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E. MERTON COULTER
==
TIE ATffllgS DAILY BANNER.
5*
vol. in.
■ f'-- - -
ATHENS. GEO!
THURSDA? MORNING. NOVEMBER 24,1881.
NO- 9
HU PAPER TO-MORROW.
The Banner ' force will obtorre
thanksgiving day and there will be no
paper issued to-morrow morning,
FREE thrum.
(From the Cbriotlsn Index.)
In the Christian Index of October
14th, appears a communication sign*
ad “9. Landrum,” in which the recent
action of the legislature, in making
tuition fees at the state University, is
criticised and condemned. As a
member ot that body, wbo voted for
the bill upon its passage, I ask leave
to make a short comment; through
your columns, upon that^pmmunica.
tion. ' ■
Dr. Lnndrum, the author of tha
rrtioie referred to, is a i -dative ot
m-ne, and I allude to this purely per.
eonal fact in order that you, and oth
ers wbo may read this letter, may
understand that I have no quarrel
with him, and that any allusions that
may bs made to hiui having the ap.
pearance of severity, are made ‘mors
iu sorrow than in anger.’
fin the communication I refer to,
be declares that one of the reasons
why there is not a large increase ot
students at Meroer University is,
‘the mistaken policy of the legislature
in making ths state University a tree
school so far as tuition is oouoerned.’
He then proceeds to state three rea
sons why he styles this action of the
legislature a 'mistaken polio)’—they
are the following:
1. 'Because it degrades University
education, making it too cheap and
common tor proper appreciation.’
2. ‘Because it is wrong in princi*
pie and damaging in practice.’
3. -Because, in the opinion of lc>
gal gentlemen who were members of
the Inst Constitutional Convention, it
is unconstitutional.’
For convenience, let us examine
briefly lhe-e three reasons in tho in
verse order ol their statement.
Perhaps the Constitution itself is
tlie highest and best evidence of what
its provisions are upon tho subject, as
well as ail others. If Dr. Landrum
will take the trouble to turn to Arti
cle 8, Section 6, Paragraph 1, of the
present Constitution, he will find the
lollowiug words: "In addition to the
payment of the annual interest on tho
debt due by the stale to the Univer
sity, the General Assembly may-
front time to time—moke such dona
tions thereto as the condition of tho
Treasury will authorite.’
How could those 'legal go’nllcmcn,
who were members of the last Con
stitutional Convention,’ have forgot
ten the above provision when they
expressed such an opinion us he has
ascribed to them ? Surely the Doc
tor must be mistaken; ho must have
been dreaming. Could any lawyer
who was a member of that body bo
ignorant ot so important a feature? It
would be difficult to find a lawyer in
Georgia, whether ho was in the Con
vention or not, who did not know
better. Some hag was doubtless im.
posed upon our Iriend, the Doctor,
with tins ridiculous canard.
I pass to bis second reason. If the
doctrine contained in this somewhat
loose and general remark, that free
tuition is 'wrong in principle and
damaging in practice,’ is a correct
one, the civilized world is certainly
going backward. If that declaration
had been made by a Spanish or Italian
monk of the sixteenth century, it
would have been iu keeping with him,
his surroundings, and bis purposes;
but, coming from a Baptist minister
of the nineteenth century—aud an
educated man at that—it is astonish,
ing I For one, I would not have be
lieved that tho gentleman whose name
is aigned to that communication had
aver written tuch a statement, but for
‘ll a sensible and tins avouch of nty
o« n eyas.’ IV hen we ttop a m uncut
and think how much talent,
much money how much Ml, how
muoh time end eloquence and labor
are now being employed among all
oivilized people in devising ways and
meana tor making education free;
when we see Governments and indi
viduals, and municipalities, each hi
in own sphere struggling to do this
very thing, and esteemiug it a crown
ing triumph when they succeed, euob
an utterance at tbie of Dr, Landrum’*
founds tike a protest agsinit the civi
lization of the age in which re live.
