The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-09-28

cred. He is an excellent teacher, is
a very industrious man of fine quail
ties, but he seems to have contracted
the habit Of putting his foot in it."
Some years ago., making an address
in Raleigh to teachers from Wake
county, Mr.. Coon announced that the
teachers were too well paid for the
work they did. That was a cruel and
unjust, as we'll as wholly gratuitous,
reflection upon a body of faithf men
and women who devote their lives to
teaching on salaries averaging not
over fifty dollars a month for five or
six months work. 1t wounded them
grievOusly. This is stated merely to
show that Mr.. COON lacks the judicial
quality that enables one to rely upon
his wisdom and judgment.
Al the last meeting of the Southern
Educational Conference Mr.. Coo
read a remarkable paper entitled
Public Education and the Negro
Schools" 1t has recently been pub
lished and is. as it's author intended,
creating something of a sensation.
Mr.. Coon makes the assertion that the
negroes paid $429,197 in 1908, into
the public school fund, that the total
cost of negro schools in this State for
that year was only $402,6 58, and Mr..
Coon adds: This leaves $26,539 OF
the North Carolina fund which never
reached the negro in 1900'-in other
words, Mr.. Coon's statement is that
the negroes in North Carolina paid
the entire cost Of conducting their
own public schools and $26,539 over
the total cost. That statement is alb
surd on the face of it, and yet Mr..
Coon by a tumble of figures under
takes to show that what every man
in North Carolina knows is not correct
is a fact. Mr.. Coon goes further.
The Indianapolis News thus sumInar-
ICES his remarkable statements:
1T is pointed out in Mr.. Coon's
paper that eleven Southern States with
a population of 11,7I6,391 whites and
7,199, 600 negroes, and a wealth OF
$1,000, 100000, spend $32,00O,ooO on
elementary education, a little more
than Pennsylvania alone spends, and
$~29,0o0,00O less than was spent by
New York in 1907. The eleven States
as we have said. have a wealth. of
$4,000, OOO, 900, while the wealth Of
New York is $4,000 100000 and that
of Pennsylvania only $11,500,00O 600.
From which it will be seen that the
States are not taxing themselves very
heavily for educational purposes.
ON the basis OF these figureS the
negroes Of the eleven States would
receive S12,800,0O0, Or 40 per cent,
of the S32,O00,000. But Mr.. Coon
says that they really get only $780,
ana ~ 40 cont Tho "ritar of
the pamphlet has tried to find out
how much of this money is contribute
ed by negro taxpayers. In Virginia
the colored people paid 100000 for
poll taxes, $4,000 for State levies on
property. and $685. in local assess
ments. Adding to these the percent
age of the library fund, the corpora
ton taxes, and the direct State Up
prOpriation-the percentage to which
the negroes are entitled on the basis
of numberS-it is found that the me-
groes should be credited with S5O7,-
GEO. Yet they get for their schools
only s4S9, 228 as against the $685.
81 that went to the white schools.
NJ negroes are thus credited with
$4,000 more than they get for their
schools, on the theory that the funds
should be divided according to race
The New York Evening Post, which
accepts Mr.. Coon's conclusions with
avidity, says tina white schools pro-
fit by that sum-s26, 539-from negro
taxation" It adds: I'm North Caro-
lima, Virginia and Georgia not only
are the negro schools no burden on
the white taxpayers. but the negroes,
besides paying for their own schools,
contribute to those Of the richer and
more fortunate race That statement
is not true and the figures that are
juggled to warrant such a reflection
upon the white people Of the South
do not bear out any such cOnstruc-
tinr vTjn NTor+I Coroli,o nooplo had