The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-07-13
SOME MORE FROM "READER." !"
He Makes Reply To Article. Written
ny MIR. W. q. Well, stating Iii,
View of the situation.

| icP'! 10 MI w. u. Wells articles OF
June Is and -. | did not say any
thingSin reply To his first article be-
cause Mr.. Ostoen replied To it before
i got the time and l did not see any
use To say any more as he got almost
the same impression of il that l did.
IL Is needless for me To state my po-
sition on the school matter for any
one who has read my articles can
easily see that l am not fighting the
Bethel school OF any individual, but
The actions of the trustees in spend
ing so much more money on the
Bethel school than on the others.
which fact has been proved and re-
mains undisputed.
MIR. Wells says that Il should be
willing to take knocks as we'll as give
them" | have given Mr.. Wells no
knocks at all and did not recognize
him in connection with the school
business, but | suppose he must con-
slider himself the adviser Of Priva-
! teer," which. if the trustees did
listen to him. will easily explain why
the district is i'm this condition. Mr..
| Wells says that he lis not particular
| ly anxious To knock" so just drop the
particularly" and coupled with the
fact that i said nothing about him,
| Will give all to understand that he
wants TO knock me. While Il have
great respect for "the hoary head"
| always Try to accommodate people
and as he wants To poke fun at me
to take some.
First. | want To know what side Of
this question Mr.. Wells is on. lie
says that Reader is q reactionary
and differs from him" which can only
mean that he wants things to drift as
hey are going. Mr. Wells says that
'as long as the patrons of the small
schools contend for the maintenance
of these schools. so long, in my hum
ble judgment. will they retard the
progress that they might and surely
would attain We're they to come in
with u.s. Which can only mean :hat
he favors the Bethel school. or that
he has very poor opinion of his
judgment. Certainly he can not en-
pect others to accept his opinions
when he does not believe them him
self, which he proves by saying that
the patrons and friends IF the small
interested in and seek most to aid"
He says that he favors building a
school at Providence. Now look ut
these statements. he wants things TO
go as they are going, by saying that
! am "a reactionary," but he opposes
| compulsory consolidation" which
could be the only result Of the pre-
sent drift of affairs. lie is interest
ed. mostly, in the small schools" but
thinks that they hinder progress" ="
set he advocates building another
school at Providence. These state
ments look to me like Mr.. Wells is
| trying to ride all the fences in sight
at the same time. or wants to rule the
whole district Mr.. Wells takes up for
the trustees and says that he has had
some experience. The district had
some from him too. lie had Il school
house built without consulting the
other two trustees and fooled one of
them to sign the check and paid
$4,000 for it. ana when this trustee
found out that Mr.. Wells had no
title to the land he resigned rather
than Ice run over by Mr.. Wells. The
school house went the way such
things usually do and the district got
nothing but the experience. Mr.. Wells
says that 1 am "a rcactionary," or,
in other words. that | am conserva-
tive, and that he differs" from me.
Vet he says. speaking of Mr. Ost"en:
81 advocated everything that lac
does. Mr.. Ostcen says that Read
cr' is only trying To help the parents
tO get some improvements" If these
Statements OF Mr. Wells are not con-
tradiCtory. what are they? Mr..
Wells says that he did not want To
get into the controversy" What did
hc get into it for then? Ills excuse
/ as To- paying taxes is certainly far
fetched. There are Il great many
more people i'm PriVatccr who pay
more taxes than Mr.. Wells and they
nave not seen fit to get into il i'm the
papers and as To- its being Il contro-
IVcrSN, do not Sc. how il can be-
termed that unless il is between the