Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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GEORGE D. BROWN. STAT MAKES HIS REPORT i p T?*1Ih What Hum Been Already Accomplished and Tells of Other Things That Need to t Be Hone. I i Geo. D. Brown. State supervisor of f mill schools, has made his annual re- f port to J. E. Swearingen, State superintendent of education. In his 1 report Mr. Brown says: 1 "Herewith is submitted a report of ' the activities of the State supervisor ( of mill schools for the scholastic year * beginning July 1, 1915, and ending ( June 30, 1916. Discussion of the mill school problem and reports of pro B>?? ui?uo ?ie u?rem contained. "The legislature of South Carolina In 1915 having created the office of State supervisor of mill schools, and the State superintendent of education having chosen me to assume the duties of the offlce, I began work In that position July 1, 1915. My first ques-[ tion was: What and why are mill | schools? I was told that mill schools ( re schools attended by children from | cotton mill villages. 1 have yet to din j cover why mill children should be' segregated from the other white children of the State and enrolled in different schools. It is gratifying to state that this condition is decreasing. Type of Schools. "Some mill schools are supported as regular public schools, receiving both county and State appropriations and employing the host 'eaohors and superintendents. Other mill schcols are supported in part by the public school funds, which are supplement ed .by funds from the mills. A few mill schools sire owned and flnnnet ?l entirely by the corporations owning the mills, thus being private scl ools without the pale of public sc l. o* officers. This last type of school is mamffeed without regard to the school laws of the Stat'-, notably in the employment of uncertified and biconipetent teachers, in the non-adoption of uniform text books, and in the use of buildings poorly lighted and equipped. Some of the best and some of the poorest schools of tho ^tate are mill schools. ^ Aims of System. "The aims of the mill supervisor were: First, towisit and study condl- * tions in the mill schools; second, to interest mill authorities in the advantage of having their schools become a part of the public school system of the Stat<?; third, to inspire teachers and officials to better buildings and more useful equipment; fourth, to encourage community interest in the school through the democratic method of special school tax voted by patrons and freeholders: fifth, to improve the class room instruction, and, sixth, to make every mill village school a part of the community life, training boys and girls for citizenship, manhood and womanhood, and giving to adults a fuller and broader opportunity to master the fundamentals of an education. Mill Schools Problems, "The greatest problem exisiting in the mill school is the lack of community spirit and co-operation. This inertia on the part of the patrons ts due in a large measure to the fan that they have had no voice in the schools. Many schools like other pro perty in the district belong to the corporation. Why, then, should patrons raise money for school equipment and class room instruction? When, however, the mil! operative is called upon to vote 'yes' or 'no' on the question of a special tax levy for maintenance or for the erection of a school building, he begins to at least consider the advisability of having a better school. The above ^ Droblem is being removed in nianv f places by enlisting the aid of elec- ' tors in voting special taxes and bonds S to be used in betterment of school conditions. ' Overcrowded flosses. > "Not less than fifty per cent of the f mill children are found In the first < and second grades. In a few instances t ae many as one hundred childreh in > charge of one teacher were found In i RUB OUT PAIN I with good oil liniment. That's j ' the surerft way to stop them. ,1 ^The best rubbing liniment is ^ j' MUSTANG LINIMENT! ft Cqod for the A ilments of M i1 Horses, Mules, Cattle, Etc. Qood for your own Aches, ( Pains, Rheumatism, Sprains, Cuts, Burns, Etc. i 25c. 50c. $!. At all Dealers. I uttoX-' V I 1 I SUPERVISOR 4S TO THE MILL SCHOOLS i small class room. Partly on account of the overcrowded conditions the children drop out of scuool. It is not necessary to touch on the absolutely inferior teaching under such conditions. The remedy for large classes is simple enough?the employment of additional teachers. The mill