1A1
VOLUME XXV
WARRENTON, WARREN COUNTY, N. C, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1920
Number 94"
A SEMI-WEEWCr NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF WARRENTON AND WARUEN" COUNTY
JJiJg
STATE SCHOOL COMMIT
TEE MAKES REPORT
Committee' Appointed By Legis
lature to Examine School Sys
tem Finds State Facilities Are
Not Sufficient.
Raleigh The report of the State
Educational Commission ' on the con
dition of public education in North
Carolina is made public today. The
commission was appointed by an act
of the legislature, and an appropria
tion of $1,000 was made towards its
expense. The commission invited the
General Education Board, which has
long cooperated with educational in
stitutions in North Carolina, to make
a survey. The board accepted the in
vitation, giving, to thr work the ser
vices of its staff, particularly those of
Dr. Frank P. Bachman, and making
appropriations besides, which in the
aggregate, amount to $18,000.
The report issued today gives the
state credit for the educational pro
gress which has been made in the face
of adverse circumstances during the
last forty years. It points outt hat
during this time the number of schools
high and elementary has increased,
the number of pupils enrolled has
grown rapidly, and the amount of
money appropriated has risen from
the sum of $396,000 in 1880 to a total
of $8,105,000 in 1919. .
Ove against these favorable and en
couraging facts, the report deals
squarely and candidly with the de
fects of the existing situation, de
fects which will have to be removed if
North Carolina is to develop a homo
genous and substantial public school
system.
School Buildings and Equipment
At the end of the school year 1917
18 t8he8re8 8were in the state 7,738
rural school houses of which 5,422
were for white children and 2,316 fo
colored children. Most of these
school houses have been constructed
since 1900. The funds available for
their construction were very limited,
and, in consequence, the buildings are
for the most part 'poorly built and in
poor condition. Nevetheless, pehool
houses which have been built in the
last few years are distinctly superior
and more substantial. The older
school houses are badly lighted, badly
ventilated, ad wretchedly equipped.
Rarely do they contain decent provis
ions for sanitation. The report prints
pictures of these school houses, which
can be found in almost every section of
the state. It is, of course, impossible
to hold a good teacher in an unsightly,
uncomfortable and unequipped school
building, for which, in too many cases,
the teacher herself is expected to do
the janitor work.
The best rural school houses for col
ored children are the so-called Rosen
wald school buildings, toward which
the county, the communities and Mr.
Julius Rosenwall, of Chicago, contrib
ute as a rule equal sums, and the best
for white children are the consolidated
rural elimentary and high schools
which are becoming more and more
common. Some of these consolidated
school buildings, as well as some city
school buildings, are excellent from
every point of view. The report,
therefore, points out that while the
overwhelming majority of the existing
school buildings are in urgent need
of being repaired the state has made a
good start in this direction. It will
be in the long run, highly economical
for the state to face the whole prob
lem, providing school buildings that
are substantially built and equipped,
so that they will last during several
generation.
School Term
In 1904 when the present course of
study was first issued, city schools
had an eight month term, but the 97
had an eight month term, but of the
97 counties' then existing 30 had a
school term of less than four months,
51 a term between 4 and 5 months
and the rest between 5 and 7 months.
Not only was the term short but the
attendace was poor. In the cities only
71 per cent of the white children and
60 per cent of the colored children en
rolled were in average daily attend
ance; and in the country districts only
59 per cent of the white children and
56 per cent of the colored children.
Thus, at that time the average school
year for the white children in cities
everaged approximately 121 days and
for rural white children approximate
ly 50 days. Good work, under such
circumstaces, is generally speaking,
impossible, since that day the term
has been lengthened in the cities and
somewhat in the rural districts, but
even ow in rural districts it is alto
gether inadequate. The school pro
gram has also been improved, though
it is still too heavy for the teaching
staff. This is especially true in small
rural schools ,where the age of the
children in attendance are so diverse
that it is impossible to grade them as
they ught to be graded. As a result
large numbers of children are in their
studies far below the point, which, at
their respective ages, they should have
reached.
The number of high schools has
rapidly increased in recent years. In
1908 there were in operation 132
county and 81 city high schools. Now
there are over 200 county high schools
and about 150 city high schools. Also
a great many elementary schools give
some high -school instruction. These
high schools have increased in nnum
bers so rapidly that it has been abso
lutely impossible to procure for them
either a well trained teaching staff or
a properly qualified body of students.
Nor have they been systematically
and closely supervised. The report
points out the necessity of getting rid
of both small rural elementary schools
and of small rural high schools by
consolidation.
