The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1919-01-24
COOPER'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS


Continued from Page Three)
war, make school attendance com
pulsory in time of peace. The Con
federate Government from 1861 tc
1865 laid its hand upon the sixteen
year old boy, and compelled him tc
put on a gray uniform, shoulder hi;
muket and fight for Southern indie
pendence. Was not this interference
with parental authority? A public
necessity existed, and parental au'
thority yielded to the superior right
of the state. But it is useless to
enact and enforce compulsory at
tendance law unless adequate ia.
cilities are provided. 1t is not suffi'
cieht that We provide a seven months
minimum term but we need, and
must have a better organization OF
our entire educational system. We
must have the best talent in charge
of cur educational work. Now, gen.
tlemen, l promised you in the outset
that 1 would deal with you in perfect
candor. If you adopt my recon-
mendations as to our educational
program it means the expenditure of
more money for the education of the
youth of our state than has been
heretofore expended. We cannot
hope to have the best talent in our
schools with the present scale of sal
aries for school officers, and the pre-
snt standard of pay for teachers. The
question may be asked, can we afford
to make the necessary investment in
our educational institutions? l use
the word investment" advisedly, be-
cause money properly expended in
the development of an educational
system suited to our needs will prove
a splendid investment. go.
Education An Investment.
The South Carolina Council of De-
Tense recently issued a pamphlet
which should be read by every tax
payer in South Carolina. It's title is
4Does 1t Pay?" From this pamphlet
] quote the following:
"You prosper just in proportion to
the prosperity of the average man
with whom yau are brought into
business contact. If the masses of the
people are poor and ignorant, every
Individual, every interest, every in
terest, every industry in the COM
munity will feel and register the
pulling down power of their back
wardness as inevitably as the ther-
momter records the temperature OF
the air. The merchant will have
poorer trade, the doctor and lawyer
smaller fees, the railroad diminished
traffic, the banks smaller deposits,
the preacher and teacher smaller
salaries, and so on. Every man who
through ignorance, lack of training,
or by reason of any other hinderins
cause, is producing or earning only
half as much as he ought, by his
ineficiency is making everybody else
in the community poorer"
~, Fight Illiteracy. ..
An educational system that is in
adequate is burdensome to the tax
payer, because he gets poor return
for the money expended, but an al
equate provision is the best invest
ment the state or individual can
make. In considering this part OF
our work most earnestly urge upon
you provision for teaching agricul,
ture, home economics, vocational and
industrial training, etc., as a part OF
our school work. In other words
our education should prepare oul
children to do best the thing they
must do. A great deal has been saic
recently about illiteracy in our state
The statement has been made, ant
we c@rGo: deny it that South Caro-
lina IL The percentage of illiterac,
stands near the bottom of the list O
all states. Surely no South Carolinial
with a pride in the past history an
tie traditions Of his state, and wit
a proper appreciation of the oppol
-