Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-01-05
EDUCATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA
Looks Like Appreciation is Growing
Steadily.

Signs are not wanting tnat compul-
sorry education Is growing In. favor in
South Carolina. It has been discussed
of course, for years, but the promise
now Is that 1t will soon become pop
ular issue Of the first magnitude. At
a banquet given by the Spartanburg
Chamber of Commerce last Wednesday
evening, and largely attended by the
membership of that organization, the
Hon. John B. Cleveland being toast
master, this subject was one Of the
chief topics Of discussion, and Its ad-
vocacy by Arch B. Calvert, a former
mayor Of Spartanburg, and by Frank
Evans, the superintendent Of the Spar
tanburg city schools, was greeted, ac-
cording- to a dispatch to the Columbia
State, with much enthusiasm"
AS bearing upon one of the stock ar
guments against the institution Of such
a policy in South Carolina, namely that
1t would benefit blacks at the expense
Of the whites, one Of the tables Of sta
tistics from the report which State
Superintendent Of Education Swear
ingen will present to the general as
sembly is of interest. This table gives
the average expenditure on each pupil
by race In all the counties of the state.
and 1t shows that the average expen-
diture for each white child Is $12.62
the year, that for each negro child
Is only $1.71.
There are ten counties, those Of
Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Calhoun,
Charleston, Chester Florence, George
town, Richland and Sumter, where the
expense per pupil in the white schools is
above SIS. There are only nine coun-
ties, those Of Aiken, Beaufort, Char
lesion, Florence, Greenville, George
town, Marion, Richland and Spartan
burg, where the expense per pupil in
the negro schools exceeds 80 the year.
In six counties. those of Bamberg.
ington and Saluda, the expense per
pupil in the negro schools Is less than
a dollar the year.
1t will be observed that in some of
the counties where the expenditure
upon white pupils Is largest that upon
colOred pupils Is smallest. Only two
counties in the state spend as much as
SO the year per pupil on the negro
schools, the counties Of Richland and
Charleston. The expenditure in Rich
land Is 3d. in Charleston it Is 1898,
due to the fact that here the white
people have always maintained and
wisely, we think, as grim hold upon
the instruction accorded negro chill
dren as on that afforded in the white
schools of the city.
The figures are conclusive, however
that taking the state generally not
enough money Is being expended upon
the education Of the blacks to make
any substantial difference one way or
the other, either for good or for evil,
whether they avail themselves Of such
schools as provided for them or not.
We are confident that this policy Is a
mistaken one. We believe. that in time
1t will be reversed throughout South
Carolina and the south, as 1t Is now
being reversed here and there and that
liberal appropriations will be made
for the support of the colored schools
from the public treasury. and the best
obtainable skilled instruction will be
provided for them with special view
to increasing the Industrial efficiency
Of the colored race. The public gen.
orally will be led to a belief In the
soundness of this method Of instruc-
ton as the good results which are
being achieved In the communities
where 1t Is now being exemplif1ed
gradually become known.
SO far as the black race Is concern
ed 1t Is immaterial now and it will
continue to be immaterial whether or
not South Carolina enacts compul-
sorry education law. superintendent
Evans believes that for the whites
compulsory education Is the salvation
Of the state" Not of itself perhaps,
although there Is ample reason to be-
lieve that wherever such law could
be enforced, that Is to say wherever
the need Of it is acute and public SEN
timent is aroused on the subject. its
benefits would be large and immediate
and unattended by any unwarrantable
harshness or hardships. All South
Carolina may not be ripe for such
legislation but parts Of South Carolina
cry for 1t aloud.-News and Courier.