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--* 44". Entered April 28, 1908, at Pickens, S. C.p a Second-1m aotter, Wsder Act of Congress of March 3, 179. ]T ' VOL. XXXVIII. PICKENS, So0, THURSDAY, NOXEM.BER 19, 1908* NO, 3. OUK SCHOOLS hr Psor. Warurne H. Ra, Univeruitv of South CS"UrA. PpPWN=ar Tom WHO IS RESPONSW1LE? Who is responsible f9r our ill-equipped bigh schools, with their short inell Vient courses of study, their lack of teachers to do the work, and the rel Atively small number of pupils there? The answer is, the superintepdents *nd principals, the people, and the eolleges. The superintendents and principals .are rightly looked to by the people for leadership in building up the high inhools. They are largely responsible for the educational ideas of their communities, and the attitude of the 'People toward high schools. If the course of study is overcrowded with -ubjects or is scrappy in its material, #hey alone are responsible. Many a school without a map, a chart, a obe, or any other necessary appara , might have at least a few such, things bought with the money spent 1n so-called commencements, bacca laureate addresses, invitations,. pro grams, rule books, etc. Moreover, mnany a boy and many a girl not in the high school would be, if they had -only a few eneournging 1words spoken t. them. It is to be feared that the tpublic hikh school teacher is not al ways mindful of the pupils who are ,-out of school but ought to be in -ehool. 14ilally, many a high school A running ib a rut, because the prin 'u1pal is running in one. The peoplh are emphatically to bhme for not supporting their high -9shools. They put neither their mon - nor their children in them. roughout the State, in places easily 1pointed out are high schools scarcely M*wrthy of the *name, but whieh might So made within five years to rank high, if the people in those places were only willing to use a little com ion sense business sagacity. Why a ..sensible man will refuse to help his heme school by patronizing it, but instead will, help to maintain one away from home -by sending his child rn there, is one of the strange things In life. He gets no better advantages er his own children, and refuses to elp his neighbor at home who is un able to send his children from home. Hence the home high school lags. It veosts today $250 to send a pupil a. year to school away from home. Why will four men thoroughly familiar -with the laws of busipess co-opera tion take their sons and daughters from their own high school, to send -them away at an expense' of $1,000 a .year? Why will they not put even half that money in the home school, di&ereby keeping their money and oeir children at home, and at the .Ame time when the children need parental attention ? Anderson, one of the four places nast year with a four-year public high '@ehool, has had to abandon its 11th grade, although 12 of her last yesr's 1th grade are off at colege. Five fkom the 10th grade and seven from the 8th grade are at college 1 These :24 pupils are ,eosting the people of ;1 .Anderson $6,000 this year; this year Anderson is paying her entire high usehool teaching force less than $4, 000. Ninety-Six added the 11th grade tViyear, kept 5 pupils out of last S.r's 10th grade, sent 9 out of the same grade to college, end pays two high school teachers this year $1, :280. These nine pupils, with one from the 9th grade, at college, will this year cost the people of that town * -ore than they are spending on their entire school from the - frst grade up. The people of Pendleton, Seneca, 'Union, Woodruff and numbers of oth - -ae places are impoverishing their high schooils in the same way. What is the trouble.? The people are still 'blinded 6y that fundamental error that the function of the high school is to prepare students for college. ine-tenths of the -pupils who finish the 7th grade never see the doors of a college. True, in addition to the subjects necessary to college entrance we have added to the traditional eourse a large number of side-dishes, so to speak. 'These side-dishes are nothing but rlighes, to be tasted oe esionally. The people and the prin pals have put no meaty courses par. l to that .single one which lpads atm7bt teeleg I and unwillingness to learn stand abd see their own strong and sturdy sons step out of the school room at the end of the 8th grade, because these sons have found that their parents and teachers have put nothing in the high school except nourishment for the college candidate. Is the reader beginning to see wherein the! colleges are responsible for the unsatisfactory high school conditions? Every.college in South Carolina, State, denominational, and private, is doing high school work in its college courses. This statement needs no proof; the high schools are not doing the work, and