The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., June 25, 1910, EDUCATIONAL SPECIAL, Page 456, Image 12

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

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WHAT THE SOUTH CAN LEARN FROM NEW ENGLAND
(Continued from page 453.)
exerted upon the politics of America
is no doubt largely due to the effec
tiveness of their political machinery
resulting from this system of govern
ment. As Jefferson himself declared
in speaking of New England’s influ
ence in the War of 1812: “How pow
erfully did we feel the energy of this
organization in the case of the em
bargo? I felt the foundations of the
Government shaken under my feet
by the New England townships.
There was not an individual in these
States whose body was not thrown
with all its momentum into action;
and although the whole of the other
States were known to be in favor of
the measure, yet the organization of
this little selfish minority enabled it
to over-rule the Union. What would
the unwieldly counties of the Middle,
the South and the West do?”
jt
I should like to see a movement
started even now in every Southern
State looking to the development of
this township system of government.
So long as the negroes voted largely,
this may not have been expedient in
all cases, but there is now no longer
any reason why we should not secure
for ourselves this most important
piece of governmental machinery so
often advocated by the political idol
of our Southern people. In a letter
to Samuel Kercheval in 1816, Jeffer
son declared: “The article nearest
my heart is the division of the coun
ties into wards (townships).” Again,
writing Joseph C. Cabell, he said:
“As Cato concluded every speech with
the words, ‘Carthago delenda est,’ so
do I every opinion with the words,
‘Divide the counties into wards.’ ”
On another occasion, he said: “Pub
lic education and the subdivision of
the counties Into wards (townships):
I consider the continuance of Repub
lican government as absolutely hang
ing on these two hooks.”
*
Since I am saying so much of Jef
ferson and his township system of
government, I am reminded of a re
mark made by Dr. Geo. H. Martin,
Secretary of the Massachusetts State
Board of Education in a recent offi
cial report. I quote:
“More than a hundred yeare
ago Thomas Jefferson laughed at
Massachusetts for trying to be a
commercial State without a piece
of timber for a keel, and a man
ufacturing State without wool or
cotton, Iron, or coal. Neverthe
lnpn nli a V, n Jl _ _ _ i«
W“V “MU UUliC wen up
to the present time, because of
her leadership; she will never be
handicapped so long as she raises
men and womep of vigorous,
alert and well poised thought
and skill.”
When we come to look for the rea
sons which have enabled Massachu
setts to overcome the natural difficul
ties which Jefferson thought insur
mountable, and not only to overcome
them but to out-distance his own
State of Virginia and all other South
ern States, it is plain that nothing
else has been more important than
the superiority of Massachusetts upon
the very points declared by Jefferson
to be fundamental—general educa
tion and the township system of gov
ernment. When we consider that
of each thousand native whites born
of native parents there are in Mis
sissippi sixteen times as many who
can not read and write as in Massa
chusetts, in Alabama thirty times as
many, in Arkansas twenty-two times
as many, and in Louisiana forty times
as many, we have a fact which goes
far to explain why the per capita
wealth of Massachusetts in 1900 was
fM49 as compared with $42b ini
I
Mississippi, $494 in Alabama, ?b<:u in
Louisiana, and $503 in Arkansas
the larger proportion of negroes in
Mississippi explaining the State s
especially low averages.
It has been said that when the
Pilgrim fathers came over they first
fell upon their knees and then upon
the aborigines, but if these were the
first two things they did, the third
thing was certainly to build a school
house. Do you remember the ex
tract from the Shurley memorial ad
dress by Mr. Victor S. Bryant we pub
lished in our last Educational Special.
It is so appropriate just here that I
can not refrain from reprinting it:
“Mr. Shurley knew and taught
that as long as the Southern la
borer earned 50 cents a day, and
the New England laborer $2 a
day, so long would the South re
main poor and New England
prosper. That so long as a
Southern State Bells the labor or
her young men at ten, fifteen,
twenty, or thirty dollars a
month, and imports young men
from Massachusetts to earn one
hundred, five hundred, or one
thousand dollars per month, so
long will one State remain near
the foot and the other at the
ladder of wealth. But he also
knew and taught us that the
Southern laborer would earn as
much as the New England labor
er whenever he could do the
same work, and his abiding faith
in his own people, made him
believe the difference not in nat
ural endowment, but a difference
in training. This training was
the work of the school—the
work of education. Although
his opportunity to teach it was
poor, he knew the hand should
be trained with the head.”
