The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1922-03-24
"Who's Who and Why?"

We have a communication emit
tied who's Who and Why?" The
first paragraph reads as follows:
after hearing the town GOSSIP
and the undercurrent to eliminate
our schools and churches, our roads
our tax, the heart of all-and af-
ter I pause a moment and tremble
from fear for the coming generation
l ask myself the question, who's
Who and Why and What Is the
Trouble?"
Now, just exactly what the writer
is driving at is rather vague except
by inference.
The contributor, however, pro-
ceeds to say that for one he
would suggest we get together and
put the best possible men to the
front with all conservatism, yet not
too conservative to eliminate nom
progressiveness.
After a few desultory remarks this
contributor then comes to the point.
He suggests the names of good men
for Legislative timber. Among these
are Hons. T. j. Bonner, S. F. How
ard, G. w. Stovall, G. R. McDade.
There can be no mistake about
these gentlemen. They have served
the people of Obion County before
and with honor and credit. There
is no reason to suspect that they
would not do so again. This paper
has the highest confidence in these
men.
So far we have only one candidate
for the Legislature announced. Per-
haps there may be others. 1t re-
mains for the Democratic voters of
the county to name the nominee.
There is no question about this call
ing for discussion.
But the contributor has suggested
town gossip and undercurrent to
eliminate schools and churches. This
is the first intimation that such
thing exists. If there has ever been
hint or sign that anybody wants
to eliminate either schools or
churches it has never reached this
office. Rather has there been a sug
gestion that we might change our
school system, making it possible for
all the children of school age in Ten
nessee to have common school edu-
cation instead of heaping up money
for higher education and for dupli-
cation in the normal schools. Every
Democratic candidate for Governor
for the past ten years has preached
this on the stump, but the school
lobby comes along and the Legisla-
ture proceeds to do its bidding. The
common schools are therefore neg
lected and the graft grabbers get
busy raking off something for these
big schools that in importance are ac-
tually insignificant compared to the
common schools.
If the contributor wants to discuss
elimination he might first contem-
plate a system that closes the doors
of the common schools in order to
promote duplication in the normal
schools and experimental university
courses.
Progressiveness and waste are not
synonymous terms. Every man that
tears his hair for public aid is not a
progressive, but the man who pays
his debts and stands for constructive
measures and those things which are
calculated to be of permanent value
is not only a progressive but a re-
liable citizen.
The Commercial has Joined the
forces in suggesting a change in the
school system of Tennessee and there
is no regret is so doing Instead of
swallowing up the interests of the
school children of the State for high
er education The Commercial and
hundreds of others that we know of
in the county stand for the children of
Tennessee. The public school system
was intended originally that the
children might have a common
school education. The system has
not been advanced by any means by
taking these privileges from the chill
dren, but rather has it been pervert-
ed-for political uses as we'll as for
higher education.
To say that any man with ordinary
intelligence has ever dared to suggest
the elimination of our churches is to
make a serious charge This office
has never heard of such thing.
The people of the county will have