Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-03-07

LA L MIA AICoIA
carpenter, born in a manger was fol.
lowed by the ignorant and crucified by
the chief priests and educated men oi
Jerusalem. Peter was simple, ig.
norant fisherman until the Master
said, Come, Peter, will make you
fisher of men," Now, Mr. Editor,
am not prepared to accept your doc
trine that intellect necessarily makes
good citizen or that education Is the
/, sine qua non to the exercise Of intelli-
gent suffrage. The evolution Of
people and the development OF a civ:
ilization depend upon the moral anc
spiritual more than the intellectual OF
material. Republican freedom and
triumphant plutocracy can not cock
list In this nation. There Is an irrecon.
cilable antagonism between them, anc
i unless something Is done along the
line I have indicated In my warehouse
bill, an irrepressible conflict already
begun must rage until one or the 9th
er is destroyed. It will be but history
4 repeating itself, and your puny little
compulsory education law Is pitching
i straws against the wind. God grant
that the few Of US who see the truth
as 1t Is. and know conditions as they
are, can succeed in making the con.
test a moral and financial one, that
shall be rfghteously determined with
out the shedding Of one drop Of blood
i or the falling Of a single tear.
1 Issue In q Nutshell.
Here is the issue in a nutshell and
1t does not require compulsory edu.
/ cation law for the man with the hoe
/ or at the loom or bench to see 1t.
4 The farmers and laborers, those
| hard handed creators Of all the wealth
1 OF today, and whose willing toll Is
giving value to all Of the garnered
wealth Of yesterday are angriiy NUT.
| tering. I'VE are discontinued WIN
present conditions, because an equita-
i Bic portion of the wealth we create
| does not remain with US to bless our
| families. We demand a>righteous re-
| adjustment Of present evil conditions.
| We do not ask Of your stored up
1 wealth, and will not be curious how
you came by It; we look not to the
past, but to the future, and want mere
ly that value that is wrought by our
hands, " Eh'
| The Reply.
| What do you reply, poor, Ignorant
fools, unfit to control your chiidren.
We will take them from you and ede-
cate them to submit"
I say no; give these people more
wages, higher prices for their. pro,
ducts, so. that they can control ana
| educate their children as do mine. ,
/ Mr.. Editor most Of them can read
the Bible, and in Micah, Sd chapter, we
| find after twenty centuries Of educa-
ton words which fitly describe condi-
tions today: "They build up Zion
with blood and Jerusalem with iniaui-
| ty The heads thereof judge for re-
ward, and the priests thereon teach
for hire, and the prophets thereon d.
vine for money; yet will they lean up,
on the Lord and say, is not the Lord
among US? None evil can come upon
u.s."
| 4 Mr.. Editor, q traditional loyalty to
ones country and perfunctory rev.
erence for its constitution Is all very
we'll under ordinary conditions, when
things run smoothly, but when hearts
are filled with generous rage, ana
fsouls are afiame at sight Of noble
deeds, men quickly declare them
selves emancipated from all orthodox
formulas that shackle, whether the
same be political or religious. whether
| they live under the rule of the impe-
rial car or under our own oligarcny
of American plutocrats. The mechan-
ism of government belongs strictly
to the physical world and can only
dominate the perishing bodies Of men;
the real ruler is their immortal spir-
Its, which laugh at chains as they soar
upward toward the stars. Think you
| the plowboy or the millworker will
learn these lessons from the applica-
ton of the law Of force to education?
answer no. -
Law Of Force.
The law of force was applied by
every government and under lay every
civilization up to the birth Of Christ.
He brought a new idea into the world,
THAT true greatness was to be meas
ured by the capacity for human serv-
ice, instead Of dominion founded on
brute force.
He preached the doctrine Of non
resistance and his resist no evil has
been more thoroughly recognized than
any dogma ever promulgated. His
idea was that the individual soul was
| the highest Of all things, and Its pow
ers could not be awakened by any el-
| fort to force or compel 1t, but only by
revealing to each soul a true concep-
ton Of its powers and possibilities.
Idea is Repusnant
i The idea of force in any form Is abb
solutely repugnant to his philosophy.
1t was his constant effort to dispel
darkness, not by lighting 1t, but by
striking a light. He was too wise and
too great to use force. To illustrate
as applied to ti.is question, know one
man in South Carolina when the good
roads agitation first began, who spent
$500 building a sand-clay road. II
stood there as an object lesson, and II
lou
county to go on with the work. Mr..
Editor, no man Is more anxious than
I to strike light which shall dispel
darkness in South Carolina, but / do
not believe 1t can be done through the
pagan darkness Of force. There can
be no true progress not based on the
philosophy Of Jesus Christ. Leaving
out the question Of his divinity. 1t Is
the only philosophy that Is ultimate.
Here is what I say, there are many
rich men in South Carolina; are there
one thousand who will give each one
thousand dollars, will you be one
This would create an educational fund
of one million dollars, sufficient to
build a model rural school in every
county in the state, to stand there and
point the way as did $500 in one coun.
ty in the good road movement. 1 Will
esteem II an honor and a privilege to
be permitted to head the list, and your
paper with the same intelligence and
energy that 1t put into the corn show
which has done so much for the state
can make far greater headway than
by applying the doctrine Of brute force
to education.
Thought That Will Dominate.
i Mr.. Editor. the thoughts which will
finally dominate the world are those
i Of Budha, Confucius and Christ, not
those Of the Caesars. Statesmen who
have no broader sweep Of vision than
to look upon a compulsory education
law as the panacea to save the world
are totally unit to lead people IN
South Carolina or anywhere else. My
idea Of government Is that l can do
anything which does not curtail the
rights Of another. 1t finds Its finest
J, expression in the statement that all
governments derive their power from
the consent Of the governed. That the
best government Is the one that gov
erns the least. 1t means that the gov
ernment should lay its strong hand on
the throat Of a money trust, which de-