Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ijamimmm " ^ *r* ...?*' *" ^ ' $. ! ^ ^ -1 '~ | City of Union and Suburbs Has rW^ WW WT^ T T 1%T W /~k ULT ffiSTVT "M ff" CHy of Union and Suburbs Hat Five Large Cotton Mills, On? Knitting I I I J I I I I I I I M / J Fire Graded Schools, Water Works, tun I Spinning Mill with Dye riant, Oil 1 I ^ I I VI ^ I I W I 1 . Sewerage System, Electric Lights, Thre? Mill, Furniture Mawifactuiing and ' I J I I ^ 117 11 I I VI I 1 i L 1 _ Banks with aggregate capital of $2*0,000, ' Lumber Yards, Female Seminary. JL. JL-M- X- V JL X ^ JL XV JL JKL^Jk F^S 9 Electric Railway. Population 7,000. g. VOL. LV. NO 9. ONION, SOUTH CAROLINA. FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 1905. #1.00A TEAR: | We Have Mo On Cotton or o Collateral, and w to have an interv . V 1 . . . V Wm. A. NICHOLSON COMPULSORY | EDUCATION. from the Standpoint of the Sociologis. By J. A. Tillinghast. ? ^ ^ (Professor in the Departmet of ^-.Jgconomlcs, Converse College.) ' The movement for compulsory ^education is part of a tendency in our tjme, which presents a 1 very interesting, but a very puz- 1 zling, problem to the thoughtful ' . student of social development. , It will be impossible under the 1 limitations of a magazine article 1 to do justice to the subject, but 1 some general considerations may j perhaps, be touched upon in a ] profitable way. j From time immemorial it has 1 been a fundamental function of J the family, as a social institution, ^ to furnish society with new mem- ( bers, properly reared and taught \ in the knowledge of their time. . But modern social development J is silently working out deep , changes in the practice, if not in j thp thonrv of f^milvlifo If on . optimist, you may think hope- . fully, or if a pessimist, then de- j spondently, of the meaning of j these changes, but there can be < no doubt of their existence. | \ While we may have our fun at ] the expense of those who push y the "new woman" idea to an ex- ( treme, there is nothing to laugh ( at in the gradual spread of a pro- j found change in the sentiment . of women toward marriage and } the assumption of maternal bur-; ( dens. As yet it has made but' ( little headway in the South, but , in certain other quarters it is un- < mistakable. The opening up of many occupations, formerly | ^ closed to women; the entrance of | v women, though married, into' j many public activities, that dis- \ tract attention from the demands j of home-keeping; and the wide agitation of doctrines that em- j phasize certain ideals, wherein \ marriage and maternity are i viewed as inconvenient?all these | developments do not tend to ] strengthen the institution of the . family. , Further, there is an unmis- 1 takable tendency to shift from the ; family to other external agen cies various functions, one habit- j, ually regarded as belonging to the family. The care of sick members in the household is being more and more delegated to professional nurses, while in some quarters the custom is j growing to send the sick to a "wr hospital. The responsibility for giving proper religious instruc- ; tion to the young once regarded as especially incumbent upon, parents, is now becoming almost j wholly shifted to the Sunday School. This agency was originated to meet the needs of the city waif, not to supersede the religious teaching that cultured; parents can give their own chil-; dren under much more effective , conditions at home. The kinder-1 garten idea has developed a) widespread disposition to send? the children off to "infant i schools" at a very early age, thus reducing at another point Kk the amount of care given at ~ home. Meantime, it has become the universal theory, more or less carried out in practice, that parents should be relieved by the State of the expenses of providing at least elementary education. And now it is still further proposed that the State shall assume, lOfork of Court me ( ney to Lend ther Acceptable < e shall be glad ( lew with YOU! 9 J I ft SON, Bankers.' | mmmmmmmmmmmmw^ IMMS I responsibility for seeing that , children attend school, when { parents neglect this matter, j This proposal expresses another , phase of impatient distrust in the v sufficiency of those family forces t formerly relied upon to bring up ^ tne new generation safely and c properly. It also implies a grow- ^ ing tendency to rely upon the , State rather than upon individu- t al initiative under the slowly de- p veloping pressure of public opin- Q ion. | All these observations raise 0 the question. Whither are we e drifting? Has the institution of 0 the family been tried and found ^ wanting? Are we discovering c Dther agencies that can do the j, vitally important work once com- / nitted to the home and do it bet- ? ter? It will not do to be hasty in answering this question, either \\ n the affirmative or the negative. s it is quite possible that the hos- ^ lital and trained nurse may v irove more effective in saving ^ ife than home nursing, that the a Sunday School may be developed to a point where it will give our t] children their religious instruc- 0 don better than it could be done at home; that the public school j( nay be so perfected as to train