Teache s
The teachers of Njih Carolina are
for the most part untrained and
therefore unskilled. Only 20 per cent
of the elementary white teachers of
the state hold professional certificates
showing that they have received a
satisfactory preparation for the work
which they are doing and only seven
per cent of the colored teachers hold
such certificates. Of the high school
teachers about one half have had edu
cation enough to equip them for their
work. Not only do the teachers of
North Carolina in large numbers lack
training; they also lack experience.
About one half of them, have taught
for less than five years. The teach
ing body of this state is accordingly
in a constant state of flux, and is made
up largely of young untrained teach
ers, who have too little incentive or in
terest to remain in the profession.
These conditions are accounted for
by the salaries which have been paid
for such services. As late as 1917-18
the average annual salary for the rural
white teacher was $276 and for the
rural colored teachers $140. The leg
islature of 1919 raised these salaries,
but despite this increase the averag.
annual salary of the rural white teach
er is still only $430 and the average
annual salary of the colored teacher
only $295. It is of course perfectly
plain that no stable and well trained
teaching staff can be procured on
these financial terms. The state has
fortunately adopted a new certifica
tion scheme which will result in
raising the pay of teachers who have
received the rght kind if training. But
the effective work of this new plan
will be interferred with by the lack
of teachers training facilities. Ex
isting normal schools cannot produce
thenumber of trained - teachers now
needed and will be woefully inade
quate if the salaries paid are suffic
ient to attract competent men and
women to teaching. Not ony must
salaries be further increased but ad
ditional training facilities must also
be provided.
Instruction
In order to find out the quality of
instructio which is being received by
the school children of North Carolina
under these conditions written exami
nations were given in both elemen
tary schools and high schools. In the
elementary schools children were ex
amined in reading, spelling, arithme
tic and history. In the high schools
they' were examined in reading, al
gebra and Latin. The showing made
is extremely poor. The result both in
the cities and rural districts fall far
below the usual standard reached in
other sections of the country. On the
other hand the results obtained in city
schoils are better than the result in
rural schools and in the rurals schools
the results in the consolidated schools
rae distinctly better than the results
obtained in the one and two room
schools. For example in ' reading,
seventh grade city children read no
better than good sixth grade children
elsewhere and fall two years below the
reading achievements of children who
complete an elementary course of
eight years. In the rural schools sev
enth grade children read no better
than good fifth grade children and fil
th grade children no better han goou
third grade children. This is not the
Yyyy'
'yyy Coats in aim y yyy
actir '
269
worst of the situation. In one room
rural schools seventh grade children
are on the average older than the chil
dren of the same grade in our city
schools, which actually makes them
three years instead of one year be
hind our city children.
When reading is so poor little can
be done in informational subjects like
history and geography. Think of six
teen year old country boys, says the
report, who believe that Thomas Jef
ferson was the president of. the south
ern Confederacy and that Andrew
Jackson invented the t legraph. The
poor instruction in reading in the ele
mentary schools is reflected in the
high schools. No ' North Carolina
high school tested did as well as the
poorest high school tested outside the
state, and the reading ability of the
children in our small high schools is
almost unbelievable. Seniors in these
small high schools read no better than
Freshmen in good high schools. Ob
viously the general level of instruc
tion must be greatly raised. This
calls for better trained teachers and
for doing away with one, two and
three teacher elementary schools and
small high schools; for the larger the
school, even under present conditions,
the better the results.
Administration
The administrative machinery o
the schools must also be improved.
The constitution of the state should
be so amended as to permit of a lay
state board of education, the members
of which are naturally and deeply in
terested in the subject. This board
should select the state superintendent
wio (would be its executive officer and
secretary. Proper professional safe
guards should be thrown around the
office of the state superintendent and
his salary should be increased so that
a competent man can be properly re
munderated. Maryland pays it state
superentendent $8000; New Jersey
$10,000. The salary of the state sup
erintendent of North Carolina should
not be less than $6,000 a year. The
great variety of administrative boards
now in existance should be abolished
and their place taken by divisions in
the office of the state department of
education, each division provided with
a head and adequate assistance, all
working as a unit under the state Sup- 1
erintendent. ;
Nominally North Carolina has a
. n i i . . i
county, system oi eaucation duu mere j
has been so much special legislation i
creating specially chartered districts
and special tax districts that the coun-
ty system exists, for the most part,
in name only. This! immense com-
plex of exist legislation should be
wiped out and replaced by I simple,
general law, providing for a county ,
system of schools and for city school
districts
Over all the schools of the county
outside of "the city school districts
sblpuld be placed a county board of
education elected by the people on a
non partisan ballot at a general school
election. These county boards of edu
cation should be authorized and re
quired to employ experienced and
well trained county superintendents to
provide their superintendents with the
necessary supervisors and clerical as-
yyyy .yy-y
yy usys syyyysysyss, t
sistance, thus securing competent and
continuous educational leadership and
guidance for the schools of the coun
ty. While it would probably be im
practicable at this time to bolish all
special tax districts, certainly the
laws should be so modified as to pre
vent their further development and
should at the same time pave the way
to a genuine county system avoiding
the evils of a district system toward
which the counties are now rapidly
drifting.