It ie a common occurrence for
wealthy citizens ot benevolent impul
ses to endow professorships and found
■cholarshipa in institutions ot learning
so as to make tuition free. ’Whenever
they do, their names are heralded ae
benefactors of their raoe, and ao they
are. More than that, among thought
ful people it ia beginning robe looked
upon as the test and ttteaatm of the
intelligence and enlightenment ofa na
tion when its Government makes pro
vision for the free education of the
people. Wheuever a city establishes
a system of tree schools,for a state or
a county, it is considered a step for
ward, and there is lio fact in its his
tory to which it points with more
geuuino pride, and nothin}; which re
turns such an abundant, harvest of
good results
In the town of Lexington, in the
county of Oglethorpe, is Meson
Academy. Its founder, a Mr. Meson,
many yeais ago bequeathed to Trus
tees, in his will, a considerable amount
of property for tho purpose of found
ing this school and aiding, to that ex
tent, tho oausa ot free educatiou. He
lies buried in the school yard, and a
slab of marble commemorates lus vir
tues in an upilnph, and chief among
them all stands credited to him the
endowment ol the Academy. No ninn
can tel! the amount of good this school
has dune. It is true he did nut give
enough to make tuition entirely free,
bnl it was a long step in that direc
tion. Hundreds ot youth have been
educated there. Some of the first men
of Georgia, ami Bonn ol the oilier
stales, were partly educated there. It
is still iu operation, doing its benefi
cent work. It the long roll ot the
youth who have drunk at this ancient
and venerable fountain of learning
were called,among other names would
he found that ofBylvanus Landrum.
Did he find it ‘damaging in practice’
then? I am awaro that tuition was
not entirely free at Meson Academy,
bui education was cheapened there by
the endowment and the difference ia
in degree, and notin kind. It will be
a difficult task to persuade those
whose pleasure it has been to listen to
the eloquent accents that lull from
Dr. Landrum’s lips in the pulpit, that
it lias had a ‘damaging’ effect upon
him.
Let us now proceed to exxmino his
remaining objection. It is tho stran
gest of tho three. He says free tui
tion ‘degrades University education,
making it too cheap aud common for
proper appreciation.’ Iu other words
a poor buy, who is not able to pay for
a University educatiou, shill not have
it—that is about the English ol it. If
ytfU arc rich, and can pay your way
through the University, you shall be
a scholar, if you are poor, and have
no means, you shall remain ignorant.
What dues lie mean when lie says
making it cheap and common de
grades it? It ought to be free and
universal, much leas cheap and com
mon. Th« Reverend Doctor has ros
ally lost his moorings I tako Icavo
here and now to say to hint that there
is not a poor boy ia Georgia who is
not good enough for a University ed
ucation who has mind enough to re
ceive it. When education stoops and
enters the hovel of the poor and takes
by the hand some bright-eyed boy of
ready mind, it then assumes its most
angelic form. Ha who can succeed
in.tniking University education cheap
Extraordinary Attractions!
IN THE FOLLOWING LINES OF GOODS AT
M. MYERS & CO.
Teaxoy Sxjss Goods and Elegant and Appropriate Trimmings*
AND BUTTONS.
DOLMANS AND CLOAKIS'.
The hand»ft:ner*anUnwt oonplets L*ne of^JAPAIfKSB L IQTJEVftn WARS and FANCY CHINA. Also a unit oomp'.ete stock of
SHOES, CLOTHING AND FURNISHING GOODS.
Thuio good* willbo a "Ad At at L<)WJ\ P UCR t*s they cim bs boijat in ftiorgir, and) we onW i% mil tnvoMy our war U. Rajpoot fully
M. MYERS dfe OO.
octl OijLK3tt Av’BVJ $, A rH v «N$,(IE‘>RttIA.
and common, wid be entitled to be
numbered amonrf, the benefactor* of
the state and generation. ‘Too cheap
and common.’ ; It caunot be too
cheap, it cannot be too common.
