Henderson daily dispatch., 1936-04-11
SCHOOLS BECOMING
POLITICAL FOOTBALL
A. d. Mclean Says Legis-
lature Saved Schools
From Closing Down
Daily Dispatch Bureau.
In The Sir Walter Hotter,
Nv i C. ASKERVIII.


schools of the State are rapidly be-
coming a political football in the pre-
sent campaign for the Democratic no.
mination for governor and the real
facts concerning what the State has
done to keep the schools open and
operating throughout the depression
are becoming obscured in the charges
being made in some quarters that the
1888 legislature wrecked the schools
and imposed the sales tax in order to
reduce the taxes of the big corpora
tions, Angus Dhu MacLean, former
solicitor general of the United States,
and leader of the schools forces in
the 1929, 1881 and 1888 general assem-
blies, said Thursday night in radio
speech dealing with the public schools
and taxation.
Reply to Mcdonald.
Mr.. MacLean did not mention the
name of DR.. Ralph w. Mcdonald, of
Winston-Salem, one Of the four can
didates for the Democratic nominal
ton for governor a single time in the
course of his speech. But the speech
most pertinent and forceful reply to
the charges which have been made by
Dr. Mcdonald for many months that
the 1888 legislature wrecked the
schools" in order to give special bene-
fits to the big corporations.
After showing that the 1888 General
Assembly actually saved the schools
from being forced to close and pre-
vented $4,000 school teachers from be-
ing without employment, MacLean al
so pointed out that it also greatly in
creased the taxes of the corporations,
although it drastically reduced the
property taxes of individual property
owners.
Keep the Record Straight.
''The injection of politics into any
consideration of the public schools is
easy, since schools and taxes are al
most inseperable," MacLean said. "But
the fair minded men and women of
North Carolina will wish to keep the
record straight-hence this speech"
The 1888 General Assembly was in
session during the darkest days Of the
depression and did not know which
way to go or which way to turn, and
the question of how to keep the
schools open was one Of the biggest
problems faced by the legislature,
MacLean pointed out. One group IA
vored closing all the. schools in the
State for one year. Another favored
doing nothing to aid the schools, on
the grounds that there was nothing
that could be done, which would have
meant that the schools would have
stayed open two. three or four months
perhaps, or until the county funds
gave out. A third group insisted that
the States good name and credit
should be upheld at any cost and that
the schools must be kept open.
Proud of Record.
''I shall always be proud of the fact
that the views Of this third group fl
nally prevailed and that it eventually
became the majority group" Mac
Lean said. He did not mention that
the views of this group prevailed only
after he led the fight for more than
five months and gradually succeeded
in winning majority over to his
point of view that the State could and
must assume the support Of the
schools-and for a term of eight
months--without resort to any prop
erty taxes. From 1881 to 1888 the State
had been contributing $16,O00,000 a
year to the support of the six months
months school term, but almost $4,-
100000 a year of this amount was de-
rived from-or supported to be de-
rived from-a Statewide property tax
of Is cents on the 500 valuation. But
much of this tax could not be col
lectad and still has not been collect
ed.
State Saved Schools.
Finally, the 1898 legislature, with
100 Of it's ITO members Democrats de-
cided upon a mighty forward step
that the State should assume the full
support of the eight months school
term without resort to a property tax,
but leaving the right OF supplement
to a vote of the people," MacLeanI
said. 'Now only three years have
passed, but there is a disposition in
some quarters to ignore the fact that
but for this State system of schools,
many counties in !. North Carolina
would have had no schools worthy Of
the name and thousands Of teachers
would have found themselves eitherI
without jobs or without salaries, as|
was Inc case IN SeVeral Quiet SIa.co'
While the 1888 legislature was deter
mined to keep the schools of the State
open for eight months, it was also de-
termined to do this without a prop
perty tax both because it had been de-
nonstrated that property tax could
not be depended upon and because
there was such a Strong demand for:
a reduction in property taxes, Mac,
Lean continued. For while a few
wealthy counties could afford to sup
port the schools with property taxes,
most of the counties could not afford
to do this, he said.
IT now see signs that a few Of these
wealthy counties may perfer to go
hack to a nronertY tag for sllnnorting