Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1913-07-15
ONE THING WE DARE NOT FAIL TO
DO.
Do.

as she can make sure of having
great men in the next generation"
So it might be said of the South tha
she is strong and wise today just :
proportion as she is making sure tina
the next generation will be strong an
wise-just in proportion as she i:
training and instructing her childrer
to do good work, to think soundly, anc
to lead upright and useful lives.
The older men and women of TO-DAY
all who have reached middle age
knew a South with the wounds and
sorrows of conflict on her face, with
the .desolation of defeat all about he
and with the burden Of poverty and
ignoance on her shoulders. Yet this
South, with undaunted spirit, sci
about the repairing of her broken for
tunes and the building of a new and A
finer civilization The fruits of her la
bors we of the younger generation
have enjoyed 1t was our privilege %
begin life's work in a land of hopeful
endeavor and OF almost unbounded o.
portunities.
Back there in the dark days AMID
the ashes and the ruins Of defeat, our
fathers wrought we'll. We are never
tired of boasting of their courage and
their achievements, and we do we'll 10
be proud of them. 1t is for us to say,
not by words but by deeds, whether
the next generation will have equal
reason to be proud Of US.
Unless we see to it that this next
generation OF Southern men and wo
men, the boys and girls of the South
today, are given an equal chance If
life with the next generation of men
and women in any other section, We
shall not deserve such praise as we
give our fathers.
There is some reason for the South
of today having more illiteracy ana
poorer schools than other more fot-
tunate sections; but there is no ex-
cuse for US if we permit this state of
things to continue. What is yet to be
done-and it is much more indeed than
most of US dream-is much less than
what has been accomplished, when We
come to compare the South that re
built her fortunes from the wreckagc
of war and Reconstruction with the
South OF today.
To give every child in all this
Southland the opportunity to secure a
good education-an education that will
not only teach him to read and write,
but to think for himself, to care for
| his health, to love his country, and TO
do some useful work-and then to
make sure that this opportunity is not
taken away from linn by anyone; this
is the great task imposed by the spir' t
Of civilization upon us. 1t is task, too
which we dare not fail to perform NJ
excuse for failure can be worthy of real
men. If we would say that we are t0t
poor, We need only remember how rich
we are compared with the men anf
women whose toll and sacrifice made
the wealth of today possible. If We
would say that we have other things tt
attend to, we need but remember tha
there is no other thing as importa
as this that nothing else can atone fol-
neglect Of our children. We must re-
member, too, that we fail to do ouI
duty by the children unless we give
them an equal chance with all othel
children, and that if we leave them ir
mill and street and field when the
ought to be in school, we are cheatinl
them of their birthright.
We desire for the South of tomorrow
that she be prosperous, that she b,
aspiring and progressive, that she holt
her ancient place n the councils of tn,
Nation. If her children are left ignor
ant, it is inevitable that she be poor
ii they are not inspired to hope am
!