THE WASHINGTON DAH.Y NEWS'
PUBLIBHED KVEBY AFTERNOON ,
EXCEPT 8TTNDATB.
Entered u tecond-claaa nutter, Auguat 5, 1809. at the poatoflce
of Waahington, N. C., under the act of March S, 187*0.
Subacriptioaia moat be paid for in advanaa If paper ia not re
paired promptly telephone or write, thia oiloe. Btthacriben deairinj;
the paper discontinued, will pleaae notify tiiia oflee, otherwise it will
V continued at regular subscription rates.
JAMES L. MATO Paoraiar<?|
CARL GOERCH Borroa)
WASHINGTON. NORTH CAROLINA, SEPT. 19, 1918.
HOW MAY STATES RECEIVE RETURN
FOR THE MONEY SPENT ON EDUCATION?
.fame* H. Dooley, of Virginia, bas prepared a most interesting
article on the above subject. It is an article which we know will be
enjovcd and appreciated by evervoue of our readers. We reproduce
the major part of it:
For several hundred years after the conquest of Europe by the bar
barian*. education, as wo generally understood the term, was confined
almost entirely to the Catholic celrgv. and to the sons of the rich wflio
attended schools and colleges conducted and taught by the clergy. Latin
was the laiiiruage of the church. Greece and Rome were for ita clerpv
the storehouse of all elarning. eirqueuco, art and science. In all the
schools ehcir chief aim being to master the beauties of the classic
author*, and all the students being in pursuit of the same kind of ';du
cation, thov were divided into classes, and all pursued identically the
same studies.
This system has been handed down from generation to generation,
from nation to nation, and so generally prevails throughout. Europe
and America, with some variations, that, any proposal of a radical
change will inevitably meet with violent opposition. The system may
not be so verv objectionable for children at private schools whore the
expenses are paid bv the parents, and the vast majority of the scholars
Tr.nv be presumed to bo in pursuit of what is generallv termed a polite
education. Rut when the svstein is applied to the public schools, and
mere especially to the public schools in the Southern States. I re
spectfully protest that it is a huge and mo?t expensive mistake. The
public schools are supported bv taxes levied alike upon the property
of those who have children and those who have none.
A State has no constitutional right to take the property or the monev
of A tr? benefit R or the children of R. The sole ground upon which
taxes can be levied upon the property of A to educate the children! of
R i? that it will 1 ten e fit the State bv making the children more valuable
citizens. That being the law the most important question for the
State to consider and determine is. what sort of education will make
them the most valuable citizens. Above all. in the Southern Staters,
where we are overshadowed bv the dark cloud of an ignorant, thrift
less race, who constitute the bulk of our laboring population, the ques
tion. what sort of education will most enhance their value as citizens,
surpasses, in tnv judgment, all others in importance.
The one thing absolutely necessary for every creature in this world
is food, good and sufficient food. Civilized peoplr get their food by
cultivating the earth. Farming is. therefore, the most important of
all industries. It is the foundation of the wealth and prosperity of
every country. Bv economical and proper cultivation, the produc
tivity of cverv acre of land in Norih Carolina will be doubled, treble.!,
even quadrupled, and the wealth of the State proportionately increased.
T venture to sav that in this e.-untrv, particularly in the Southern
Stat**, there is no industry in whidh brains and education are so sadly
needed as in this greatest and most important industry of farming.
Consider the situation in the South. On the one hand, we hgve a
great extent of territory; some rich, some poor : a large proportion of
it. once rich, now impoverished bv wasteful, careless, even destructive
cultivation. On the other, we have millions of ignorant, thriftless
negroes, who live upon the land, and for whom and for their children
and their children's children there is no other outlook but to cultivate,
live upon and get their living out. of the soil. The object of State
education should be to make of these people valuable citizens.
How can the State 1 ie-t gtt value for the millious of money it an
nually expencU-iipon the education of these millions of children? By
our pre- nt inefficient, and wasteful methods. t\ie. Southern States are
itnnuallv raising crops to the value ? rf about two thousand millions of
d? liars.
