Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1925-10-29
ATTY. e. w. OGLEvEE WRITES
ON SCHOOL QUESTIONS
To the Patrons of Schools Of

Morgan County: 49,
Permit me. Mr.. EditaF, to offer 2
few comments upon the issue thag
now confronts the people ot Morgan
co1lrtv. in connection with the con!-
mn seLecIs am not II any saal
date or against any candidate, VINO
ie seeking q place on the school board
at the coming election. Tam not seek
inc to fix the blame for the condition
in which your schools are now inVoiV1
ed. hut / am going to try to point Out
the dangers of your present SITUATION,
and to excite the interest OF the peo-
pie of Morgan county in the problem
of maintaining that first and primary
right of every child to attend a com
mon school.
The pertinent facts in the. case are
that some district schools In Morgan
county have been closed, and some
children of school age are denied the
privilege of the common school. Otn-
er children have been assigned to ad-
Joining districts, and made to travei
an unreasonable distance price
thew must pay. or forfeit their right OF
attending school, The owners OF prop,
erty in the district in which the scnooi
is closed and the parents OF the chlid-
rem who are denied the privilege OF q
school must still pay their share OF
taxes for the maintenance OF the oth-
er schools of the county and state.
The right in and to the. common
school has been so universal; SO long
established; so long enjoyed by, all
alike, the rich and poor, the chlidren
of the tenant as well as the landlord
that it has come to be looked upon
ike the ancient right Of sunlight and
air-as almost a. gift of nature. Inc
common school has not only been the
school Of primary education, but II
has been the school OF democracy
where the first lessons in the duties
and obligations of the individual to So
ciety and the state at large are taught
and learned. -,
IT is in the common school that the
state through it's most important pup
lie official, the school teacher, lends
its hand to the tottering. child ana
starts it-in the narrow though some
times arduous path OF citizenship.
The starting point OF that path is tne
home. though it be built of logs, as the
one at Hodgensville, Kentucky, was
built Of logs. 1,
The first station on that path is the
public school. IT, when the cnilu COMES
to the school house, it finds the door
closed by the order of the state thru
some recreant official, right then and
there it has abandoned its ward, to
which it was pledged in the honor
of the parent to foster and guide, TO
the trackless woods of ignorance and
crime. The state, by its default, be-
comes a PARTICLES CRIMNlS to
every wrong and failure that may be-
fall it's abandoned child.
The common school is the entrance
door-the vestibule to all the avenues
of knowledge. 1t is the first round on
an endless ladder by which the eager
student climbs to heights OF dlstln-
guished service, and to take away the
common school is to stop and forever
bar the ascent before it is begun.
Think of township maintaining
high scnool, attendance on which re-
ouires the pupils to pass common
school, marked closed! Closing the
district schools puts the executive de-
partment of the state in the anoma-
1ous position of enforcing truancy