. . . ', . .- . .I-': " '.'. ','Tr..... : - i 1 f VOL. I NO. 7 COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE COMIIENCEMENT Marking the close qf a most suc cessful year in its history, the Com mencement exercises of the Sylva Collegiate Institute were opened Sunday morning with a most power ful sermon by Dr. A. E. Brown super intendent of the Baptist Mountain Schools. The Annual address was delivered Monday evening by Hon. Gallatin Roberts of Ashe ville, who spoke on the subject of "Youth, and what are you going to do with it" Mr. Roberts is at all times a forceful and logical speaker and made a great impression upon the audiance as he urged the young people to make the most of their opportunities, to read the books and magazines that are helpful and elevating, to get the best education possible, stat ing that no boy or girl can, say now that they have not the opportunity; then he urged the boys and girls to stay at home and give this state and section the benefit of their talents, as there are as great or greater opportunities here as in the west or any where else. The smaller children gave their entertainment Tuesday ifternoon and pleased the audiance with the preformance. Tuesdav nteht was the debate. between six young men of the school upon the Question, Resolyed: That women should be given the right of suffrage in America" Messrs Durham Powers, Lacy Butler and Ralph Jarrett, espoused the suffrage cause while Messrs Harlow Kitchen, Hu gh Mpnteith-and.J&cte gtand-pafc position. vAU the young men made pleasing: speaches and the question was hotly contested The Judges decided in the affirm ative and awarded the medal for the best debater to Mr. Lacy Butler. Especiei mention should be made of the speach of Hugh Monteith. He is the youngest of the six boys and from the impression made upon the audiance he promises to develop in to an excellent speaker. Wednesday evening the students of the school pleased a large audi ance with the presentation of an operetta "The Gypsies.'.' YOUNG MAN SERIOUSLY INJURES COMPANION General Queen, a young man of the upper end of the county was brought to Sylva Wednesday and placed in the Jackson County Jail waiting a change in the condition of Will Nicholson another young man whom Queen struck in the head with a stick a week ago at the saw mill camp of J. P. Calhoun near Tuckaseigee. After Queen assaulted Nicholson, he fled and was captured in the Balsam mountains near Caney Fork late Thursday by aposse of special officers. J The condition of Nicholson is said to hp. serious -and .--'great fears are express concerning his recovery. Nicholson was given a prelimin arv hearing before Magistrate R. A. Painter, Wednesday and Temanded to jau awaiting a cnange m iue cuu- onion oi JNicnoison. . PROF, INGRAM TO REMAIN. At a meeting of the trustees of Sylva Collegiate Institute, Saturday Prof. J. C. Ingram, at the request of the trustees and of Dr. A. E. Brown, to quit teaching and'go to his farrr J near Albermarle and ha3 withdrawn his resignation as principal of the oylva Collegiate Institute. The people of Sylva and this sec tion will be glad to learn that Prof. Ingram will remain here and will continue the excellent work he has bean doing at the Baptist school. FLORENCE THIR OFFICE The fbllowing.from the Flcrence Ore. West, will be of interest to the relatives and friends of Mr. C. Buch anan, in Jackson County. In Tuesday's mail Postmaster Buchanan received notice from thei Postal' Department at Washington D. C, that the post office at Florence would be advanced to the third class this taking effect April 1, 1914. . This is one month earlier than the date given in a notice received a short time ago, which set May 1, as the time for tnis change. As the change from fourth to third class carries with it an increase in the salary of the postmaster with an allowance for clerk hire and office rent besides other expenses, the change is welcome.to Mr. Buchanan. The salary of the postmaster will be. $1100 for the first year and this will be increased as the business of the office increases. s riorence nas also oeen maae an international money order office this change taking effect April I. Post master Buchanan is authorized to 0 issue and to pay international money orders as soon as he Receives a supply of the necessary blanks for that part of the business. The blanks have been shipped by the depart ment and no doubt will be here i within the next few days. SYLVA INSTITUTE BAD D IV Dr. A. E. Brown, superintendent of the Baptist Mountain school work, t eturaed from Sylva last night where he had gone to preach the com mencement sermon of the Sylva Collegiate institute. This is one of the system of thirty-four mountain schools of the Baptist Home mission board, of which Dr. Brown is the founder and superintendent. The Sylva institute has had a very satisfactory year. Prof. J. C. Ingram and his cultured co-workers have made themselves a verv large place in the town and surrounding coun ties. Prof. Ingram contemplated re turning to his farm near Salisbury and had made his arrangements to do so, but the people would not hear to his leaving They rose up against it and he had to reconsider and re main with .them. In addition to the improvements which have been made during the last year on the property, other im provements will ,be made during the summer, and plans for more exten sive work than ever before have been made. A band of strong young men are putting themselves beside Prof. Ingram to make this school meet the demands. Gallatin