The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-08-06

ic.---North Carolina as Com
pared With Massachusetts.
Charlotte Observer.
No series OF articles appearing i'll
public print is attracting more inter
est and comment Just now than that
of Mr.. Ray Stannard Baker in the
american Magazine Oh 1.-The Negro
Problem" 1.-THE New Southern
craftsmanship" is the title Of the in
stalment which is to be found in the
August issue OF this well known publ
cation, which in its entirety is well
worth reading. Mr.. Baker spent
months in the South securing mate
rial for his articles-visiting Char
lOtte and other centres in North Car
Olina-and wherever he went wonder
fully impressed those with whom he
came in contact as "a seeker after the
truth and writer of wonderful capa-
bilities. Under the heading OF '"The
New craftsmanship" and i'll elabo-
ration of the idea that the only sure
foundation for Democracy is univer-
sal education, Mr. Baker has the fol-
lowing to say of the conditions OBJ
tanning iii the Old North State:
INSPIRATION OF DEMOCRACY IN
NORTH CAROLINA
Not unnaturally the movement
found it's earliest expression in North
Carolina, which has been the most
instinctively Democratic of Southern
States. From the beginning of the
country, North Carolina, with its
population OF Scotch Presbyterians
and Quakers, has been inspired with
peculiar spirit of independence.
When | was liz Charlotte ! went to
see the monument which commence
rates the Mecklenburg Declaration
of independence, the work of Il group
of stOut-hearted citizens who decided,
before the country at large was
ready for it. to declare their indie
pendence of British rule North Car
DINA was among the last of the
Southern States to secede from the
Union, and its treatment OF its ne
%roes all along has been singularly
liberal. For example, in several
Southern States little or no prOvis-
ion is made for the negro defective
classes, but at Raleigh | visited n
large asylum for the negro deaf,
dumb and blind which is conducted
according to the most improved
methods And today North Carolina
is freer politically, the State is nearer
new and healthy pal ty alignment,
than any other Southern State ex-
cept Tennessee and possibly Ken
tucky.
'Such Il soil was fertile for new
ideas and new movements. In 1885
two young men, Charles ID. McIver
and Edwin A. Aldermen, now presi-
dent of the University of Virginia,
began q series of educational cam
paigns under the supervision of the
State. They spoke i'll every county,
rousing the people to build better
school houses and to send legislators
to Raleigh who should be more lib
eral i'll educational appropriations.
In many cases their rallies were COM
parable with the most enthusiastic
political meetings-Only no one was
the only object was public service
As Alderman has said:
"'lt was an effort to move the
centre of gravity from the court
house to the school house
and it really moved the State
took fire and has been afre ever
since. Governor Aycock made the
educational movement a part of his
campaign; Governor Glenn has been
hardly less enthusiastic; and the de-
velOpment of the school system has
been little short of amazing. When
was in Raleigh last spring }. Y.
JOyner, State Superintendent of Ed
ucatiOn, who was also one of the piO-
neer campai@ners, told me that Il
new school house was being built for
every day iii the year, and new school
libraries established at the same
rate. Between 1900 and 1906 the
total amount of money expended for
schools in North Carolina more than
doubled, and while the school popu-
latiOn i'll the same years had in
creased only q Der cent. the daily at
tendance had increased % per cent.
NORTH CAROLINA COMPARED
: WITH MASSACHUSETTS,.
TO give u graphic idea of the pro-
gress in education. / can do no bet
ter than to show the increase in pub
lie expenditures since 1872:
1872 Total school expenditures 1856
1850 &c 349S31
1890 " IS7 ,l45
1900 1,O91 $40
1906 , 29l O53
Il have looked into the statistics
and find that North Carolina spends
more per hundred dollars of taxable
property for school purposes than
Massachusetts, which is perhaps the
leading American State in education
al expenditures. IN 1906 North Car
DINA raised $40 on every one hun
dred dollars, while Massachusetts
raised 1881 But this does not
mean, of course. that North Carolina
has reached the standard of Massa-
chusetts; it only shows how the peo-
pie, though not rich, have been will
ling to tax themselves. And they
have only Just begun: the rate of IL
literacy of the State, as in all the
South, is still excessive, both among
white and colored people. According
to the last census, North Carolina
has moro illiterate white people than
any other State in the Union, a con-
dltiOn due, of course, to its large
population OF mountaineers. While
the progress already made is nota-
bic, the leaders still have IA stupen-
dous task before them. At the pres
ent time, although taxing itself more
per hundred dollars worth of prop
erty than Massachusetts, North Car
DINA pays only S2.63 each year for
the education of each child, whereas
Massachusetts expends S24.S9-
nearly ten times as much.
Il do not wish to over-emphasize
the work i'll North Carolina; | am
merely using conditions there as a
convenient illuStratiOn of what Is