The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-03-19

stance Of editorial disapproval.
Studying carefully in the lines and
! between the lines the objections Of
our editors to the school act, cannot
see that they feel Or raise any stren-
uous objections. They see where the
school bill might have been little
better. After a thing is done it Is
easy to see wherein there might be
Improvement. We must remember
! that the intelligence of editors is or
ought necessarily to be on the top
rung.
You want good roads; you want an
extension of the sewerage system. lou
have electric lights and you have
paved streets. Do you know that
there is something else that you have,
and that is mighty rotten state of
affairs in the education of your chill
dren in the primary grades, and fla
grant defects in the education OF chill
dren Of the high school grades. The
teachers say it is the fault of the par
ents. The parents say it is the fault
of the teachers. The fault is the fault
of the people. They make and main
tain the schools. I enter into no
technical discussion. It all comes
round in the end to we'll equipped
school buildings and proficient
teaching force. If it takes four-mill
tax to secure these things, why vote
the two-mill tax. Other towns vote
it and manage to prosper.
Mr.. E. S. Dreher, superintendent Of
the public schools of Columbia, who
has recently visited schools in the
west, writes in the State Of March S:
my first and most important obser-
walton is this: When compared with
the schools mentioned, financially, We
seem to be playing at education here
in Columbia and the South generally.
The principals are paid salaries equal,
to and larger than the salaries Of orr
superintendents; and our maximum
salaries for grade and high school
teachers are less than their minimum.
"In Dayton, with a population Of
100000, the tax levy for school pur-
poses is 9.65 mills on the dollar, and
this does not represent the entire in
come Of the schools. At
Dayton the total tax levy for the city
is 20 mills. The tax levy for
school purposes in Columbia is five
mills. AS a result of more
money, the schools I visited are much
better equipped than ours, and the
buildings are more numerous and
much finer than ours.''
If Columbia is behind, Newberry Is
but a speck on the horizon. She Will
have to strain to catch up-not with
Dayton; she is under no obligation to
do that, but with Laurens, Florence,
Denmark and other live towns Of
South Carolina. Speaking Of tile
South being behind other sections in
education, we all realize this. But IS
it necessary that we forever remain
behind? Let's quit hauling off blame
and burying it at the door of the
poor old war. Let's ressurrect the
blame and hold a post-mortem. Re-
manning behind in education means
that the South. the greatest section OF
the globe, is not for the Southerner
but for the northerner or any other
"Train-Brains. The northerner
knows this, as we'll as ourselves, and
twits us with: "Who pointed out the
possibilities Of the South? Who owns
the truck-farms Of Florida? Who
owns the capital stock in your large
factories - There is the sting Of
half truth here, just as there is the
sting in their claim that the north
would have recovered from the war
long before the South had ever begun
to. You noted what Mr.. 0. B. Mar
tin had to say along this line last fail
when he returned from the superln-
tendent's association. Among other
enlightening things this, in the State
of October 81, 1908: ":Several educa-
tional leaders in New England frank
ly told us that they are spending their
money and building up their schools
in order to retain and maintain their
industrial supremacy. They realize
that we have advantages and great re-
sources in the South, but they propose