it must be done in the colleges, if done at all. Formerly, and not so long ago, the colleges were all but helpless in this matter-they had to take the raw unprepared material or close their doors against deserving boys and girls unable to get the proper preparation. I have already argued that the high schools are not yet ready to furnsh properly prepared students to the colleges. The lines of demarcation between high school territory and col lege teritory can not be definitely fix ed, yet with respect to the age of the pupil and to a majority of the sub jects of study involved there is al ready considerable unity of opinion. Taking into careful consideration the actual conditions which exist, let the college set a reasonable number of high school units (not grammar school units) as -the minimum requir ed for entrance. A standard three year high school ought to do 12 units of work. Since most of our high schools are three-year schools, that standard ought not to be unreason able. (A standard of years cannot be set up; every one knows that the tenth grade is not definite as to what is accomplished; besides. some iebocols run nine months, some eight, and a few only seven.) First, let each college make its en 4:rv.nee requirements definite-let its standdid be high or low, as it chooses, but let it be definite. Second, let the college live up to its published claim. Colleges cannot be uniform in stand ards, perhaps there is no need for such uniformity, but all can be hon est in these standards. After all, it is a question of morals, and if a col lege should stand for anything it should stand for unswcrving recti tude. It is just as reprehensible for a college as a body corporate to ad vertise one standard and act on an other, as it would be for one of its professors to promise one thing and do another. The popular mind has. come to look upon the published en trance requirements of colleges as fakes. With a college catalogue be fore you giving its entrance require ments in English, Mathethatics, Latin and History, at a standard which the average school of ten grades is fail -ing to reach, and you know it, your mind is likely to be disturbed when you know that the same college is taking pupils from 9th grades, and occasionally from Sth grades. What are the facts? With fully twenty high schools yet to hear from, I have the names of 154 pupils who have entered college this session from 9th grades, and 36 pupils from 8th' grades. These students reported as entering the preparatory depart ment of a college, were of course not included. Every college in the Sta~te, and several outside, are reported ~s sharing thQ spoils. It is hard to re concile thele cold facts with the con stant wail of the colleges for better prepared students, and with the per ennial announcements about having raised standards. If a college after ten or twelve years of standard-rais ing is canlvassing for 9th grade pu pils, and taking 8th grades ones, what must the standard have been when it began raising I The evil genius which dominates our colleges is greed for numbers. Boards of trustees, faculties, and the people ~are all uinder the magic spell. There is nio ob.iection whatever to numbers in the colleges, if their pres enee is not bought with a price. The constant cry is, "Send us more stu dents; make room for more students; look at the students being turned away from the college doors.'' The public mind in its -hystorical moments fails to grasp the significance of the plain est facts. For instance, the college enrollment in South Carolina. last year was more than one-third the high school enrollment. What is the significance of this fact? Again, Win th oep College had1 this year 1,047 ap *pli ants for admission. 520 werted, spittcd; .527 were refused. Presiden~t 2 ohnua6 ranout that fuflyl1K8n $ those . refused were not prepared to enter Winthrop at all. Clemsdn had 1074 applizations for admission. 728 were adwitl.ed; 246 were refused. President Mell reports that 206 appli cants failed on account of examina tion. The other colleges have simi al reperienees. The ery should. be for better high schools better patron ized. Concluded. Prominent Confederate Veteran Dead Washington, Special.-Albert G. Holland, a member of the first com pany 6rganized in Washington to fight for the Confederacy, died sud denly in this city Sunday. Mr. Hol land took part in the first battle of Manassas, fought valiantly until captured and sent to Camp Chase, where he Vas released at the close of the war. -He was a member of the firm of Copeland &Co., ahd it was said manufactured flags for the Fed eral government while it was his aim to destroy them during the war. Industrial Education to Be Promoted Atlanta, Ga., Special.