Year: 1868

Educate the ChiIdren..Protect the


a9 tsa Laborer. sF -
How can three hundred thousand white and
black children be educated2* Can it be done
with our present school system In my
opinion it cannot. You may erect school
houses in every part of the State, yea at
every cross road, and this generation will
pass away, and it win scarcely leave its mark
behind. The first question is, where is the
remedy? would say in the first place, it
is necessary for the landholders of the State
to take this matter into their serious consid-
Grafton. 1t is to their interest so to do We
have heard great deal said in regard to the
uncertainty of labor. Why is this the case2
Because we do not take that interest in labor
which it is our bounden duty to do. We
have no laws for the protection of labor. I'm
forseen circumstances have changed our con-
dition beyond our control. We can no longer
control labor as we did in former days, or the
days of our forefathers; but it must be by
moral suasion,. and if we want our jails and
our penitentiaries to be depleted oftheir occu-
pants, we must educate the masses of the
people. That will be the great preventive
of crime, and will of course reduce our taNa-
ton at least fifty per cent, and increase the
value of our real estate two hundred per
cent, so that you will see that it is matter
of policy, that the people should be educa-
ted. There is no one in the State of North
Carolina who is not directly interested inthe
matter. We ought, as citizens, to use every
exertion possible to obtain this great end.
Perhaps but few citizens are aware what each
county pays for the support of its criminals
daily. As far as | can ascertain, the costs
upon an average to each county are fifteen
dollars per day. There being eighty-nine
counties in the State, the yearly taxation
would be four hundred and eighty-six thou
sand two hundred and seventy-ive dollars,
directly or indirectly, but have no doubt it
will exceed this estimate. Why is it that
this Is the case9 Most of our citizens know
that the human mind must be occupied eth
er for good or evil. Had we not better pre-
pare the mind of the youth for good rather
than evil This seems to me to be very
simple question to answer. In the first place,
it is necessary to prepare the mind to receive
instruction. You must show to them that
you are interested in their welfare, and at the
same time to give support to our poverty
stricken people. There are but few at the
present time who can afford to send their
children to school, as they need their labor
to support and clothe them. There seems to
me to be very simple remedy, provided the
landholders of the State would adopt this
course: that is, that all the children or
grown persons who wish to get an education,
should hold out this inducement. If you
will come to work on my farm six months in
each year, will board and clothc you for the
whole year, so that you can have an oppor
tunity to go to school six months. 1t is my
opinion that if this course is adopted, we
shall have much more reliable labor at all
times, and one that would feel a general in
terest in their employers. 1t would become
a mutual interest. The same rule will apply
to merchants and mechanics.


Fellow-citizens, study your own interest.
Do all you can to educate the masses of
the people. Let every State put up school
houses all over the State where there are
none at present, and locate them for the con-
venience of the greatest numbers. Let the
State furnish competent teachers, at the ex-
pense of the State, from any fund set apart
for that purpose, and in my humble opinion
we shall have something practicable; butt
seems to me to be impossible to effect any
thing in regard to education unless you first
occupy the mind of the youth, and show to
them by practical demonstration that you
are interested in their welfare. We must
have teachers who look above the mere sal
aries they receive. They must feel that they
are working for generations to come, and
that their children's children may praise
them for instructing them in the days of
their youth. Every citizen in the State is
interested in this matter, and / am satisfied
fhak - -, -, xI,o ,,ko 80 al 1<> al
can for the education of the working classes.
You protect yourselves by so doing. Heav-
en- will smile upon you and say, Blessed
are they that do good unto the poor and
needy.n What is it that sustains the gov
ernment of England at this time ? 1t is edu-
cation and protection of labor. What is it
that sustains the Emperor of the French on
his throne at the present time-sitting, as it
were, on the crater of volcano which is
liable to throw forth its lava at any moment
but that he adopts that wise policy which
every government must do sooner or later,
and gives perfect protection to labor. He
docs it even by increasing the national debt
year by year. @ ,-s.--..


What is it that sustains the Prussian gov
ernment2 Protection to the bone and sinew
of the land. But am fearful in the South
tlsxt we are trying to dam every stream in
this beautiful Southern country of ours, and
command the water to run up the noun
tains, and say we cannot have you run this
way, you will damage our land, and we be-
ing the capital we command you to stop /;
you must obey our command; it is not for
you to say, " o water, where is thy sparkling
beauty! o labor, where is thy strength !"
MECHANIC.
*By the census of 1860 there were in the State
of North Carolina 23S, $50 white and $50, PAT col
ered children between the ages of 5 and 20 years.


ELECTION OF OFFIcERs.-At a meeting
of the Border Agricultural Society, for Vir-