f, /ery young children more .effic- ~ ently than their mothers have j.] ;ime or disposition to accomplish, a and that the State may assume n full powers of regulation in re- p ?ara to the course of children at school with ultimate advantage ^ :o all concerned. On the other -u land, it is equally possible that 0 we are drifting in a dangerous j lirection, and that it is time to r ;all a halt in the process of tak- 0 ng from the home its traditioon- S( ll Drivilecos and dntipc Af omr ~ rate, it is clear that some very jautious reflection upon the pres- r jnt situation is needed, before p ve take another long step in the jj shape of an adoption of the poli- n ;y of compulsory education. | ^ Our welfare as a people is f bound up with the fate of two a ?reat institutions?the home and f the democratic form of govern- u ment. Both must be guarded s jealously against corruption in ] any form. What bearing has c this upon the question of com- j, pulsory education? ! g The home is the gateway of ? life. Through this gate enters c all those who are to fill the gaps i caused by death. By means of1 ? the family organization society ? secures a double object of vast' e importance, viz.: that for every , ^ child there shall be a definitely v Irnnwn naiv nownntn ^ |iuu VJL j'oi vui/o, aim niab y, they shall be held responsible for j the child's support and proper ytraining during the years of de- v pendence. So important is it to t secure these ends systematical- c ly, that society refuses to compromise with those who bring j children into the world illegiti- mately, because this means in ability to locate the father, so that he may be held responsible. Similarly, society should be exceedingly wary of approving any developments that tend to relieve parents of the responsibili- t ties created by bringing fprth j children. Such a policy encour- c ages recklessness in that direction, coupled with a disposition to expect that the State will c make good any shortcomings. j ? As pointed out above, there are already many signs of a decline in the sense of parental responsibility of a disposition to avoid parental burdens altogeth- . pr ftr plap ahiff fViom ? w. www M?MAV VIIVI11 U[A/I1 UtllCl ? agencies, as they come forward < offering assistance. Is it safe \ to deliberately add another far- * reaching innovation, looking to a further transfer of responsibili- ( tv from the parent to tne State. 1 With the State already called up-. 1 3n to pay the cost of elemental*} sducation, this second step would add powerfully to the momentum of a movement that may be already endangering the institution of the home. And yet we must not, in our care for the interests of the home forget the momentous interests >f government. With us the atter is organized on the basis )f self-government by the masses, and will fare well or ill according to the enlightenment and character of the voting multiude, in whom sovereignty is nested. Thus it happens that gnorance is endowed with imnense power for mischief. Cleary, therefore, it is of critical im>ortance that the State should ree itself as speedily as possible rom the menace involved in the iresence of numerous ignorant reters. To be sure, it may do his by disfranchising tnem. fet, if it is compelled to disfranbise many, then it yields up to hat extent the fundamental principle of democracy, and akes from a large portion of the >eople their nrivileere of self ;overnment. Again, however, the welfare f the State is menaced in an conomic sense by the existence f a mass of ignorance. Indusrial competition is every day beoming more strenuous between < idiviauals, sections, and nations, it the same time modern indusrial conditions are advancing < teadily in the standard of intelgence demanded as the price of uccess. The State that lags beind in educating its population rill assuredly lag behind also in he race for economic prosperity nd power. Thus it appears that he State must seek protection hrough education against anther threatening danger. It seems, then, that the probjm before us may be reduced undamentally to this: Is the eneral welfare of our people hreatened more by ignorance mong the voting and producing lasses than by the tendency of arents to shirk the responsibiliies incident to family life? If so, hen the State would be justified i risking the lesser danger in rder to escape the larger. That the State has a moral ight to impose its authority upn parents in order to protect itelf from the dangers arising rom ignorance cannot be quesioned. The State regulates mar iage and divorce; steps in to suervise the transmission of famy property by inheritance; demands of every head of a hosueold that he shall support his amily, unless he can prove disbility; invades the home to enorce quarantine or sanitary reglations, and in other ways aserts its authority over the famy organization in the name of ommunity welfare. There is no ick of precedent, therefore, for itate interference of the characer involved in compulsory eduation. Only the fundamentals of the roblem involved have been ouched upon above. Many othr considerations of a comparaively minor significance, yet ery important in the total, are tere excluded from view. Juliciallo