-The second annual convention of the national society for the promotion of indus trial education, the membership of which includes some of the most dis tinguished' educators in the country, will be held in Atlanta-Thursday, Fri day and Saturday of this week. Ex hibits from twenty-three ' industrial and' technical schools of the country will be displayed in the State capi tal. Will Be Extra Session. .. Washington, Special.-That a special session of the Sixty-first Con gress will be called soon after the 4th of March to take up the matter of tariff revision, became positively known Sunday when eWilliam H. Taft President-erect, after spending the day at the White House as the guest of President Roosevelt, stated' that he intended to call the special. session t meet as oon afte his inaugura. abn,t' wobeb teviabnable. Passenger Trains 0oI1ide. Jacksonville, Special. -Passenger trains Nos. 39 and 10, of the At lantic Coast Line; came together in a head-on collision near Camden, a small station about ten miles from this city Saturday morning, killing James A. King,- of-Sanford, Fla., and Alenxander A. Bell, of Palatka, both negro mail clerks, and slightly in. juring several others. A relief train was sent out from here and the dead and injured' brought to Jacksonville. The trains, -it is said, had orders to meet at Camden, but No. 39 ran by with the fatal results. Morris Haas a Suicide. San Francisco, Special.-Morrie Haas, who shot Francis J. Heney, committed suicide at the county jail by shooting himself through the head. One report says that the pistol with which Haas shot himself wa con cealed in his shoe where he hid it be. fore shooting Heney. -Another re. \port says the pistol was secretl3 passed to Hanas by a friends since hii incarceration. Mr. and Mrs. Bryan to Visit Florids Fair. Tampa. Fla., Special.-In a letteu to President T. J. Brown, of the State Fair Association, William J Bryan has accepted an invitation te visit Tampa during the fair. Mr and Mrs. Bryan will arrive in Tampn the latter part of January, going t< Cuba for ai short visit and returnins will spend at least a week in Tampa Preparations are being made fon Bryan day at the fair. Complains of Cotton f,ates. Montgomer-y, Ala., Specia.--Fail im; in its snit before the city court of' Montgomery to force the Central of' Georgia Raxilway to cease alleged discriminations against the people of l'nion Springs, Ala., in the cotton compress ease the Alabama Railroad (Commission has sent a complaint to t he Interstate Commerce Commission against cotton rates in general. All ramilr-oads doing an interstate business in Alabama are made defendants in the complaint. -- THE CUBAN Ef CTION Goms, Liberal Candidate, Elected President By Large Majority. Havana, By Cable-At the close of an election which was conducted wtth great enthusiasm and complete ab senee of disoider, it appears practi cally 'eertaiii fhat Generil Jose Mig nel Gomes and Alfredo Zayas have beenchosen President and Vice Pres ident respectively of the new Cuban republic, with strong liberal ma jorities in the Senate and House. Throughout the island, according to the reports, an extraordinary heavy vote was cast, vastly in excess of that east in the August, election where 182,000 failed to vote in a total registration of 450,000. This was especially so in Havana City, where the vote probably will reach 66 per cent of the registration against 49 per cent in August. The heavy vote was due, not only to the prevalence of fine weather, but the strenuous efforts made to bring out the silent vote. The slow incoming of the returns is attributed partly to the heavy vote and partly to scratch ed ballots on Representatives. In complete official returns from the precinct of Havana indicated that the city was overwhelmingly Liberal. Few returns have been received from the provinces but estimates give the island to General Gomez by from 25,000 to 30,00. The Conserva tive leaders generally admit the de feat of their partyt Negro Kill Eight. Okumulgee, Okla., Special.-Eighl persons were killed and ten others vrere wounded Sunday in a fight be. tween James 'Deckard, a negro des. perado and offleers. The dead. Edgar Robinson, sheriff of Ok mulgee county. Henry Klaber, assistant chief of police of Okmulgee. Two negroes named Chapman, brothers. Three unidentified negroes. The wnunded: Steve Grayson, Indian boy, probab ly fatally beaten Victor Farr, chief of Sioux, shot through shoulder; De. puty Sheriff, arm broken. Seven others, slightly wounded. President-Elect Taft Invited to Spar tanburg Banquet. Spartanburg, S. C., Special.-PrOs i4ent-elect Taft has been invited by the chamber of commerce to be the guest of Spartanburg upon the oc casion of a banquet to be given No vember 20th, celebrating the build ing of the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railroad to this city. A com mittee of citizens from the chamber of commerce, the city council and the board of trade will go to Hot Springs and extend the invitations. The banquet will be attended by the Governors of five States and the presidents of half a dozen railroad systems. Taft Renders Tribute. New York, Special.