If the children wore taught at the pnblie schools to cultivate the
lands with the economy and improved methods used in France or Bel
gium. we could speedily increase our crops to .-ix thousand or even
eight thousand millions annually. This would !>e getting some value
for the State's inonev. What value doe* the Srate get for it ui)der
the prr? nr system of schools f<sr negroes? Thev are not, taught to do
anv work bv which thev can add to the general wealth of the Coni
ne wealth. nor does the sort of education which they receive improve
their m? ral- r diminish the criminal expenses of our government
For more than fortv vear\ while, the public ?chools for nr^groes have
been growing, the criminal expenses of "C^rth Carolina have been- ex
panding still more rapidlv. and it i- today almost impossible to hire
u man, white or black, who knows anything more than the commonest
rudiment* of agriculture. Everv country school in the Southern
StaH-s sl'.oulil have attached to it a farm of not less than twenty acres,
vl;ieh t :??? children. especially the negroes, should l>e taught to qnltivate
? '???nomii a'lv and according to the bo? methods. They should beJ
taught the value arid the proper use of the different fertilizers, how to i
u.-e them, how to improve and build up worn-out lands and all the
busings of managing a farm. The average crop of cotton through-]
out the Southern States i? f.?ur tenth* of a bale to the acre. It has
bfcn demonstrated over and over again up n the model farms estab
lished l?v the T nited States (rovemment. that bv proper culture more
than a bale of cotton to trie aero can l?e raised. So with all other
crops.
I l.e lands of the South are capable of producing an almost unlimited
quantity of cotton, corn, oars, rice, fruits, truck and other valuable
cr*?7*s. All that is needed is proper cultivation of a kindlv soil.
It the children in the country, white and black, were taught to
cultivate the land scientifically and economically, the South could
siipplv food for the whole United States.
f he tremendous migration of the farming population to the cities is
a fact which threatens seriously the future welfare of the nation. It.
will surely sap the vitality, tho moral** and the ^productiveness of
bom races. O oh! smith, commenting on this condition of things in
hngland. said 15 0 years ago:
A hold praMnntfit, their rounJr >/'.<? pride,
WhoTt rmrr rirxfroi/r/f, can nfivrr be supplied."
I lie drift of population from farm to citv is due principally to two
causes: First, to fhe kind of education which the children do receive,
and second, to thr kind of education which thev do not receive.
We have pmhaWv in the S?nto of N'orth Carolina half a million
eiulorcn attending count rv public, school*.
f ruler the present system thev are all. in citv. town and country,
require*! to afudv identically tbe ?ame books: therefore, to acqijire
exactly the *?mo knowledge and ideas. Their minds all receive the
same l^nt and w in the ..me direction. What thev learn has the
tendency- to make tbcm desire tn leave the impoverished land and their
wretchol. unattractive surroundings. Their imaginations are inflam
e< >y the tflare and Hitler of the unknown. Omne ifrwiiim pro,
mtr,f,ro r?f. Their mo, da pre awakened to the belief that bevond the
narrow, monotonous life of the farm there is a bright and beautiful
sphere^ where the brilliant lights the thronging multitudes, the mar
Ice ?. the churches, the i^oatres, furnish a never-ending round of pa
rao . exeitnrnent ami amusement.
Tnn.lHWn,!,. ??r Px^fir Oron thorn i? * Uw> rwk,,
all of which ?m mwine in tho ,amo direction and hnnt towanli the
gro?A. Thjfcouri?ww,wtJH?^.u-db*<he^.
Molina from the mol Suqh alsp i? the tffoct^f i ?
of (aueataao. If v*B Ktae to a?r oauotry children preJitolj At
education u you giro city ohiMrra, an education best adapted to city
Kfe, their minda will (low in the same direction aa die minda of oitr
children. th#r will have the aams desires, and if they can, they will
gravitate towmfda. the md% kind, of Ufa. Bapaoially ia tfaia trne at
the negroea, many of whom think thai in order to demonstrate and
eniov their freedom they mat chance their hona and mode of life.
Ou the other haed. theft are taught nothing by which the impover
ished lands, can. be deataprvd trt fertility, by which they, aan acquire
money, or by lanmi t>P wfciA they mm,y reader their country -life
more attractive.
We should have tarn svatem of adnoatiou adaptehto the in
struction of children in all things which pertain to the development
and improvement of ooantr? life. Ita aim should be first and fore-,
moet to teach than how to manage the farm economically and how to
cultivate (be land- to the beat advantage In addition, their sndtes
should tend to iotareat them in thinjsa pertaining to tho canntry. Thev
should be imbned with the love of nature^ of bird life, of animal life,
of the grand forenta, the majestic mountains, the rippling streams, the
manifold beautiea Hv whicH thev are surrounded, and fran whiA the (
poor little ritv child mi af?anrluded<. Sooner or later, and the sooner
the better, something of this sort must be done to stop the depopula
tion of the farms.
