University of South Carolina Libraries
4c4 rr--+ "-. / ' EWB RII , S C., FRI AY,NOVEMB R 12 187. WIC A W EK,S1.O AYEA mendable that cherishes the heroism diers of the Lost Cause, entiment is sadly perverted mpt to substitute section striotism in the minds of outcry against "partisan the schools? I'll tell ime is drawing near for hool books for another ra, and booksellers are thern sentiment for all it them. Circulars written rdon against "partisan" o being scattered broafd' blishers and ag,niif who ool history thi' are trying opted by,Etate boards of A 1iss meeting was re in Richmond at the in Lee Camp of Confederate to protest against "parti ool histories. Virginia is elect school books for four rominent in the mass meet a man who has lately writ. hool history that he would ave adopted. A mass meet Ibeen called at Nashville by people who are not educatora at against "partisan" histo -southern schools. There is bt a hidden hand in that pro eeting also. hose people who are making U stir about "partisan" histo ally desire non-partisan histo on-partisan from every stand On the contrary, they are ng for histories that are in partisan-partisan to the There are just two classes of agitating this matter: Those ave books to sell and those re being used by them to help hem.. there any real sense and reason is cry for southern histories for hrn schools? Must we have a thern history because it is south ? I knov foar school histories southern authors, and not one of Md is a good text book. Of the now most clamorously and per aciously before southern State ards of education for endorsement d adoption, one is now in use in e public schools of this State; the her, receutly issued, is written by e so-called "fighting parson." The rat named is undoubtedly -artisan, ibut not ,intft:Iy-rt ls chief faun't to.~-ireme heaviness of style, 'which renders the.ieading of it a la 2bor to any one and the study of it a 'positive weariness of the lThsh to ~school children. I cannot so tree -pass on your space as to show this, but let me quofe hero one or two representative sentences:1 "The domestic tranquility guaran 'teed by the constitution had not been *enjoyed (by the south) for many a day, and an interminable continuane of strife and discord seemed to be in -store for all. The idea had been ~slowly shaping itself in the southern mind, that, notwithstanding the -affection for the Union that the south ;had felt and maniested since the :ounding of the government, tran - quil existence without the govern mient was preferable to continued 'disturbance within." The "fighting parson" is intense 1y and bitterly partisan. He dis casses thy "causes of the war" at * gren ~'fgth, rehashing arguments trtave been stale for 30 yoars and arie about as interesting to a subhoo boy as a last year's birunest. Out of 424 pages he gives 138 to the civil war. His style is totally unfitted for -a text book for children. His sen tences are long, involved and obscure, Imagine children 12 to 15I years old making -creditable or even intelligent recitations from extracts like the fol lowing: "Yet even after this plain declara tion of the President to coerce sever eign States who had simplf exer .cised their 'inalienable right' (as the Deoclaration of Independence puts it) ~of choosing their onL form of gov -emnment and their own affliatins., 'border states waited; the Con. I orate government sent them com- a Ieasioners to treat for peace and for e eouitable settlement of all prop- a 3rty rights and other points at issue: t %nd 'Union men' all through the I south, and many good men at the Q iorth, 'hoped against hope' and de- V outly prayed that better counsels F night prevail, and that the calama ;ies of war might be averted," , And again this: In Meade's army four general of icers--Reynolds, Vincent, Weed and 1 Jook-were killed, and thirteen Eancock, Sickles, Gibbon, Warren, Rutherford, Barlow, Barnes, Webb, 3tanard and Graham-were wound id; i'Lee's army five general offi .ers Hood, Hampton, Heth, J. M. lones, G. T. Anderson, Scales and fenkins-were wounded-" Historians, like poets, are born, iot made. Any plodder can gather k mass of facts and have them put t nto print; but if he has not that in lefinable talent or tact for putting li facts into attractive form, he will iever enthuse nor even interest chil Iron, and the teacher who tries to nstruct children from such a book t ias a hard road to travel. Facts are stranger than fiction, ind history can be made more charm ng than a novel by a real historian. I Vo my thinking, the best writer of t Jnited States history is John Fiske. le, by