The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1920-10-01

had with him from his department IN
Columbia Mr.. Easterling, Mr.. w. y.
Shealy, Mr.. H. B. Dominick and Mr..
Peterson and Mr.. Gunter, the former
supervisor of rural schools, was also
present and spoke about the work of
the State Teachers association, and
said he wanted to see very large
attendance at the meeting. 1t Will
be held at Spartanburg in Novembc".
Mr.. Gunter is president. The other
gentlemen along with Mr.. Sweari!l-
gen spoke of the various departments
with which they are con-
nected but Mr.. Swearin-
gen did most of the talking, and it
is wonderful what a grasp he has of
the educational work in this state
and how familiar he is with the
schools and the condition of them m
every county. Mr.. Swearingen eX-
planned the several acts of the legls-
iature pertaining to the schools, and
especially the compulsory law, the
issuing of state licenses for teachers
in place of the county certificates,
and then the various provisions, of the
law giving state aid to the schools.
The equalizing act which guarantees
to every district that votes an eight
mills tax minimum school term 0.
seven months and a minimum salary
of 500 to the principal and $50 to
the assistant per month. To come
in under this law there must be ROT
only these conditions complied WITH
but there must be an enrolment OF
25 children to the teacher and an
average attendance of Is. Then
there are still the term extension act,
the rural graded school act and the
high school act, all of which prov de
for state aid. To carry them out
will take state appropriation Of
$4,000, 900, according to the estimate
Of Mr.. Swearingen. It would be
money we'll spent. The members OF
the legislature who talked so elo-
ouently about better schools and te.-
ter roads during the campaign will
be put to the test when these recon
mendations come for action.
To carry out the provisions of the
eoualizing law Mr.. Swearingen es-
Inmates will take about $70O,00O,
and there is a deficit to be made good
from the last school year. The ap-
propriation of the last legislature
paid only AT per cent. of the claims.
To make up this deficit will take
about S175,000. Not to make This
up would be sort of reputation OF
ones obligation, and Of course the
legislature will not do anything like
that. If other counties have com
piled with the conditions of this law
anything in the same proportion thas
Newberry has it seems to me that
Mr.. Swearingen has his figures rather
too small when he estimates that 1t
will take only 100000, but he is
generally pretty correct and kncws
what he is talking about. 1t is c
good law. If this country is to de-
velop and prosper there must be de-
velopment and extension of the
schools of the rural districts and the
rural communities must be made bet
ter places in which to live, and one
of the best ways is to build schools
shat are the equal of any in the
towns and cities, and of course build
roads over which the people can
travel. The people mean to have
these things ,and the legislature will
not balk at the improvements along
this line so much needed.
did not have time to see any Of
my friends in Spartanburg of the
days that are gone. I wanted to call
on Mayor Floyd and Sam Reid and
P. j. O. Smith and DR.. Hallman and
Sam Nichols and Solicitor Blackwood
and Albert Hill and many others, but
the time was taken up with the meet
ing, the thing for which l went to
Spartanburg. I did run down for a
few minutes after the adjournment
on Tuesday night and had a brief
talk with Charley Heron of the
Spartanburg Herald. He IS also a
member of the state highway COM
mission and much interested in road
building and is doing good work in
this important development of the
state. And after the adjournment
of the Wednesday morning session l