Already we find our population and its consumption of food havo
so rapidly increased thai exports of' graini hate almost: ccamd. and
price* have advanced more than on?himdred per cent We?R>rmerlv
rai?"d a surplus which was sold to Europe for several hundreds of
millions of dollars. Now we rai*Q little more than we consume. If
t\e drift from the farm to the eitv continues much longer, we will
?oen raise loss tlian we eonsumc. and will be in the condition of Eng
land,
Such a. system of edueation is peculiarly suitable for the Southern
States, because we are wsentiallv an agricultural people, and it is
the only probablo solution of the negro problem.
The T own Gossip
I WENT
TO THE revival
AT THE Baptist church
LAST NIOHT.
AND I enjoyed it,
E3P10CIALLY THE sinking.
AND I would
HAVE LIKED to join
IN THE singing,
BUT I felt
KINDER SCARED.
AND I attended
A REVIVAL In Teaa*
SOME TIME ago.
AND THEY put me
IN THE choir.
AND I stayed there
UNTIL THE director
FOUND OUT
WHAT WAS the matter
WITH THE choir.
AND THEN he told me
THAT I had
A WONDERFUL voice
AND OUGHT not
TO BE straining It.
SINGING AT revival*.
AND I quit.
AND LAST night
I STARTED
TO JOIN In
ONCE OR twice.
BUT EVERYTIME
I OPENED my mouth,
THE FOLKS near me
WOULD LOOK around
KINDER SUSPICIOUSLY
AND 1 quit.
AND IT'S always
BERN THAT way.
AND I remember
THAT WHEN I used to
TRY AND sins bass
IN THE quartettes
AROUND TOWN.
THEY'D ALWAYS quit
AFTER THE flrst song
AND HUNT
FOR SOMEONE else
TO SING that part.
AND I can't understand
WHY FOLKS
ACT THAT way.
WILLIS-MlttH VINEYARD
open for the reception oi
three miles
- Admission prlee ? 1Q osnta,
basket 50 ecnts. ,
MMwc.
SOW B. h. BUSMAN, PRESIDENT OF
Washington Horse Exchange Co..
Is la St. Louis, where he Is buying
two ?ar loads of horses and mules.
This stock wll larrlve by express
next Prlday.
9-15*9 tc.
k WANTED:
keeping i
adults. Address R,
News.
9-19-it*.
ton, N. C.
9-18-&p.
AND HE HE lately
I'VE BEEN trying
TO LEARN
HOW TO yodel.
BUT 80MEH0W
OR OTHER.
SOMEBODY ALWAYS etarta
IN TALKING
AFTER I'VE sung
THE FIRST few notea
OR ELSE
THEY ASK roe
SOME QUESTION
THAT I'VE koi to answer,
AND THEN.
I HAVE to quit
YODELINO. *
AiND I get
A LOT of pleasure
OUT OF my singing,
BUT I'M beginning
TO BE afraid
THAT OTHER people
DONT.
AND I can't eee whj.
I THANK you.
SICKNESS
WANTED: OFFICE WORK AT
night. Address, "Nliht," care of
I Dally News.
9-12-tfc.
FOR RENT: TWO RO6MS ON EAST
Main street. Good locstlon. Phone
84 J.
f-ll-lw-dh.
FOR SALE: DRY WOOD OCT Short
lengths. S. R. Powle A Son's mill.
t-4-tfe.
WANTED ? GUM IXKiR^OF GOOD
quality. 10 Inches snd up ^ small
end. Pamlico Cooperage Co.
t-4-K
NOTICE.
A contractor Is wanted to build a
room 24*30x12 feet to the school
building in Plney Grove district, six
miles from Washington. Plans and
specifications are In the hands of the
County Superintendent and A. C.
Wldmere. Secretary of Committee.
Washington. N. C.. R. F. D. No. 4. to
whom bids may be submitted. Build
ing must be finished by November 1
im.
W. O. PRIVET'S,
County Supt.
CAR LOAD
HORSES & MULES
Which I will sell cheap for Cash
or credit. (Zome to see me.
J E. WINSLOW
Stable* on Third Street ? Washinaton. N . C.