New England was wise enough to
see that buying negroes to do poor
work did not pay, and that educating
her own children to do good work
did pay. The South has fallen be
hind because it has had the wrong
end of both these propositions.
Thank God, however, we are at last
waking up and are beginning to
train our own people, and we Bhall
soon begin to give our Southern chil
dren the same educational advantage*
that the New England children have
had, and so have our agricultural and
manufacturing development such aB
will make us worthy rivals of New
England even In material prosperity.
Just In this connection, moreover,
I am reminded that while New Eng
land has been far too wise to allow
her children to he worked In cotton
mills, or any other manufacturing en
terprises, thousands of our own white
children have been stunted in body
and mind in order to make dividends
for New England capital invested in
the South. In Massachusetts no child
under fourteen is allowed to work in
a factory under any circumstances
whatever; no child under, or between
fourteen and sixteen, unless able to
read and write,—and not only to read
and write, but to read and write well
enough to enter the fourth grade,—
and no child is allowed to do night
work under any circumstances. More
than this, no child can be employed
by any factory unless a sworn cer
tificate as to its age be given by its
parents, and this certificate approved
as correct by the local school commit
tee or their agent, and kept on file
for inspection by truant officers whose
duty it is to see that all children who
ought to be are in school. Going
further, the manufacturer must keep
posted, a list of the names of all
minors employed by him, and the
JState employs fourteen factory in
spectors, a part of whose duties it is
to see that these laws are enforced.
Massachusetts is far too wise to
sacrifice her future by grinding out
the lives of little children, however
much the Yankee may be said to care
for the dollar. It is with shame that
we coufess that the same can not be
said of every Southern State.
Last of all, and most of all, how
ever, I would have you remember
that New England has forged ahead
of us here in the South because It
has lived up more fully to Jefferson's
declaration:
“Public education and the
subdivision of the counties into
wards (townships): I consider
the continuance of Republican
government as absolutely hang
ing on these two hooks.”
The spirit of Massachusetts i8
shown by the fact that in front of its
magnificent capital stands a statue of
Horace Mann, the great apostle of
universal education, side by 8|de
with a statue of Daniel Webster.
When the South remembers to honor
its great constructive leaders in edu
cation and Industry no less than Its
Presidents and Senators and Gener
als, we shall soon reach the time
when our Southern States may rie
with Massachusetts In wealth and in
political influence.
nn the markets, inn
NEW ORLEANS COTTON.
Quotation* baaed on cotton sold on *pot
terms.
Low ordinary-....- It
Ordinary-.....- H **
3ood ordinary..— IS is 16
Low middling—___ H
Middling.-. >6
Oood middling... 15 S
Middling fair. IMI-I®
Fair. l« ~ i«
MEMPHIS COTTON.
Good ordinary-IS *»
Low middling--- —— li h
Middling-15
Good mlddiLng-16 M
GRAIN. FK KIJSTUFFS, ETC.
CORN IN HULK Per llu*hel-No. I white
71: No. S m<ir<' e7o.; No. > yellow 6Ro.
BRAN—Per 1 WV-«I 17.
OATS- T’tr Mu*hel—No. S white. tiWa.; No. I
mixed. 431 ii.
HAY-PerTon. In Halce—No. I U9 50. No I
Bl 50; choice. IS2 50
CORN MEAL bbl.-fl.45 to IS 50
FLOUR, hard wheal. Kansae patent* 16 Si to
•6 50.
MISSISSIPPI. LOUISIANA, A NO
ALABAMA LIVE STOCK.
BEEVES—
Choice-« to 6
Fair to good-8 to ss
Oxen— Fat-... 31* to 4**
Oxen—Common to fair _.. it* to s',
COWS AND HEIFERS—
Choice—..... >H to •
Fair to good. Si* to M
Old poor row*, per head_SR 00 to 11 00
BULLS AND STAGS—
Buila-SH to 81*
Stag*....—. 8»» to SS
YEARLINGS—
Choice. 850 to 800 lb*, per lb. a*, to *v*
Choice sio to 350 pound*. 4 to 6
Common, to fair. 3 to IS
pai .\r
Choloe. 300 to no lb*.. par lb. 4W to 5S
Pair to good, per baad.le 00 to ft oo
MILK OOW8
Cboloo.4s:> oo to y> oo
Pair to good ... lft 00 to SO 00
8PRINGP.K8
Cboiee..—.4*. oo to »oo
Common to fair....... le oo to C oc
HOGS
Corn fed. i>er lb..._...._... ft to U
Corn fed pigs w to IK lb* . par lb. ft to 0
Mast fed. per lb. ..... 7 to ft
HHEEP
Good fatabecp. per ib.... 4)4 to e
Common to fair, par bead.It.00 to 1.00
RICK.