the way, has an excellent ;chool history, bit it is better suited t or high schools than for the com non or graded schools. I am not ersonally interested in any author t 'r any history, but Eggleaton's comes iearest to what I think a school his ory should be. It is attractive and )ntertaining; the style is simple and )leasing, and it is non-partisan. I Before closing I wish to say that >eople who write about school his ories ought to have an intelligent dea of the kind of history best suit id for children, and they ought to iave a practical and personal ac luaintance with the histories that tre now rivals for adoption in the >ublic schools. Confederate goner. is and other veterans should not al ow themselves and their organiza ions to be used to further the ichemes of authors and publishers. rhe way to inform oneself on this iubject is to get copies of the rival iistories and exnmino them calmly md carefully, without prejudice and ,vithout regard to where the author ives; to examine with a view to on .ouraging a broad patriotism, not iectional feelings, and then select edie best interests of them most vitally '~ -treerned-the children ~hemselves. If, uj>ii such examiia .ion, the choice should fih ulpon a iouthern author, I would be among he first to congratulate him. But t is mighty poor patriotism and less ense to choose a routhern school ook simply because it is southern. W. H. WALLaos. Newberry, October 20, 1897. PitOi,. MARoCINANTs OPINION. hianks Prof. Wallace Has inaulted Many Patriots. ['o the Editor of The State: Prof. Wallae thinks that publish rs and book agents are circulating >artisan literature for selfish and tot for patriotic purposes. If he hinks so, he has a right to say so, ndeed it is his duty so say so. I do mot agree with Prof. Wallace. I ] hink his charges concerning the re ent meeting held in Ilichmond ani neult. His statement that the moot. I ng to be held in Nashville is under he diroction of a hidden band is vorse than an insult. Both of these neetin)gs are the fruit of honest, pa- .a ient labor and thousands are asking Tod to bless this fruit. If I could, would gladly attend the meetingI i Nashville. Prof. 'Wallace classeos writers of I istory too high. To put school >ook historians and poets in the I ame class is nonsensical. A pleas. ng style in arithetie, grammar or I hny other school book in the ole nonts; too much of it ruins the book.i ['ho facts of history anli only the 1 acts ought to be in a school history. Vhat are now callod modern met.hods I kip the facts and put in their place illy namby-pamby fiction. I have usod in my classes ever inee they were published, Hansell's wo school histories. Mr. Cham >era, the author, writes from a south. rn standpoint. Both of these books 6re up to-date books. I am not a ,enius in the art of teaching and eat I got fine results with these books. t these books were in all of our outhern schools there would be no rery great cause of complaint. The arger book is too big. The matter night be reduced or it might be put nto two volumes. Prof. Wallace gives two sentences rom Hansoll's larger book. One vould suppose that the sentences vere in the same paragraph. The lecond son'ence is not a correct luotation.' This quotation is given is an example of the style. In style, acluding everything about style, ,he two paragraphs from which hese sentences are taken are almost aultless. It is not fair to quote an tuthor in this way. My interost in school histories is ny intorost in truth. No northern au horoan writo a school history suitable or southern schools. All the so ialled fair histories written in the korth are frauds -consuinmate, trans >arent frauds. I, for my part, am ,hankful to Confederate generals, Jonfedorate veteran camps, Confed irate women and Confederate any hing and everything for their inter isf in this matter. A true southern ir, woman or man, will never hurt he south by writing her history. ['ho south has been hurt by not iaving her true history writton. Road the answer to this question a tiny school history written in the iorth. Why did the southern States iecede from the Unmon? A flat lie vill be the answer? What is the mnswer? This: Beoanso the iorth broke the solemn contr-ft Yhich had been mado. If such )ooks as Prof. Wallace recommends >e continued in use % v shall soon be iome like the north. A thing de routly wished by some of our mis rnided, poorly educated people. 