The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1918-10-22

a Catholic school because he prefers
the Catholic church to a Protestant
church; therefore, you ought to vote
for the ten-mill amendment"
] How do you intelligent voters like
such an appeal to your prejudices?
Isn't such an argument purely and
entirely camoufage? Will the fact
that | sent my boy to a private school
make it any easier for you to pay that
ten-mill tax?
Don't you think that citizen has a
right to send his children to any
school that he thinks necessary. and
don't you all know that nine-tenths of
the academies, colleges and universe
ties in the United States are private
schools. Are not Yale and Harvard,
Cornell and Chicago, Leland Stanford,
Tulane, Vanderbilt, Stetson, Columbia
and Southern private schools?
did not send my boy to private
school because | preferred it to
public school, nor to a Catholic school
because it was Catholic school. It's
nobody's business but my own, but
have no objection to telling about it.
To begin with, my boy began his
studies in Miss Sharpe's kindergarten
| Mr.. Crimson didn't tell you that and
Miss Sharpe, as most people in Ocala
know, is very strict Protestant.
Then he went for two terms to the
Ocala public school-Mr. Brinson
isn't telling you that, either. And, if
had been situated as the average
citizen is situated, he would have
continued to go there. | was not 50
situated, as most of my friends know
Mr.. Brinson, as well as any of
them. 1t became necessary for me to
choose between sending the little
boy to boarding school where he
would be under control of his
teachers twenty-four hours day, or
during large proportion of his wax
ing hours. So l sent him to board
! ing school, and it is no fault of mine
that the Protestants did not have one
available. For that matter, at that
time, the great Mr.. Cats had not
come among US to sow strife and
reap public Office, Protestants and
! Catholics were living in peace, and it
was nothing unusual for Protestant
children to go to Catholic schools The
school my boy went to-St. Joseph's
Academy near Mandarin, in Duval
county-was one of high reputation
and many Protestant boys have been
taught therein fact, first heard of
! it because a Protestant recommended
it to me. My son went to this school
six years and the sisters in charge
took good care of him. They gave
him home as we'll as a school, treat
ed him as little brother as we'll as
pupil and / will always be grateful
to them for what they did for him.
When he graduated there, he might
have gone to the Ocala high school if
he had wanted to. He preferred to go
to St. Leo College and / acceded to
his wishes. ST. Leo is also a good
school and enabled him to finish his
education in much less time than any
high school could. Now, if Mr.. Brin-
son or anyone else can make any
political capital out of the manner in
which / have educated my son. he is
welcome to it.
i The appeal to religious prejudice
lis small business. Neither the Cath
4 Ollie church nor any Protestant church
has any influence on my views of
lpublic policy. Everybody in Ocala
!. knows that-Mr. Crimson as we'll as
anybody. The men who founded the
american government intended it to
be strictly secular, and l have always
Il followed their lead.
4 Mr.. Brinson and myself have been
. together good deal in the last ten
years and have talked with great
: freedom on public matters. The idea
that / opposed public schools never
entered his head until l began to OPP
pose that precious ten-mill amend,
ment.
&C." is a man who knows more in
| ten minutes about property and tax
alton in Marion county than Mr..
] Brinson knows in half a day. He
: pays considerably more toward the
support of the schools than Mr.. Brin-
SON does. He has no children-neither
did George Washington, who made
: more splash in history than Mr.. Brin-
! son and Teddy Roosevelt put together.
Cracker can take care of himself
He has brought up almost as many
i children as did the patriarch Jacob,
: and is now engaged in looking after
his grandchildren. If we are to de-
eide the ten-mill amendment on the
basis of children, why not refer it to
a well-known colored citizen in the
) third ward, who has nine.
: 1t is easier to abuse FAX and
Figgers" than answer him. Every
{ taxpayer knows that the taxes have
: increased, just as he says they have
S Mr.. Brinson is entirely right in
! saying his article is just little side
E lights along the way, and does not
have any bearing on the subject under
e discussion. The trouble about his
!. sidelights is that they are shaded
E with green glass. He will find they
: have hindered more than helped him.
S, My language is whatever my read
: ers may choose to call it. | have
i q