Over each city school district and
there should probably not be more
than a score in the entire state
there should likewise be a board of
education elected by the people on a
non partisan ballot at a general
school election. . All city boards of ed
ucation should operate under the same
general law and the law should confer
on them adequate powers to meet the
needs of developing city school sys
tems. The city boards of education
should stand in the same relation as
county boards of education to the state
department of education.
Financial Support
The mesures above outlined will call
for IjncreJased expenditure. As the
commission points out the amount of
money available for public education
in North Carolina has increased great
ly in the last forty years. But the
public must not be mislead as to what
the state is now doing in the matter
of financial support of public educa
tion. Few states now spend less; and
in respect to the efficiency of its pub
lic schools North Carolina belongs
with the states at the bottom of tut
list. Yet North Carolina stands four
th in agriculture and eleventh in the
amount of internal revenue, .income
and excess profits tax collected. It
is perfectly clear that the state can
afford to put more money into educa
tion, also that unless more money is
put into the state department, county
administration? city administration,
Normal schools and into teachers sal
aries, the children of North Carolina
will continue to receive an inferior ed
ucation. The report . cocludes as fol
lows: "Education is ot cheap. It is ex- '
pensive and it is everyday becoming
r 1
gotten that education is the most
Profitable investment tnat a state can
make. Wealth flows mtot he states
-
where the tax rates for education is
relatively high, not into the states
where is relatively low. ' Two poor
maintain schools one of the
neatest of North Carolina s sons
cries out. The man who says it is
th Perpetuator of poverty. It is the
doctrine that keeps us poor. It has
ven more men and more wealth
from the state and kept more away
than any other doctrine ever cost us. f.
"Our suggestions involve large ex-
penditures, but the state can afford
them. As our educational facilities
develop our wealth will increase, we
shall be able, to spend more still in
training the children of the state.
Breaking the vicious circle of poverty
and ignorance and we shall have start
ed a beneficient circle of intelligence
and efficiency.'
yyyy
y, yyy y
MISS PRICE CHARM
INGLY ENTERTAINS
On Thursday night iMss Lulie Mc
Craw Price charmingly entertained
in honor of Miss Nan Elizabeth Rod
well, bride-elect. The house was
beautifully decorated in yellow chry
santhemums and ferns, and made more
effective by the soft glow of yellow
candles.
Progressive hearts was an interest
ing form of merriment st which Miss
Rodwell, guest of honor having re
ceived the highest .score was present
ed with a box of dainty linen hand
kerchiefs by Mrs. Mary Eleanor Prico
Grant.
Then followed the Brides' Book,
which was filled by each guest giving
a receipe for keeping a husband well
fed.
Miss Byrd Jones rendered several
piano selections, and at the strains of
Mendelssohn's Wedding March, the
doors were thrown open and little
iMss Leah Fleming Terrell and Mas
ter Edward Price Grant dressed as
bride and groom slowly entered car
rying a big basket of gifts for the
bride-elect. The numerous and beau
tiful gifts bore the love and best
wishes of each guest and attested the
popularity of Miss Rodwell,
The bride's cake, decorated in yel
low chrysanthemums and a minature
bride and groom was presented by
Mrs. Edward Price and was cut by the
bride-elect and each guest. The fate
of those cutting was determined by
the cake favors, and ami great
laughter it was found that Miss Mary
Harris had cut the thimble arid Miss
Lulie Price the ring.
Miss Rodwell then placed a piece of
cake in little white hand-painted
boxes bearing the names Johns-Rod-well
gave to each guest.
Delicious salad, sandwiches and hot
chocolate were served.