'From all such evils,"' I say, "Good Eord deliver us." W. N. Marchant. Lone Star, Nov. 1, 1897. Johnson's Chill and Fever Tonic Cures Fever In-One Day. lmportance of TrIes. [From the London Times.J \Vas it not Pascal who said that if 31eopatra'sa nose had beena an inch onger or shorter it might have thanged the course of history? Very ikely, inasmuch as history is noth og under the sun but a tale about rast numbers of people. And what ilters the direction of one life may tasily afVect millions. You have, no Ioubt, board the story about the Darl of Witshire's dog. It was at ho time the divorce of Henry VIII vas under discussion at Rome. ['hiings were progressing favorably, vhenm the pontiff, at the close of the undience, punt on his foot to be cissed by the earl, the dog-who had ollowed his master into court-bit t. This so enraged the pope and morrilled the ofilcials present that the megotiations were broken off. This tory may be true, or not, but we are 11 aware that the course of history vas changedl about that time. Such hings merely illustrate the truism hat you never can judge of the ime >ortauIce of anything by the size of t. A nod of the head or a wink of he eye does sometimes literally and ruly "speak volumes." On a tense tnrpstring it needs only the touch of i finger to elicit a tone loud enough o fill St. Paul's Cathedral; and just in accidental word or two, dropped a passing conversation, may, all un. >eknown to the parties speaking, be matter of life or death to one or toth of thonm. A NEW YODK DULL ON LOW COTTON. Unusual Position of One W ho Transact s His Businese on 'Change-IllN Advice to southern Fariners. Mr. John T. "%oddey, formerly of North Carolina, but now one of the Lost known men on the cotton ex change in New York, writes a coin munication to the Journal which will be read with great interest. The Journal cannot subscribo to all of Mr. Roddey's views-but he presents them so strikingly that we take pleas. ure in printing them. His position is a very unusual one -especially for a broker on 'change -but the farmers will no doubt re cognize in him a friend, and his courage is to be admired. Mr. Rod dey writes as follows: To the Editor of the Journal: No doubt the late civil war coat the south many lives and an im mense amount of money, but in my opinion since the war the south has lost at least five times the amount throqgh exchanges on cotton; in fact the amount of money lost by the southern farmer and speculator dur ing the past twenty-five years by having the price manipulated by professional speculators will amount to many millions of dollars. I beliove the average town in the south of 5,000 people has lost by speculation and having the price manipulated against the farmer from $250,000 to $1,000,000-and think of the num ber of towns! A professional gambler in gamb ling only ruins the individual with whom he is gambling, but profession al operators, in order to accomplish their ends, not only ruin the indivi dual but also ruin many millions of individuals by effecting markets which effects them all, in order to make their proilts. Supply and do inand for spot cotton does not offect the pricoe, but supply and demand for futures establishes the price. For instance, every spot buyer simply asks how is the future mark et, and if the future market is 10 points lower, ho immediately lowers his limit eqal to the drop i futures, and every farmer that markets his cotton simply suffers from the drop speculators cause. In other words, spot buyers and mill .mon only have to break the future market in order to buy their spots at whatever price they care to fix, .knowing absolutely that the average farmer must soll on account of his poverty at least a portion of his crop at whatever prico they may fix. Large American and European spinners never givo themsel,es one moment's uneasiness about getting their supplies, in fact they simply reason that they will get together, sell thousands of bales of futures, whioh will put down the price, and as long as they continue to sell the lower the price will be, and when they get the price barely where the farmer can exist they then buy their spot cotton, realizing that over a million bales per month will be mark eted at absolutely any price they may fix. The professional operator nearly always takes the bear side. Why? Take for granted that the hulls and bears are equally divided, the out sider as a general thing attracted by the low price, and statistical position takes the :bull side and the profes sional operator takes the boar side, now say in a crop of nine million bales one hundred thouziand bales are marketed dluring the day, the spot buyer buys your cotton; he has not sold probably all the spots that lhe lhas bought so ho immediately Hells futures against the sp)ot