The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1908-10-31

men in favor of schools), the school
superintendent went from house to
house in the mill village, inuuiring for
these missing children. In one after
noon he located - of them, every one
OF them unlawfully engaged at work
in the MILL though only three of their
names appeared on the pay roll.
Now, the child of the lazy, greedy.
selfish parent is AZ work, and not i'm
school. The child of the ignorant and
indifferent parent is neither M work
nor i'm school; he is idling. Both chill
drcn need to be educated; the state
needs both of them, and the State
has already decreed that the taxpayers
shall establish and maintain schools
ior poth. There remains but one logical
thing to do--compel the parents of
both to send their children to school.
There is but little logic i'm compelliny
people 10 pay taxes to support the
schools, then permitting the parents of
the children who most need the schools
deliberately to keep them from the ben
ehts of the schools. The poorer the
child the more need there is for conn,
pelllng his parents to send him TO
school. Compulsory attendance laws
are aimed at the selfish and Indifferent
parent, not at the child. OF what nd.
vantage are good teachers, long school
terms and fine school houses, unless the
children attend the schools? In q re.
cent election to increase the local school
tax in district in North Caroline
where they have recently enacted kind
OF local option compulsory law, q GER
tam taxpayer made this declaration.
II You vote to compel the children of
Ihis district to go to school. increase
my tax as you please; if you are not
gong to put the children into the schools
am opposed to any further tax" That
man S argument has no answer.
Some opponent to compulsory law
says: You have not enough school
houses and teachers to take care of the
thousands of children not i'm school >,
are willing to admit that the white peo.
pie of the State are actually unable to
take care of their children. Let some
outside philanthrophist offer to aid
"outh carolina in matters educational.
then you get an answer to that question.
VII the school houses ever be bulld or
the teachers employed until there is a
need for them? Would il be wise for
larmer TO let s5OC-crop waste in the
helds rather than build n SlOO-house in
which to store it?
The last argument of the onnon.pts
10 compulsory attendance is that it can
not be enforced without truant officers
and that truant officers must be paid
certainly. The present child labor law
OF this State is dead letter, because no
adequate provision is made for its en-
1orcement. And the police of Charles.
ton, Columbia and other places have to
DE paid, but it pays to pay them. We
are perfectly willing TO pay an officer of
the law to arrest little negro bows in a
lO-cent crap'game, but it is too much TO
pay AN officer of the law to see that a
lazy selfish father sends his child to
school. We are paying today in actual
money every year five times as much
In tribute to the industrial supremacy
OF New England and other sections as
1T would cost us to put every white
child i'm the State in school for six
months in the year! What economists
we are! And what philosophers we
try to be! William III. Hand
University of South Carolina.