officers of the Southern Education
Board Robert c.. Ogden, chairman;
George Foster Peabody, treasurer
Edgar Gardner Murphy, secretary
and executive secretary; with cam
paign committee comprising the late
Chas. D. McIver as chairman, Edwin
A. Alderman, H. B. Frisell, Edgar
Gardner Murphy and W. B. Hill {de-
ceased.e
officers of the General Education
Board: Robert c. odgen, chairman;
George Foster Peabody, treasurer;
Wallace Buttrick and Starr J. Muir
ply, secretaries; with executive Off
GERS comprising Frederick T. Gates,
Daniel c. Gilman, Morris K. Jessup,
Walter H. Page, j. D. Rockefeller, Jr.,
Albert Shaw, Hugh H. Hanna, E. Ben
jamin Andrews and VIM. R. Harper
{deceased.)
According to the same authority
the object of the Southern education
board is to awaken and inform public
opinion and secure additional legisla-
ton and revenues for the betterment
of the public schools, s'the supreme
public need of eur time" while the
objects Of the general education in the
United States, without distinction Of
race, sex or creed, and especially to
promote, sytematize, and make ef--
fective various forms Of educational
benefcence.''
It would certainly appear on the
face of things that these two bodies
are virtually the same body, one
branch existing for the purpose Of
Southern propaganda, while the other
acts as distributing agency Of edu-
cational wealth, especially in a south
ward direction. The men who COM
prise these two boards are OF very
high character and Of unimpeachable
purpose; but it may be permissible to
differ from them on subjects of the
grayest importance. One of the south
ern leaders of the movement said
to me not long ago that many Of his
Northern associates on the boards
might and probably do cherish deep
sympathy with racial equality, but
that the Southern members will be
able to receive. the bounty Of their
wealthy friends while averting their
political tendencies. One thing I want
TO know is. was he right?
It has been said in certain quarters
that Southern opposition to the work
Of the Southern education board and
its twin ally arises from fear that the
propaganda Of the gentlemen COM
S~ANSSSN1@A@-N
child labor in Southern mills. To this
extent I, for one, am clearly with
them. Child labor is a blot on the coun-
try, whether in the south or in New
England. On the whole, am inclined
to believe that the alleged evils Of the
so-called ogden movement have been
as it were somewhat magnified. But
there is another phase Of this question
that seems TO me very perpleXing.
Every dollar of the forty-three mil
lions now in tae hands of the general
education board has been given by j.
D. Rockefeller. Two-thirds of the
2,o00,000 so recently bestowed can
be distributed only on his personal
endorsement. The New York Times Of
February quotes Mr.. Fredrick T.
Gates as saying with authority that
chief aim of this princely donation
ir+o q