The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-10-30

Two Of the worst enemies to child
mood and youth are overwork and
idleness. Close confinement at man
ual labor is dulling, sitting, and de-
structive to the childhood; idleness
is poisonous and ruinous to youth.
Attendance upon school may be usGi
as a corrective for both evils. The
State. in order to protect at least
one, class Of children against over
work, has passed "A child labor law.
Barring some notable exceptions, the
abortiveness Of that law Is a common
Jest. To illustrate: In 1905, one
of our city school superintendent,
lost more than twenty pupils frorl
ne school within two months. In
company with one Of the cotton mil
superintendent of that town Ca man
in favor of schools), the school SUI
perintendent went from house to
house in the mill village enquiring
for these missing children. In one
afternoon he located twelve Of them,
every one Of them unlawfully en-
gagged at work in the mill, though
only three of their names appeared
IN the payroll.
Now, the child Of the lazy, greedy,
selfish parent is at work, and noL
in school. The child Of the igno-
rant and Indifferent parent is neither
1T work nor III school: he Is idling.
Both children need To he educated
he State needs both OF them; and
he State has already 1ccrced that
he taxpayers stall establish and
maintain schools for both. Thc.+
remains but one logical thing to do
compel the parents Of both to send
their children to school. There is
but little logic in compelling pcop.C
to pay taxes to support the schools
then permitting the parents CT the
children who most need the schools
deliberately to keep them from tbs
benefits of the schools. The poorei
the child the more is the need fnI
compelling his parents to send him
to school. Compulsory attendance
laws are aimed at the selfish and in,
different parent, not at the child
| Of what advantage are good teach
| ers, long school terms, and fine
school houses, unless the children
attend the schools? in 4 recent cleo
ton to increase the local school tax
in a district in North Carolina. where
they have recently enacted kind
of local option compulsory law, q
certain taxpayer made this dcclarH.
ton: IF you vote to compel the
children Of this district to go lC
school. increase my tax as you
please; if you are not going to put
the children into the schools, I an
opposed to any further tax" That
mans argument has no answer.
Some opponent to a compulsory
law says, You have not enoug.l
school houses and teachers to tak7
care Of the thousands Of children
not in school," That argument Is
worthless, unless we are willing t!
admit that the white people Of tn:
State are actually unable to take
care of their children. Let soE!t
philanthropist offer to aid Sout.
Carolina in matters educational
then YOU get an answer to that ques
ton. Will the school houses ever
be built or the teachers employed
| until there is need for them
Would it be wise for Il farmer to lei
4 $50O-crop waste in the fields. rath.
er than build $100-housc in which
TO store it?
The last argument Of the oDpo'
nents to compulsory attendance Is
that it can not be enforced without
truant officers, and that truant OF
ticers must be paid Certainly. TIL
present child labor law of this State
is dead letter. because no provis-
ion is made for its enforcement. And
the police Of Charleston. Columbia
and other places, have to be paid,
hut it pays to pay them. We are
perfectly willing to pay IN officer
OF the law TO arrest little negro
boys in 10-cCnt crap game, but il
is too much to pay All officer OF .hc
law to see that Il lazy selfish father
sends his child to school. We are
paying today i'll actual money evc"y
year five times as much III tribute
To the industrial supremacy Of New
England and other SECTIONS, as ii
would cost us to put every white
child in tl.e State in school for six
months in the year. What cccn-
omists we are! And what philoso-
pliers We try to he!
WILLIAM II. HAND.
University Of South C1r"'ina