authorities responded willingly in many cases where overcrowded Masses were found, and such conditions were relieved by the services )f additional tearhem Health and Sanitation. "In South Carolina when patrons if towns, mill or rural schools gather it the school and realize that they nay have better conditions through he channel of special taxes, better luiklings will be the result. The mill luthorttles do not have time to study ichool architecture, their business is 0 make the mills pay dividends. As 1 result of the interest being given to he successful operation of the mahinery and not to schools and chilIren, many children to be taught are trowded into unused tenant houses vith few small windows for ventilaion. The darkly painted walls and inscoured floors are germ breeders >f worst type. The close proximity if people could cause immorality: he crowded conditions on schoo' grounds, where children play without supervision, would tend to evil sugrestions. The lack of sanitary toilets and carelessness in regard to Irinking water ate evident in some if the mill schools of the State. Nee?l of Kindergarten. "A kindergarten would be of grmr lelp to -small children in every mili tillage in South Carolina. When* he parents work in the mill the litle children have lpng, profitless, if lot dangerous, hours both at home ind on the street. Human beingsearn much during the tirst live yea: >f their lives. Manifestly, it is wel or all children under six years oi ige in the mill village to be under he guidance of a trained klndergaren teacher \\ ho works in the same milding and under the same supervision as the day school teachers, failure to Hold Children. "The fact that mill schools too of en fail to hold the children is due 0 several causes. In some cases the hild of his own desire or from nee essity goes to work in the mill after inishing perhaps the third <rt4 fourth trade. In other cases the child Imps out of school on account o! tvercrowded conditions and the lacl ?f individual attention. It is a re tretable fact that many children are ost from mill schools for the lack of nterest on the part of the teacher i'oo many teachers are in the mill Hinge only from o'clock in the norning until L' o'clock in the after loon, thus in the lives of the chi! Iren very little. In many of the iost progressive mill villages of the itate, such as Monaghan of (Ireenille, Graniteville of Aiken. Pacolet if Spartanburg. Ware Shoals ot Ireenwood. and Pelzer of \ndersorhe school authorities require tin eachers to live in the village. If tin irohlems of mill earnings, stories ot machinery, and subjects kindred t he future lives of the children wer? ubstituted for unessential materia! n text hooks, the child-critic would ?e more willing to prepare for work I'he supplementing of such text booKs ind readers wotild require teachers 1 ho know the work and life of the iverage mill operative. A co-opera ive club of the people themselve. hould supply class room equipment, eaders and material suitable to inerest and appeal to mill children would nox a leacner-i raining niursior mill teachers be of benefit to the nil] schools and the mill children ot *outh Carolina? Possibilities in Mill Schools. "There is advantageous ground 01 vhich to work in building up mil' ichool8. The villages furnish the hildren and the corporations havf he money. The chief work in super daion, which is in its infancy in the nill district, has been to co-ordinai* he children and the money. This ask has been hard but enjoyable, lue to the hearty welcome and assls ance given on every hand by the mill "nanagement and operatives. The nills are now providing schools not .nly as efficient but as attractive as own and city schools. '"The enactment of the child-labor aw has added much to the possibili les of the mill children. The work if Mr. E. J. Watson, commissioner ^f agriculture of South Carolina, and his able coworkers, has been both utreful and effective In the eliminaI'on of child-labor from the mills With the enactment of the new fed rral law child-labor will be elniinati?d without further trouble. "The mill operatives are not mistreated, and the child-labor law is not openly and delibertely violated as many politicians and preoses HE LANCASTER NEWS TTJ] would have you believe. This oft-j repeated statement is not true tor! three reasons: First, mill opera ) tives would not stand for it; second, l the mill officials are humane; third, the mill managers are wise, knowing thut the most profitable work is! that