The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-03-02
THE PEOPLE'SFORUM

lAA Avs LII ~ VASNA
What Has Become Of the Free School
System,
RTEsvH-LE. March 2.
Editor west virginian;
A question Is going to arise In the
near future in regard TO The free
school system, but the real essence
lpf the question will be. what has be-
come OF the SYSTEM The nee school
!, system, one OF the greatest gifts ever
advantage to therich.
But F,Lsre IS II now; has the bird
flown, or has 1t been captured and i'm
prisoneds II surely has been made
the sicrtni of bondage or has fiow,n
of its own accord, but the chances are
that Il is a prisoner. The school book
affair Is what is attracting the justin.
able attention Of the pablic. IT'S the
change. change of school books. Ey.
lery new II DON. o new book. A pupil
hasn't Zine enough IN one book to
learn No price of a dozen eggs until
he 10 compelled TO bny another.
It's lot conservative. it's not sensi.l
BILE, It's not honest. and the little pitt:
full elaase connected with Il to sim.
pilfy II. simply means that If the par.
ent OF s.he pupil is mot able to buy the
required books a. hnmfiiatfng blum
comes up that on; certain conditions,
the pupils viii be furnished. with!
books. etc, WI
The genuine free school system was
something to be proud Of and to be
grateful for as long as, 1t lasted. The
poor stood equal chance with the rich.
Do they do 50 nows No. and whoever
says so tells an untruth.
+ The home in humble or ordinary cir.
cumstances blessed with eight or ten
children or cursed with that many,
may 1t .pe as 1t will, and no doubt they
may be possessed with as bright In.
tellects as the eight or ten born of
rich parents. but here comes the hui
initiating point, the poor must stand
the embarrassment of having the flag
of poverty unfurled before their eyes
and waved overt their heads for eth:
.er an awful mistake at somebody's
hands or to put 1t in as mild a form
as It can possibly be made without too
much visible deception not only a
robbery and an imposition alone, bat
n humiliating stain is left to torture
the victim besides. That Is. 10 they
are not able to count moons and buy
books, regardless Of other needs.
The question, again arises, does this
change Of books every moon benefit
the pupil and have an honest tendency
to fit The youth of our great land for
nsefulness and greatest good for great:
est number Of people or does 1t have
a sneaking tendency to hamper and
h,,miiiate a certain class and on the !
other ;;iand feed and pamper a den of
distress flag wayers. or grafters. I'll
would take the interest on two, thou
sand dollars at least to furnish new
moon books for one year for! a family
Of six Of seven children, then upI
comes he question, What Is the oat:
Gomez Is the pupil very much benes
fiteds Is the pupil very much the
wiser2 The pupil may. not be, hut
the sensible parent oNpatron of the
school ~ II not. he will be when he
calls on his child after scouting
through dozen books to write iit-I
tie contract between dad and one of |
his neighbors or make a calculation
OF some minor matter and the poor
brat would hardly know what the old
man meant but would say We amt
taught that or I believe that was IN
the other book that we passed
through. Take a business course
that's the thing. but everybody can't
do that; somebody has to hoe corn.
but on ;hts new moon system he could
not tell how many bushels he could
put in a crib four feet Wide. eight
long. AMI g high to save him from the
electric chair. He would have to take
the old bushel basket and carry what
corn he had and II that didn't fill II, |
he would have to carry small stone
turnips or something else to finish
1t or remain in ignorance all his life
as to wast amount the crib @onld hold.
oh, Of course. there are exceptions to
all rules, YOU know, so does
THE LONE STAR.