CLEAN-PER POUND
Honduras.. S\ to ev»
straight*. I to ja»
screening*. IS to m
No * actual sale* at.. IS to tS
Japan, bead. I to 3S
straight*. IS to IS
screenings.. is to lH
No. 3. actual aalea at .. m to SS
ROUGH.
Honduras (bbl. 163 lbs )...4 I 75 to 13 oc
actual sale* at. 340 to 3 M
Japan.. I W. to 3.0*
actual sales at . I !ftJ to 8.7*
Hic« bran, according to analy*i*.. lh oo to lo 0C
Hlcc i>oli»h. i*er ion from mill*... *6 uu io t7 Ot
NEW YORK PRODUCE.
Old potatoes, $l@l,25 per 180
lbs. In bulk; new, Southern, per bbl.,
No. 1, $1.76@2.25 for while; red,
$1.50@1.75; culls, 75c.@$l. Sweets,
50c. fe$l per basket. Texas yellow
onions, per crate, $1.50@2; white
$1,500(1.75. Cabbage, 40@76c. pel
bbl. Asparagus, $1@2.25 per doz
bunches. Cucumbers, $1@1.25 foi
N. C.; 75c. @$1.25 for S. C. and 50c
@$1 for Georgia. Eggplants, $1.2E
@2 per crate. Green corn, $1@2.2£
per crate for N. C.; $1@3 for Fla.;
and $2 @3 per 100 for N. O. Horse
radish, $2 @3 per 100 lbs. Kale
25©50c. per bbl. L<ettuce, 60c. 0$i
per bbl. Lima beans. $103 per bas
ket. Okra. $1.50 0 3.50 per bbl.
Ovsterplants. $20 3 per 100 bunch
es. Peppers, $2 0 3 per box for
large Parsley, per bbl., $10 2. Peas,
large slxe, Baltimore, 75 0 85c. per
basket; small, 75 0 80c.; Jersey,
large slxe. 14-bbl. basket, $1,120
1.37. Radishes, 50075c. per 100
bunches. Rhubarb. $101.50; per
100 bunches. Scallions, 50 075c.
per loo bunches. String beans,
green. 1-3 basket, 30 0 60c.; wax. 25
(<i 75c. Spinach. 30 0 60c. per bbl.
Squash. 75c.0$1.25 per bbl. for
w hite; yellow , 76c. 0 $1.60. Turnips.
$2 0 2.50 per bbl. for rutabagas;
w hite. 60c. 0 $2 per 100 bunches.
Tomatoes, fancy Fla., per carrier,
$1.5002; choice. $1.1201.60. Wa
tercress. $10 1.75 per 100 bunches.
Apples, $3 0 5 per bbl. Peaches,
$1 25 0 1 75 per carrier for Oa.; Tex
as. $1.750 2 per bushel. Plums,
$2 25 0 2 50 per carrier for Karly
June, and $1.75 0 2 25 for other
sorts Sweet cherries. 9 013e. per
qt.; sour. 80 10c. Currants. 100
12c.. per qt Strawberries, 4 010c.
per qt. Blackberries, N. C., 6 010c.
Per qt. Rnspberrles, 6 0 9c. per pint
Huckleberries. 100 12c. Gooseber
ries. 7 0 9c. Muskmelons. per crate.
$1.50 0 2. Watermelons, $30 0 50
per 100.
Butter, 23 He. for factory; 28c
for creamery specials.
Kggs. 190 22c.
l.«*t hr teach honestly and boldly
that education In not only the bent
thing In our civilisation for which
public money can be used, but that
with the exception of Ignorance It la
also the moat expensive.—Dr. Chaa.
D. Mclver.
Farraiig is Profitable In
The Southeast
There la no better occupation
for the Average Man than Farm
ing and no Sectlou la Superior to
the South for a Good Farmer.
Farming la a Oreat Bualneaa and
should be carried on by the Appli
cation of the Beat Bualneaa Princi
ples. The Proper Location, the
Study of Soils, Seed Selection, the
Wise Choice and Rotation of Crops
and Careful Cultivation will bring
Assured Success.
We are In position to Aid You
In the Selection of the Proper Lo
cation In Districts which Present
Splendid Advantages and Oppor
tunity. in writing tell us what
You Want.
M. V. RICHARDS,
Lmm* BmU
Waslilngton, - - - - D. C.