Roberts will deliver the literary address before the school on Tuesday next. Mr. Roberts visit is anticipated with a great deal of pleasure by the people of Sylva and Jackson county? He won a place in the hearts of many of them by his espousal 0f their bill before the leg s lature tQ move the court house from Webster to Sylva. Gazette MISS GRAY WINS MEDAL Miss Alice Gray of the Sylva Hteh School won the medal forv the hest essay at tne rlign scnooi Meet of: the Western Division 9f North ; Uaronna, uem ai mw cc.x The whole representation from Sylva acquited themselves well ai d reflected credit upon our School. " Tho s-hnol and town should be iand are proud of the fact that one of our girls took this medal. lt speeKs well for the Sylva School. JL 1V MVv- CLASS VERY SUCCESSFUL YEA - 7 . : 1 : ; . ; - -- J - "- - --- - . - SYLVA, N.' C; APRIL. 24; , .1914 '.. Editor JournaLPlease allow me space in your paper to sa. -a few; words in regard to th Farm c Life School. Although thet election has been called off, yet 1 think that the question should not b dropped; for it is only a matter of a few months or years until we will ha v e the Farm Life School in Jackson County. I noticed an article; In last week's issue of the Journal, yery severely condemning the Farm-life, School and call ng it the i,greatest hot air bubble that has fever been thrust upon- our people." I am surprised to note that any man should character ize a school of any kind as a "hot air bubble.". The gentleman r says that the movement is agitated by men that know nothing about iarming. That may be true. But 1 have my doubts about it. It is hard for us to see our own faults. Perhaps that is why the farmers of our county were opposed to this measure. They could not see their own faults, out other folks can. Now wish to ast the gentlemen who wrote that artiple to be perfect ly frank and answer- the joUowing questions in regard to the Farm-life School. ... r v 1. If the farm lifeischool is not for the best interest of our farmers, why did FORTY THOUSAND of the lead ing farmers of North Carolina peti tion the Legislature of North Caro lina to pis the, la wflJie state? a success and thes farmers country are not getting any benefit from them, why have there been more than THIRTY THREE ; HUN DRED established within the United States since 1901? 3. If the schools are not proving beneficial to the farmers of our own state. I ask you why is it that down in the eastern part of North Carolina where the schools have .been put in operation, that they are eagerly ask ing the state to let them build the schools? Why is it ihat Guilford county one of the first to try the law has not established only one of these, but THREE? 4. If these schools have not prov ed beneficial, why was it that Dr. J. Y. Joyner, the greatest educator that we have in the state and the one who has done more for educat ional uplift of our state than any other one man, after going to Wis consin and other states and seeing the schools in operation came back to North Carolina, and recornmended them to our people, saying that they be the fitting climax to our splendid school system? Will you not believe the words of Dr. Joyner? Is he not a man to merit our confidence? Druing his fourteen years as State Superntendent of Public Instruction, has he ever done one thing or advis- ed one thing against the interest of the people he represents? 5. Again I ask you about the boy that raised 173 bushels of corn per acre. Yes, who gave him the in struction to do this? Was he not en rolled in the Boy's Corn Club of the State? Did he not have to cultivate his acre according to the Instruction of the managers of the Boys Corn Clubs? Why is it that the boys of these corn clubs are raising on the average sixty three bushels of corn per acre whon following the instruc tions of the Corn Club, r while their fathers 'according to old methods L-'-. " J i , - , .... - REPLIES TO LETTER $1.00 are raising only eighteen bushels? Is this work not a part of the work of the A. & M. College? Is not the; pre sent Agent in Boys, Corn Club work an A. & M. man? , ' . 6. I wish to ask you where are you getting your agriculturrl paper to read? Are not most of them edited by professional men, chiefly teach ers? In looking over one of the agri cultural papers which I take, I find that three of the leading sections are edited by professional men, those doing work as teachers in the lead ing schools of the South, agricultural schools, too. 7. Do you not believe that we can learn things by seeing things done? You know that it has been said that "experience keeps a dear school but fools will learn in no other," and I believe that there is something true about that, too. It is an evident fact that we must get our ideas from some one. This school will be the place to get the ideas and test them and then if they prove successful, take them back an 1 use them on our farms. 8. Again I ask vou why is it that our boys have a distaste for the farms? Have we not been keeping schools that train them to look away from the farms? Does the great Book not teach us this fact, and I believe it is as true as any passage in that Divine word, and I hold it to be one of the greatest sayings that Solomon ever uttered: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when 'he is old he will not depart from it." Do you not believe that if we " train iup a child to be a farmer, when hej ilr;&e And do you not also Jieiieve that if we train hi n away from the farm by putting him in school .where other topics have the predominance, that he will not take to farming? 