balancing the facts above >rought out, pro and con, it vould appear, however, that here is more in favor of com>ulsory education than against t.?The'Southern Home. !DUCATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. BY W. H. HAND. j Thirty-two States and Terri ories of the Union have comrnlsory school attendance laws >f some kind. West Virginia md Kentucky are the only States >f the southern group which have such laws. The South stands solated, so to speak, in a matter vhich has become almost universal in the remaining states of the Union. It is worthy of remark ;hat an examination of the proceedings of the National Educational Association for the past :en years reveals scarcely a reference to compulsory school" attendance. The same is true of the leading educational maga-. zines of the United St tes. This fact shows that the South has not yet reached a point in her educational progress already in the past life of the North and West. But the mere fact that other sections of the Union have enacted school laws unknown to us of the South is of itself no conclusive argument that we should enact such laws. Any argument for or against compul vuu*4>Mv?"iu kjvuui varo" confining ourBelvesWrht-^atiye white population: ] Illiterates, between 10 and 14 years, of age, 9,94&, or 15 per cent; between 15 and 19 years of age, 7,897, or 12 per cent; total, between 10 and 19 years of age, 17,839. Native white illiterates, over 10 years of age, males, 26,613; females, 27,564; total, 54,177. This exhibit shows that a little more than thirteen per cent of the native white population of the state are classed as illiterate. When we remember that the mere ability to read and write keeps a man from being classed as an illiterate, these figures become still more significant. The significance of these figures becomes startling when we note that the native white illiterates of South Carolina are more than 1,000 in excess of her vote cast for Judge Parker in the November election. Intelligent citizenship is a State's most valuable asset. The material prosperity of a State is largely determined by the intelligence of her citizens. The above exhibit shows that South Carolina is carrying a heavy load in the shape of illiteracy?far heavier than that of many of the sister states. Second. Is it right to compel attendance? The state vaccinates by compulsion; the state quarantines by compulsion; the state taxes by compulsion; the state carries one law breaking child to jail to protect another child; the state compels a parent to feed and clothe his child. Who questions the right of the state to do all these things? Why has not the state the right to nrntpf?t n fmm fV?o I#, wwv A A V*>I VilV MVIIUW age of ignorance? Questioning the right of the State to compel attendance at school is chiefly the argument of the demagogue and the vote-hunter. Third. Can compulsory attendance be enforced? England, Scotland, Canada, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, all have from eight weeks to full-term for from four to eight years. Statistics prove that the compulsory attendance laws of these countries are enforced. The following exhibit' shows the results of compulsory ! attendance in Kentucky, Mas-1 sachusetts, Connecticut, and Michigan, as compared with South Carolina: Illiterate native whites, between 10 and 14 years of age: Number Per Cent. Massachusetts 153 0.2 Connecticut 60 0.2 Michigan 414 0.4 Kentucky 16,200 8.0 South Caro. 9,942 15.0 The large number of illiterate whites in Kentucky, as compared with Massachusetts, Connecticut' and Michigan, can be accounted for in several legitimate ways. | Kentucky requires children between the ages of seven and fourteen to attend school at least eight weeks a year, while Massachusetts requires an attendance of thirty weeks, Connecticut twenty-four weeks, and Michigan sixteen weeks. Five dollars is the maximum fine for each violation of the compulsory law in Kentucky, while five dollars is the minimum tine in Connecticut and Michigan, and twenty dollars the uniform fine in Massachusetts. A mere glance at the figures in this exhibit might lead one to think that the law has not reduced Kentucky's illiteracy much below that of South Carolina. But it must be remembered that Kentucky's white population is more than three times the white population of South Carolina, ana to make the same showing that Kentucky l P. M. PARR, President. T K Merchants and Plan Successfully Doing Busin wamm is the OLDEST Hank in 1 has b capital and iiurpluB H is the only NATIONAL I H E has paid dividends - mo I I pays POUIt per cent, ii B fl is the only Dank in TTnioi 5 B baa Rurglar-Proof vault, pays more taxes than AL WE EARNESTLY SOLI' ' > HI ? makes South Carolina must re*' < duce her white illiterates be- ] tween ten and fourteen years of', age from 9,942 to 2,973. What are some of the common 1 objections made to a compulsory 1 education law? "We are not 1 ready for such a law,', say some, j No, nor are we ready for the Ten Commandments, if our lawlessness is taken as evidence of our readiness. And no law can '< be enforced as long as the officers \ of the law tell the people it can- ] not be enforced. "Compulsory attendance laws ' came from monarchical Prussia," 1 say some others. Not at all; t both Massachusetts and Connec- 1 ticut had compulsory attendance { laws before Frederic William of i Prussia was grown. Compulsory education is republican rather c than monarchical?in both origin 1 and spirit. i The last objection is, "the j negro is in the way." The negro is going to school without com-.1 pulsion. Let the figures prove * tnis: j f Illiterates in South Carolina: |t Native whites, over 10 years r of age, in 1880, 22 per cent; in j 1890, 18 per cent; in 1900, 13 per jr cent?9 per cent in 20 years. j ^ Native negroes, over 10 years t of age, in 1880, 78 per cent; in j 1890, 64 per cent; in 1900, 52 t per cent?26 per cent in 20 years. Some insist that the negro is out of the way by disfranchise- t ment, therefore the illiterate I whites have nothing to fear. He i ^ is out of the way only for a time. I Besides, even if the negro is kept out of the way by disfran- js chisement, there is no provision r made for the 27,564 illiterate c white females of the State. r "Well," says some one, "the Anglo-Saxon is destined to rule this country anyway." Deluded man, you know not now impotent t will become chat same Anglo- r Savon when reduced to an in- ^ ferior intellectual condition. In- . telligence will dominate the world; it always has done so; it s always will. Whenever the c i i ? * Angio-saxon race has been outstripped by another race in intellect, the Anglo-Saxon at once has to resort to the force which belongs to the brute. He is then dominated, not dominating. This is, I know, a low plane upon which to discuss this question, but these objections must be met on their own plane.?The Southern Home. URGES FARMERS TO HOLD. President Smith Advises that Arrangements be llade with Locol Dankers for Necessary Advances. Columbia. February 24.?President E. D. Smith, of the South Carolina Cotton Growers' Association, has issued the following address of most general importance: To the People of the State Who Are Interested in the Southern n.ii. A - -i? . * - uuiwn Association: in view oi ' the numerous inquiries that have 1 come to me by those who are holding spot cotton as to what method they can secure a loan on their cotton to meet their pressing necessities, I call on the several county organizations to appoint a committee consisting of their chairman and three other members to see their local bankers at once and arrange plans by which those needing the money I'S J. O. ARTHUR, Cubtor. C E tors National Bank, oss at the "Old Stand." Union, of $100,000. tank in Union, untie* to $300,400. iterest on denoaita. n inspected by an officer, , and Safe with Time-Lock. >L the Ranks in Union combin'.-d. CIT YOUR BUSINESS. :an secure a loan on their cotton, [fc is needless for me to emphasize the urgent importance of this step. The three cardinal principles in our fight are as follows: The reduction of acreage, reduction of fertilizer and holding spot cotton. Already the price of cotton has advanced $7.50 per bale, since ;he New Orleans Convention. Had it not been for this organisation and the hope that it inipired, cotton would have flooded ,he market at the disastrously ow prices prevailing a month igo and the South would have ost between fifty and one hunIred millions of dnllarc ir Wl XI CXlC ocal banks and the farmers who ire able to, and the merchants n their local organizations, will kx)1 their interests and stand together at this acute crisis, the ight is won. I am in a position o know, but cannot give the tames of the parties furnishing ne the information, that the vorld is needing cotton more han we are needing to sell; that Liverpool has not received oneifth of the cotton that has been ixported. Eighty per cent of hat exported in January and February has gone to Russia; 'ery little to Manchester. The tocks in all foreign centres are hort, in all foreign and domestic nills they are short, and it is >nly a question of holding toother to secure a good price for >ur cotton. I would like to state further hat if no arrangements can be nade locally, that the banks and vare houses of Columbia can ake care of every bale of cotton ent them and advance 80 per onf of - *- lV * vub vi ica v<nue hi, me rate ox I per cent. Anyone wanting further infornation as to shipping to Colum)ia may communicate with Messrs. F. H. Weston and F. H. dyatt. We, the president, secretary ind treasurer, who were elected it your convention to take charge )f this matter, and see that you mcceed, cannot hope to do our vork efficiently without having facilities for doing it. We need an office, we need itationery, we need a stenographer, we need a typewriter and we need postage, the incidental expenses to such a great underaking. Therefore, we call on ;he public at large who are interested in this movement to lend into Mr. F. H. Hyatt, treasirer, any contributions they feel ible to make and send it at once ind we promise that every cent sent us shall, so far as we are ible, do 100 per cent Rood for svery one hundred cents contributed. E. D. Smith, President South Carolina Cotton Association. The Times and Metropolitan Magazine one year for $1.80. Bring your job work to The Times. We can please you.