A BODY BROUGHT FROM FRANCE
Robert Thomas Adams, a soldier of
the late war, died in France of. Bron
chial pneumonia, following influenza,
October 15th, 1918. He was buried in
the National Cemetery in France; but,
in compliance with the request of his
mother, his body was recently ex
humed, ad brought to this country. On
last Saturday night, escorted by a
soldier, it arrived at Norlina. On
Sunday afternoon the body was car
ried to Macon, ex-soldies , acting as
pall bearers.
The funeral services vere conduct
ed in the Baptist church by the writer.
A large concourse of sympathizing
friends were present. The burial was
in Macon cemetery.
The subject of this sketch was a
native of Warren county and was a
worthy young man. He was a mem
ber of Macon Baptist c7 urch, and was
devoted to his mother. He "was a good
soldier, and laid down his life for his
country.
His mother, Mrs, Susan E. Adams,
and his brothers George and Clarence
and his sister, Mrs. E. L. Keeter, of
Littleton, desire' to thank their many
friends for the kindness and sympathy
manifested to them and the respect
shown to the heroic young soldier.
T. J. TAYLOR.
MICKIE SAYS:
I
. . .
-J At
ill tl ''S
gives mm
Hi PMOIPPT
MASONS HOLD THEIR
THANKSGIVING FEAST
Members of Johnston -Caswell
Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and
Their friends enjoy Pleasant
Evening
Johnston-Caswell Lodge of Ancient,
Free and Accepted Masons has been
an institution for good in this com
munity since the days preceding the
American Revolution. It was first
located on "Buffalo," that is to say,
out near or at old Bute Court House
at "Buffalo Race" as it is spoken of in
the old Colonial records. From that
good day to this the membership has
held itself ready to minister unte the
widow and orphan and to help those
in distress.
In commemoration of this spirit the
Orphan Asylum Committee, in prep
aration for the annual banquet, sent
to each member the following letter of
invitation:
"Dear Brother:
"As November passes, you are
doubtless waiting for just the thing
chat is now reaching you the notice
of Johnston-Caswell's annual dinner.
Of course you kow exactly how good
a thing this dinner has been in the
past, if you have been long a member
of, old Johnston-Caswell; and this let
ter is written to tell y u that the 1920
dinner is going to be the best of all.
The date is Friday, November 19,
and the time is eight o'clock p. m.
Each member is invited to bring along
one of his lady friends, or his wife or
you know how that is.
And say, brother our hall is just
about the right size to seat tne entire
lodge and their ladies comfortably. We
don't want to provide a place for you
and find you absent when the big oc
casion comes aroud. You re expected
and wanted. If through any sad mis
fortune you cannot be there, will you
not please let us know on the en
closed card, without fail? Please tell
us also whether you will bring a lady.
On the enclosed card, therefore, please
answer these qustions; May we ex
pect you to be present? Will you
bring a lady ? Return the card as
oon as you can, please.
Good speeches, a good dinner, good
cheer, and best of all, a Thanksgiving
blessing for - our orphan children
these are all in store for you. We
expect you.
Very sincerely and fraternally,
The Orphan Asylum Committee."
They came and brought their wives,
sisters and sweethearts.
Fortunately for Johnston-Caswell
we have associated with this Lodge
the Order of the Eastern Star. These
ladies were good enough to prepare
the banquet, and an elegant repast it .
was. Sliced turkey, oysters fried in
cracker crumbs, cranberry sauce, cel
ery, creamed potatoes, English peas,
beaten biscuit, coffee, a salad course
of sliced pineapple and pears with My
onnaise dressing, etc., etc. This ban
quet with covers laid for one hundred
and fifteen was indeed a feast for the
inner man. The Hall was tastefully
decorated in festoons of cedar and hol
ly, commemorative of the season of
Thanksgiving.
Past Master J. Edward Allen was
Toaster Master and performed , that
difficult role with ease and grace.
The Speaker of the occasion was
Dr. Williams, of the University of
North Carolina, whose theme was the
demand for better facilities in the
Colleges and University of North Car
olina. His address was informative
and well delivered. He showed con
clusively that the crying need of this
State was more room for the thous
ands who desired to attend our Insti
tutions of Higher Learning, and who
were turned away because of lack ot
room. Take the University: rooma
there intended for tvo or four boys
were housing six and eight boys by
the expedient of placing one bedstead
over another and lashing the two to
gether, and instead of a boy "getting
up in the morning," he "got down."
Another interesting speech was that
of Mr. Ivey Allen, brother of our
townsman Mr. Eugene Allen, who rep
resented the Oxford Asylum. Mr.
Allen is Treasurer of the Asylum. He
told of the over-crowded conditions
there and of the work being done in
the preparation of the orphaned boys
(Continued on Fourth Page)