9. Again I ask you why is it that such men as Uncle Davie Rogers, Jno. L. Ferguson and the others that you mentioned have made such a success at farming? What kind of farms have they? Are they not the best in the county? But here is the question to test whether a man is a success at any occupation: Is he making two blades grow where one formerly grew? If so he is a success. To begin with, most of them got their farms back when land was cheap, or possibly some of them in herited it. They have land that has always been the very best in Jack son County. All that they have to do is to maintain it where it was when they got hold of it. But, my friend, we younger men who are growing up and who would like to farm, have not the farms to compet3 with such men as Jno. L. Ferguson. We must learn how to make ours from our little mountain farms. We must exercise our brain. That is why we are demanding a Farm Life School. It is not for such men as David Rogers that we need the school but it is for vast majority that e do need it We 1 want men in our County who can gh how t make the most out of our land We want teacners who can come among us and give us new ideas. We want teachers" that will show us the best method of handling and caring for our stock. We don't want to have to send over into Tennessee or Kentucky or Virginia for our improved stock, but we want to learn how to use it ourselves at a profit We don't want to have to send to Raleigh or Wash ington to et information how to j doctor our stock when it gets sick. VP - THE YEAR IN ADVANCE biit we want men here in our own county, so that we can get them when we want them. Thus saving us hundreds of dollars each year that is lost simply from the fact that we do not know what to do when out stock gets sick a great many times but j list stand and watch it die, I ' 10. My dear sir, did you expect that some of us folks who are want ing the Farm School, to be the teach ers of it? The teacher who will be in charge of the Farm Life School will be a man from .which every -farmer of Jackson can get informa-. tion. He must be a practical farmer The law is mandatory on that point He must be one that has made a success. Ask the State Superintend ent of Public Instruction about jthe qualification of Farm Life teachers. 11. If the farmers of Jackson "i iii. . i ooumy are maKing sucn a success of farming as you seem to think, why is it that every-year there are thousands of bushels of breadstuff brought into Jackson County? Why is it that the farmers of our county have even to buy a great deal of the corn that they use. Why is it that every year thousands of pounds of meat and lard are shipped into Jackson and a large part of it goes on t -je table of the farmer? Why is it that Jackson County is not mak ing all this stuff her self? One of the I reasons is that the farmers are not ' up in their methods of work. They are following the old methods. They -are not progressive as they ought to be. The are not to blame for it They are simply following the old methods taught by our fathers, following the training given them in their childhood and not departing' from it in old age. We want to get out of this rut. How are we going io co so unless we get information from some one. The thing to do, as I see it, is to make Jackson County the farm life center of Western North Carolina. This can be done . aone just as sure as tne sun snines in the heayens. It may not come this week; ft may not "come this month, this year, or this decade, but it s j ust as inevitable as the onward march of progress; "-. 12. And lastly, did you not know that last year, the State of North Carolina, sent into Jackson County more than thirty five thousand dol lars for school purposes more than three times as much as Jackson Cou ty sent to the State Treasury? Now the state is asking to let her put in $2500. more and we are go ing to refuse to allow.it? I tell you, my friend, that Jackson County must wake up to her responsibility. Just as long as we hold to the Al mighty dollar so hard that the Eagle has to scratch us loose, we are not going to prosper. We must be will ing to sacrifice for the future wel fare of our children. We are willing to spend $30,000 or $40,000 to remove a court house two or three miles, but when it comes to voting a little tax of 6c on the hundred dollars worth of proper ty and 18c on the poll for something that means far more to the people of Jackson County than the removal of the County Site, it is another thing. Then the state offers to give dollar for dollar. Suiely, our people need something to wake them up. Now, you opponents of this school, if you will prove to me or show one solitary school that is not paying more to its patrons than the money they have invested in it I will say no more. If you will show one soli tary school of this kind that is not proving a success, I will say no more. If you will tell the people of Jack son County that she is losing her money by investing it in schools, I will say n6 more. If you will cite to our people one single instance of where schools of any kind do not pay, I will say no more. You can,t do it - Now, I wish the gentlemen who characterized this proposed school es A hot air bubble to answer some of the preceding questionn. Will you do it? Please explain also about that $25,000 to start with, the $20,000 bond issue, and the power to increase this in eight years. Rsepectfully. Emory L. Dtllard. I I : t -1 it 1 ; 't , i 4 ' I -r-r' V . 1 . -..