- While can non boomed, awakening patiotic memories of those sailor and soldier heroes who died in British prison ships in the revolutionary war, the prison ship martyrs monument' at Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, was dedicated with impressive ceremonies Saturday -in' the presence of Presi dent-elect Taft, Secretary of War Wright, Governor Hughes and thou sands of people who thronged the knoll on which the tall dorie column stands. Mr. Taft made the oration of the occasion and after the~ cere monies left for Washington, whore he will meet President Roosevelt. Pushing Work on 0. 0. and 0. Road. Spartanburg, Speial.-The con tractors are pushing the work on the C. C. and 0. Road. They are re eeiving steam shovels and all sorls of road machinery and the noise of the blasting is like the cannonading around CharlEdon in 1864, only it i umt o cnstant 'and .anenrous. CHINA IS AmfLicilD Emperor and Empress Die On Same Day THE PEOPLE TAKE IT QUIETLY Shortly After 5 O'Clock, Saturday, the Emperor Breathed His Last Prince Chun, His Brother, Now Re gont, May Be Accepted as Succes sor. Pekin, China, By Cable.-The Emperor of China died shortly after 5 o?clock Saturday evening. As early as 3 o 'clock in the afternoon, it was reported that the Emperor was so low that his death was re. earded as imminent. The Foreign Board of the government has con frined the report circulated Fri day that the Dowager Empress is also mortally ill. The Emperor had been ill for a long time and during recent audi ences with foreign representatives he was unable either to sit up on the throne or even in an erect position. It was evident for a long time that he would be unable to withstand .& crisis which sooner 6r later must de velop in the disease from which he was suffering. Recent climatic ex tremes caused the devel9ment of fatal complications that resulted in his death. At the moment of death the Em perer, the Dowager Empress' own death chamber chair was waiting in the courtyard. She, too, had been in a serious condition, and word that was brought her earlier in the day that the Emperor was dying, caused her to collapse. This has prevented her from assuming the relationship of grand mother to the successor to the throne, which, according to the Chinese system would enormously aument her authority. there is little indication of emo tion among the people. over the events which have been transpiring. l'he Emperor's death and the prob able death of the Dowager Empress v!ithin a very short time have had but little effect upon the Chinese, who are pursuing the even tenor of their way without signs of mourn mng. Kuan,g-Hsu's later life was a pit iable spectacle to his attendants. His feebleness had rendered him a mere puppet and he had suffered long from ill health, which was combined with fear and despair. Latterly he showed marked signs of mental dis. turbances, and even went so far last August as to declare himsel mad. The foregoing dispatch from Pekin sets at rest the conflicting r1mors of the past two days that have origi nated in Pekin#and been published around the world. The Emperor of China is dead. The report' from London of his improvement probably referreI to a temporary n diti only. The Pekin message is the first wnqualifled' statement to come frova the Chinese capital and it specifi enlly gives the time of the passing away of His Majesty. The regent is Prince Chun, the Em peror's brother, and if he is.accepted b)y the government before t,he Dow ager Empress dies, the likelihood of any revolutionary outbreak in China will be materially reduced. Dowager Empress Dead. Pekin, By Cable.--Tsze Hsi ,An, the Dowager Empress of -China, the autocratic head of the government, which she directed without success ful interference since 1801 and with out protest since 1881,. died at 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon. The annlouncement of the Dowager Empress' death- was official and fol lowved closely upon the announcement that Kuang-Hsu, the Emperor, had d (iedi Saturday at 5 o'clock in~ the af ternoon, hut it is believed that the death of both the Emperor and the Dowager Empress occurred a consid. erable time before that set doyvn in the official statements. An edict issued at N o'el9ek Sun day morning placed upon the throne . Prince Pui-Yi, the 3-year-old' son of Prince Chun, the Regent of the Em pire, in accordance with a promise given by the D)owager Empress soora after the marriage of Prince Chun ia 1903. An- edict issued on Fridar made Pu-YI heir presumptAve.