given by the most healthiest and best educated laborer above sixteen years of age. Every hope is entertained that children under sixteen years of age affected by the above laws will find a prof.table place in school. With children from 12 to 16 years of age in the mill schools ft will be possible in the near future to add manual training and domestic' science to the course of study inj these schools. "The mill man is interested in his child and his home conditions. The mill people are not different from other people of the State. They are citizens; they have pride, they have honor, they have aspirations, they I I have an occupation that is distinct- I 1 ive but that occupation maintains our I I chief manufacturing industry, it is not destructive of human life and energy. The mill school has a great opportunity to teach the child to emulate the admirable traits of the mill operatives, to know that cotton mill laborer is honorable and that his hand and brain should be trained through the channel of a school (< better fill the place in the mill which will be made vacant by bis father. "With the continued co-operation j and support of both mill manage ment and operative the mill schools will steadily push to the front rank.! The time is not for distant, if not at hand, when the child of the in li operative will have the same edm a tional advantages as the child of th* mil! pres'l<ft. The possibilities " fered by the mill schools are i;r at and the children of the mill ope tlves are willing to accept the b. .0 tits of such schools." Is i i5arvfo Claus ? M 6" V ?'ANanc)? M Ha^cs At a quarter to twelve on Christmas eve Teddlcuins woke with a start; There was somebody \ tugging him by kY ' the sl*'t've- ? yffljr "7 4t | / And he turned with ^ a thumping heart. 1 "Now. don't make a ? I ' I \ sound!" said i " jl brotlier Jim. I y "As sure as ever I'm /Tyfc~'/1 J/1 hePe?it's him!" Ai\ f\ V . ?"Santa Claus! /\\\ I \ I \ K * i Oh. isn't this sim/ LA \ W wk ply K-rcat! I I ^ V/r Fan't you light up a \ match, Jimmy ? 1 <\JS- quick?because / 'CtVi.? " you don't it will *1 'v ?.. too lntc! I'm longing to Know just what he's like And if lie's brought me a motor bike! "Well, I'm puzzled." said Jim. "P'r'aps, if we look < I nev say thnt he hales a spy>, lie won't leave the a."?> **} ball and the picture-b. ok. > . . \ But Jolly well pass And while they won- \ ^Yv'! dered if they J {WfFJt T should peep, ^ 'v Somehow, the boars T ^ . Y fell off to sleep! t m? But the curious *jfr'' noise went on all f( j] Scampering, rush ~? rill the darkness flew and the day f i i?" datyned hriKht. L* And the rats had lfiryS^jL# had thclf fun. And th.e rascals chuckled, "Well, what a fuss! If they'd only known that It was us!" -Idttle Folks. Itl'IXiA ItM FIND XKW CROSSING. i Berlin. Dec. 10. -A new crossing ot the<J)anube. between Tchernavoda and Sllistria, by the Bulgarians is announced in today's army headquarter's statement regarding operations on the Roumanian front, whieh also records a continued advance by the Teutonic armies ir^j eastern Wallachia. I On the Moldavian frontier or Roumania Russian troops captured a; height south of the Trotus valley, ton ; were repulsed in attacks between Kirllbaba and Dornawatra. The text of the statement follows: | "Front of Archduke Joseph: The Russians again attacked between Kirjibaba and Donawatra. without achieving success. South of the Trotus valley they captured a height but although employing strong forces did not succeed in gaining ground on the side of the point of irruption. "Army group of Field Marshal von Mackensen: The armies in east ern Wallachfa are advancing. "Rulgarian forces have crossed the Danube between Tchenavoda and Biliatrla. "In Dobrudja there has been little fighting activity." J, ESDAY, DEC. 12, 1916. CHRI! is cc And The BARC So Come and AT I Which Will Last B W I III" lr ?n4g 8 Look For The Pointing Finger Over Our Door. OUR GU. I Is Back of Oui Our line is complete. Our ] anywhere. Our servicfe is a A FEW OF THE MAW CHRISTMA! Keen Kutter Pocket Knh Coal Vases, Carving Sel Keen Kutter Knives ant Harper Ha The Leading } J I T 5TMAS I )MING ! aAINS Are Going Get Your Share OUR i % ut A Few More Days Lancaster's Fastest (irnwin0 St nra ! k? ! ? V* V VTIIl^ UIV1 V Ki I A.RANTEE OF r Entire Stock of prices are as low as you will find Iways courteous and gladly given. If THINGS WE HAVE FOR 3 PRESENTS res, Ever Readv Flashliorhu V ts, Keen Kutter Scissors, I Forks, Guns of all kinds. irdware Co. f i Hardware Store.