Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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v . * T Y I THE CHRONICLE Strlrcft To Be a Clean News paper, Complete, Newsy sad Site If Ton Don’t Rend THE CHRONICLE You Don’t Get The News. VOLUME XXIV CLINTON, S. C., JANUARY 17,1924 NUMBER 3 PROPOSAL TO MOVE STATE TRAINING SCHOOL Editor Clinton Chronicle: Dear Sir, A proposal. has gone before the General Assembly to remove the State Training School from its location near Clinton to some place in Rich land County, and a committee has been appointed to consider the pro posal. In this connection I wish to make a statement which may be of interest to the Clinton public, and perhaps to the people of the' Entire .. ’ 1 . - The. one^|nan„ most responsible for ing School for Feeble Minded is Mr. Albert Sidney Johnson, now of the Federal Reserve Bank, Richmond, Va. When it was Anally decided to es tablish an institution for the feeble minded Mr. Johnson called on me and urged me to induce the people of Clinton to contribute funds and purchase an extensive farm and offer it to the state for the .establishment of the institution. He endeavored to interest other communities, but the proposition did not seem attractive to the public at that time. The peo ple were not educated to the necessi ty of such an’ institution. Only a few forward-looking people were be hind the movement. The state at large knew little or nothing about it. I realised that the Institution would not be a popular one for some years, but that eventually when the public awaked to the fact that we have 25,- 000 feeble minded people in South Carolina, and that no disease is more dangerous than mental disease, and that weak mentality propagates it self more rapidly than high mentali ty, the time would come when the institution would be a very extensive one. ' . I became active; interested the Clinton public in the matter; secur ed the appointment of a committee, of which I was a member, and we raised something like 118,000.00 and purchased some hundreds of acres of land at and near Dover, east of Clin ton. A large committee went before the board and laid the proposition before them. The proposition was promptly accepted, and the school was located at Clinton or near Clin ton. Morally this was a contract be tween the state of South Carolina and the town of Clinton. The suggestion for removal to Richland County prob ably comes from some individual or individuals who are not" aware of this _ moral obligation and are only think- State^fiTrtfKftft^Sf cone^Mratlrtjf^&te insHtutrohs in Richland County, which already has the State penitentiary, the insti tution for the insane, the University of South Carolina, the State house and State oAices, the Governor’s resi dence, and one of the minor correct ional institutions, and the State farm. It would seem that Richland County should be satisAed with her near mo nopoly of the state government, but apparently that is not the case. Why not move The Citadel, Gem- son College, Winthrop College, the negro college at Orangeburg, and all the other minor institutions of the state to Columbia, or to Richland County? There is just as much rea son for moving the institution for the blind from Spartanburg to Richland County as there is for moving the State Training School from .Laurens County to Richland County. If we are to make Richland County a spe cially favored county, then let’s move all of them to Columbia or to Rich land County. I might add that I went before the Ways and Means Committee of the House, and the Finance Commit tee of the Senate, along with a small committee, and urged that the laws be so changed as to make the con struction of the State Training School Are proof construction. The argu- jnents used were effective and the law was so changed as to bring about that result. I was greatly disappointed when Mr. Johnson, who was enthusi astic over tike segregation of the feebleminded^ in a special institution, gave up his gkeat idea and accepted a position with the Richmond, Va. Federal Reserve Bank. However, an excellent selection was made when Dr. Whitten was selected to head the institution, and he has been very suc cessful in organizing it along scienti- Ac and thoroughly humanitarian lines. He has a great vision of what the state ought to do. He' knows how to bring about the development if the funds are supplied, but as soon as the propaganda put out to educate the public of South Carolina on the im portance of the institution, begins to take effect, and it becomes clearly' evident from the Governor’s messagp. that Something must be done to amply supply the institution with housing capacity and other necessary equip ment, then the proposal arises to move the institution to Richland Coun ty. In other words, if it is to be pro perly supported by the state of South Carolina thenjt is too big a thing for Laurens County, and Richland County must monopolize it. If this thing keeps up the time may come when there will be no room in Richland County for anything but state institutions. Why concentrate them all in one section of the state? Have the other counties no rights in the matter? Is there any peculiar advantage about institutions being lo cated in Richland County, or any eco nomies to be accomplished? To the writer’s mind, separation of the institutions, each one in its own Aeld, is inAnitely better than putting them all together in one county. When they are separated the local communities become intensely inter ested in them, as Clinton has inter ested itself in the State Training School. Indeed, nearly everything that has been done for that institu tion has been done by the Clinton community, other of course than the activities of its president, Dr. Whit ten and the former activities of Mr. Johnson. It has the sympathy of the Clinton community and the interest of the Clinton people. If it moves into some place in Richland County, who will be interested in H? It will carry some business to Columbia and away from Ginton, but are the tax payers in the state , of South Carolina advantaged thereby? To the writer’s mind the suggestion of removal is purely a question of who shall have the trade resulting from the con struction and maintenance of the institution. That is so low a view point to take in regard to the insti tution as to be almost humiliating as a subject of discussion. If the institution is to do for the state of South Carolina what it should do, permitting the breeding up of our people to a..higher standard- of men tality, the elimination of the most serious handkap -to our civilization, it must be considered as a thing in ieself, to be built for itself, and for its great purpose, and the question of who gets the trade from its lo cation is a matter of no concern to the people of South Carolina at large. However, it is a matter of immense concern that we do not establish the precedent of moving South Carolina institutions from one place to an other. If that thing begins then why not scatter the institutions which are already in Richland County, separat ing them more widely, and probably to their beneAt? As it is, Columbia’s progress has been dwarfed' by leaning too much on state pap for its sustenance. It is to be hoped that the leaders from Richland County will realize that they can do nothing to more seriously in jure Richland County’s interests than to attempt a monopoly of state insti tutions and of the beneAts of the state government from a Anancial standpoint. They must take a bigger, broader view, and see the institution al work of the state from the stand point of its high purposes, and * or ~ get selAsh interests in their support of such purposes. Otherwise Rich land County will become an extremely unpopular county with her sister counties. I wish to enter my protest against even the suggestion of 'removal of the State Training School; Arst, be cause the state is under a moral obli gation to the people of Clinton, hav ing accepted their money and pur chased the land near Ginton and es tablished the institution thereon; second, because the state has spent a considerable sum of money in im provements on those lands, which if removal occurs, will be a total loss to the great injury of the tax-payers of South Carolina, and third, because the mere idea of removing state in stitutions for Anancial gain from smaller communities into larger com munities, once it is started, and made a precedent, would be a curse to the institutions of the state, and a bone of contention between the various counties. The institutions of the state have taken root, are accustom ed to their environment, and in no small degree lean upon their sur rounding territory for moral support. Let the State Training School and all other schools and institutions of the state remain just where-they are; develop them for their high ends to the best of our ability. That should be the idea with South. Carolina, and (Continued on Page Twelve) * ► ... WANT We want a good man to sell cemetery work in this sec tion; one not afraid of work or folks. Experience not absolutely necessary. Can give all or only part time td the work. Write for fuller information. - MECKLENBURG MARBLE & GRANITE COMPANY SPARTANBURG, S. C. | « ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ o ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ a t a a a a a a a a a a a Make Your Clothes Last Longer Cleaning, repairing An dpressing will do it. Careful at tention to the condition of your Winter Suits and Over coats will put them in shape to wear until Spring. It means money saved. * f Satisfaction Guaranteed r . I, v<i — Prompt Deliveries BUCHANAN’S PRESSING CLUB PHONE 28 a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a Copeland-Stone Co. m i?! W .<1 S *?.! 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