Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1913-01-23


our population Is rural good. sturdy
farmer folk. They grow and spend
their lives in the country. Their des-
tiny, the destiny of our common
wealth, the destiny of us all must be
determined by the conditions that ex-
list IN the country.
Health and Education.
North Carolina is a grand old state.
Her past has been heroic in peace and
in war. But we must confess with
humiliation that we have neglected
our country children worse than any
state in the Union save one or two.t
In the discharge of the sacred duty of
protecting their health and the para
mount duty Ct providing for their
education, we stand aI7cng the low
est. We must expiate this sin before
we can longer claim our noble herr
tage
The state has been blessed with all
the natural conditions conducive to
health and strength. Sufferers from
far countries come here to recover
from disease and to renew the vigor
of youth in our salubrious air. But
we have allowed disease and death to
stalk abroad at MONDAY. Most of the
serious diseases are preventable dis
eases. Formally the work of the doc
tor was to heal the sick; now it is to
preserve health. The benef1cence of
scientific medicine is to drive back
disease and suffering. Men and wo-
men and children suffer and die from
causes that could be removed. They
! are deaf and dumb and feeble minded
and are stricken with blindness and
insanity, condemned to lives of dark.
ness and hopelessness, not by the in,
scrutible DEGREES of Providence, but
by the failure of society to protect
them against the enemy more cruel
than death. The courage and energy
of conquering race must spring
from robust health.
We must provide for the accurate
record of births and deaths and the
causes of disease in every community
We can thus ascertain with accuracy
the sanitary conditions in each com
munity and intelligently work for the
prevention of disease and for the pro-
motion Of health. Each county and
each city should have an intelligent
efficient, well paid health officer. We
can appeal to our citizenship through
the press, the school house and the
pulpit and encourage them to purel
and more healthful home conditions
the inestimable blessings Of all the
people.
/ Mill Men Commended.
The mill men of North Carolina de
serve commentator for the humane
spirit with which they have cared fol
the health and education of their EN-
ployes and the children of their EN-
ployes. In many places they have
provided schools and libraries and
comfortable reading rooms. Some Of
the great organizers and heads of in
!, dustries take the most active Interest
In the cleanliness of their factory
towns and the welfare of their work
ers. But the state should not neglect
her duty longer, because individuals
have sometimes done their duty.
I doubt not that the general as
sembly will ratify by statute the hu
name recommendations made for the
protection Of women and children by
the committee of mill men and the
committee Of the Society for the Pro
lection of Child Labor.
The highest duty of society is the
education of the children. The com
mand to educate our country children
has been thunder"d n the con
science of the N obedi
ence to the de people
and Of justice t, ais gen
eral assembly sh; six
months rural sch Carolins
will feel the impu. exalted
hope. Then 1t will LIT be long be
fore the stigma of ignorance will be
wiped out, the stigma which through
the long years has been our misfor
tune and our humiliation.
This act of beneficent wisdom will
reach down to the children of the low
lest and lift them up to clearer vi
sion. It will show them hope and en-
dow them with new strength. II
win lift the whole state up and give
to her a nobler and grander meaning
And prosperity and juster laws, and
nobler institutions and ideals will fol
low in the train Of universal enlight
eminent.
Compulsory Education.
The time has come for the state
to exercise her sovereign authority
and compel the attendance OF heI
children upon the schools. The child
cannot work to advantage, but its
mind is eager for knowledge and most
retentive. His character is resporsi g
to culture. The factory is no r.. g
for the child. The drudgery of tolI Is
not his rightfuI inheritance before the
bones are hard and his muscles are
6,.,,o To 1zo or~fuA hn Ooo6 noru fhore