pulrchanses. Is it not therefore apparent that t.here must be more bulls thann bears to prevent a decline? The profes sionals anticipate the sales of these sp)ot buyers during the spot season, and of course help them drive prices lower. Many farmers owe for their sup plies and fertilizers and simply miust sell, and the lowver the price the stronger the creditor insists on his money, because ho fears at the low price the crop will not be sufficient to pav., wherea if cotton was at a good price the creditor would kuow be need not worry about his money, lnd would not insist on having the arop rushed to market and forcing a sale. When an operator with ton thou sand dollars can soll the crop of an antire county probably representing the interest and effecting ton thou sand souls to say the least of it is placing little valuation on their la bor one dollar per annum. It must undoubtedly be very dis couraging to the farmers that before they begin planting many wealthy op, rators are willing to soll them what they expect to make at a price which they can barely exist. There is no other class of labor except the farmer that has the product of his labor traded upon by a people th-t neither know or care anything about his welfare or prosperity. Suppose there would be allowed an exchange on the labor of clerks, lawyers or mechanics where a crowd of unin. terosted people could got together and trade in the future labor of this class of people, one party would offer to got a clerk that is now receiving $1,000 per year for $000, another will offer to fill his pliaco for $850, another for $750 and so on, ovon soll his labor to the point where ho can barely make ends met, the clerk must either accept the salary thje specula tors lix or allow his family to starve, and the lowor his salary can be hopt the loss chance he has to improve his condition in any mannor. Now it is just this way with the farmor, he is allowed a prico for his labor which enables him to barely exist, but how is it possiblo for him over to improve? In cas ho should receive a legitimate price for his labor for a few years he would be in a position to have somothing to say as regards his.Auturo labor, and would not allow a price to be fixed by poo ple who know nothing and caro bss for his labor. If tho farmers of the south wern in an independent condition, out siderg would not dare attempt to set. a price on their labor, but as it is they do anything knowing that on account of their necessity they must submit. Would ary class of laborers except the farmer allow their labor to be bought and sold for a your in advance? No. You are considered as being the most ignorant class and these shrewd operators would not at tempt it on any other class of labor, yet at theC same time in ruining you they are ruining overy other class of people with whom you como in con tact. Nearly every class and race of peoll must have your pr1oduction, but if you think that foreign coun tries and even other sections of this country, will not force you to take as little as p)ossible for your product, then you had better realize it at once; don't look for sympathy. It is to their interest to kee' you down, for if once you becamo in dependent you would be Lhe most powerful as wvell as the richest coun try iu the world, because the bailansce of the worlid is dependenmt upon you, whereas you should bo and could bo absolutely independent of any see tion. What aro you going to do0 about it? Let things roll along as they are? Many continue to work for 40 cents p)or day; strong, able bodied, sensible, good white farmer for $12 per month. Or will you wvake up ats you seom(ed to do thren years ago when you discussodl t he situation andj seemted det.orm ined that you wvould givo the umatter mnore thought and attention, when you threatened th)Q'X operators withI the Hatch bill and umado thom think that you were docing your owns t ihikng, and the market advanced $20 per bale, or will you take no interest in your future condition andl givo r.e newed energy to those who aro in juTring yon ? Now York, Nov. 1, 1807. Why will you buy bi1tter nanustLT.n tg tonles4 when OovE'S Tias'r,:H'ss ur,r T1o~Nc is ats pleasant as L ernon Svup. Your druggist Is auithor~ized to refitund the money in every ease where it falls COMING!! TO_______ NEWBEQQYf S FRIDAY Uov.19. PJAI-9 ET. SPLENDID IN CHARACTER, \ MAGNIFICEIT EMEINN1C EQUIPMENT0 I GRAL N . I p PRESENATiC0N GREERST.GR~ANDES AND BET OF Am ERICAS Dmnipotent in Strength ! Ideal in Characterl Splendid in Organization ! Magnificent in Presentation! 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