The Brinkley argus., 1913-07-11
EDUCATION in the SOUTH

lished in the South, in recen-
 issue contains the following very timely truths in regard to educa | tion in the South:
 Says President Wilson 1T
 .'The New Freedom:" "Americs
 is great in proportion as she car
 make sure of having great mer in the next generation. "
 So it might be said of the South that she is strong and wise today just in proportion as she is mak- ing sure that the next generation will be strong and wise-just in proportion as she is training and instructing her children to dc good work, to think soundly. and to lead upright and useful lives.
 The older men and women of today all who have reached middle age knew a South with the wounds and sorrows of con-
 fiict on her face, with the desola- tion of defeat all about her, and with the burden of poverty and ignorance upon her shoulders, Yet this South, with undaunted spirit, set about the repairing of her broken fortunes and the building of a new and a finer civ ilization. The fruits of her labors we of her younger generation have enjoyed. It was our privi- lege to begin life's work in a land of hopeful endeavor and of unbounded opportunities.
 But there in the dark days, amid the ashes and the ruins of defeat, our fathers wrought well. We are never tired of boasting of their courage and achievements and we do we'll to be proud of them. It 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 women, the boys and girls of the South today, are given an equal chance in 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 illit- eracy and poorer schools than other more fortunate sections; but there is no excuse 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 accom- plished. when we come to com pare the South that rebuilt her fortunes from the wreckage of war and Reconstruction with the South of today.
 To give every child in all this Southland the opportunity to SC cure a good education an educa- tion 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 dc some useful work and then to make sure that this opportunity is not taken away from him by anyone; this is the great task i'm posed by the spirit of civilization upon us. It is task, too, which we dare not fail to perform. Nc excuse for failure can be worthy of real men. If we would say that we are too poor, we need only remember how rich we are compared with the men and wo- men whose toll and sacrifice made the wealth of today possi. bIe. If we would say that we have other things to attend to- we need but remember that there is no other as important as this, that nothing else we can do can atone for neglect of our children. We must remember, too, that we fail to do our duty by the chil- dren unless we give them ar equal chance with all other chil. dren, and that if we leave them in mill and street and field wher they ought to be in school, we e..s. <.L nn4,.~ d. ...a of tko... L,..t L