The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-12-08
The Newberry Schools Need
Money and More Teachers
Dr. Kincrd Addresses Parent Teachers Association and
Discusses Compulsory Attendance and Incidentally
Brings Out Need of the Ne,0bery Schools.

d
member of the Daughters of the
American Revolution to attend meet
ing of the parent teachers associa-
ton of the school to be held at the
high schools building on Wednesday
afternoon. l accepted and was
there. This member said they were
going to discuss the plan of retain
ing and ~nsing the old court house
for community building and would
be glad for me to say something at
ter Mr.. NJ. L. Spearman read a paper
on the subject. And OF course after
DR.. Kinard finished his talk Oh com
pulsory education.
There was a good ATTENDANCE OF
mother parents and few OF the fati-
er parents. DR.. Kinard discussed
compulsory education and gave the
statistics of the States that now have
compulsory attendance and said that
now there were only six States that
did not have some sort of compulsory
attendance law and that last year
South Carolina by adopting hybrid
Che did not say that but l do) law
on the subject there were only five
that had no such law. He gave
the usual arguments against sucn
law and then answered the OBJ
jections in the usual way. l think
the South Carolina law is a reduct1o
ad absurdum, or if that is not the
proper Latin, is reduction to alb
surdity of the idea of local option.
And in practical effect it is in fact
no law at all. l believe that There
are several districts in Newberry that
have voted compulsory attendance and
by this time no One in the district
knows anything about it and there is
no difference in the results. intro
duced bill in the legislature for
State law some fourteen years ago
and Mr.. Raysor of Orangeburg had
a companion bill in the senate. The
bill passed the senate and wanted only
six votes of passing the house.
have long been in favor OF compui-
sory attendance law and few years
ago collected a digest Of the com
pulsory laws of all the States IN the
union. l believe. rs DR.. Kinard stated,
that the child has rights that the
parents must respect, and one OF
these is to have the very best oppor-
tunity possible to make a good clti-
zen and one of these opportunities Is
to have the best training possible.
and if the parents neglect to give this
opportunity then the State has right
to step in and say you shall. But
this thing that the legislature OF 1913
Dassed is a farce of the first water.
AS to the negro we need have no
uneasiness of that for he is going to
all the school We furnish him.
br. Kirard said that there were
three suggestions as the solution OF
the negro problem. One to colonlze
him which was impracticable, the
other one assimilation, and the other
segregation. He seemed to favor the
idea of segregation. Colonization IS
Impractical. Assimilation is repug-
nant but saw it stated somewhere
that Every day in the city Of New
York an average of six licenses is Is
sued for the intermarriage between
negroes and whites. Of course that
Is a small matter, bnt it is at least
a symptom. AS to segregation I DO
not know about it. I doubt if it Is
practical. You know Thos. jefferson
said in 1922, think it was, that moth
ing was more certainly written In
the book Of fate than that these peo-
ple. the negroes, would be free, and
that it was equally certainly written
in that book that beDg free and en-
jcying the same privileges under the
government it was impossible for the
two races to live under the same gov
ernment. The first of his prophecies
has come to pass. Of the other l do
NOT know. | am sure that those who
did the act now realize that the crime
of the 18th century was in making
them, the negroes, equal under the
government The future will take
care if iaself.
DR.. Kinard spoke of the needs Of
the schools in Newberry, which IS
the vital question for us today. He
said that We needed more money That
no doubt is true. We need more
teachers and we need to pay the ones
we have more salary. I think he is
mistaken in the statement that We
have now six mills for maintenance.
If am not mistaken we have only
three mills. The constitution does not
permit over mills for maintenance
as a special tax.
There was one thing in the conclud-
ing remarks of DR.. Kinard that We
could not exactly reconcile. He made
a strong plea for compulsory attend
-pce and commended the State local
option law and yet said if he had t"
answer now on the subject for the
Newberry district he would say no,