If t traveler,, twenty years from
how, could traverse the whole state
of Georgia, and net find a single
youth to whom tie blessings of a
university education were denied on
account of his poverty, ho would find
a statu in tho very from rank ortho
whole civilised world.
Doe* Dr.* Landrum believe that a
University education ought to be ex
pensive and exclusive ? Does he wish
to draw a line. *Ud if so, where will
he draw it ? Who ia he willing to see
educated at the Universities in Geor
gia ? Ia it only those who are able to
pay ? Would he have tha legislature
say, to the poor boys ot Georgia, that
tho higher branches shall uot be taught
them unless they are able to pay ? If
he means to » iy that it will degrade
education to bring it within the reach
of the poor, or to make it so cheap
and so common that the poorest can
enjoy it, il that will degrade it, then I
say let it ho degraded. The sooner
the better.
The legislature did not so think.
They felt that they were not only con*
ferring a substantial benefit upon those
who were not able to help themselves,
and deserved to be helped, but they
believed that the cause of Uunivemi-
ty education was dignified and enno*
bled when it was ma le free to all,
even the humblest.
Hut, in a subsequent part of Dr.
Landrum’s letter, we find an expres
sion which reveals the secret animus
ct his altacK upon the legislature. He
says ‘this action of the legislature is a
damaging blow at Mercer and Emory
college*. The Methodists and Baptists
of the Stale deserve belter treatment
by their legislators.*
When the legislature paased this
bill, they were not thinking of ‘Mors
cer and Emory colleges,’ nor were
they thinking of the State University,
nor the Baptists nor Methodist*, nor
Presbyterian* nor Episcopalians. I
will tell you what they were thinking
of: they were thinking of their duty
to the whole people ot Georgia, with*
out regard to sect or religious belief.
They were—a majority of them—
Methodist* and Baptists, and they
were upon an infinitely higher plane
than the Doctor seems to bo writing
from. Before them was ti>e whole
people, they would have scorned the
imputation that their aeiioti was con**
trolled by any consideration spring*
ing out ot the idea that, as legislators,
they owed a duty to any particular
religious denomination m such. Like
a judgo upon the bench, a legislator
ii sworn, and he should be blind to
the fnct that there are different relig*
ious sect* among the people for whom
he is to mako laws. To him the Jew
and the gentile must stand exactly
Continued oa second page.
important Announcement,
TO THIS CITY AND VICINITY:
81R:—'Tbe~undersigned gcntlem in representing the l:vtc firm of Messrs.* Wilson,tfDanoe &
Co., Manchester, Engla-id, are otL-riug t\>r rule to the Inhabitants ot tins country, |a.|large aud
varied stock ot
Fine Dry Goods
'C0N8I8TIN<*&( NRVAKTtyJ F
RICH SILK, MOHAIR
;and other drkss goods. V
Paisley, Camel’s Hair, Ottoman, Indian & Osh mere Shawls
West of England Broadcloths:
Fancy Cassiinores: Scotch, French and English Tweeds
Moscow Beaver: Carr’s Meltons, Fine Diagonals.
AGENT FOll Tills COUNTRY,
iT <3 EX 1ST "W JS. 3L.3X-; S .
Lite of tho Eirm of WALLS &Q1YRNK, Importer*. 48 Franklin Street, New York, has en
gaged twenty Satwm’ii, win* wilt off r for inspecti-ni andante, portions n| the above goods, and
from the lotv price* at which they will Ihj offered, tic feel* confl .lent of a *pcedy clearance. A
LARGE QUANTITY OF REMNANTS IN
ENGLISH AND FRENCH BROADCLOTHS BEAVERS,
Tweedt* Cheviots and Cassimeres.
Which belonged to tho Tailoring Department ot the above firm, and which wilt bo fold in tots to
private familic* at
Considerably! Below Mnnuiaeturer’s.Prices.
This is tho greatest opportn ity ever offered to tho ladies
to have their own Ulsters made to fit, out of the finest ma
terial, which is impossible to have in ready-made goods.
ONE PRICE WILL BE CHARGED,
i which no abatement will bo made. The above goods can be seen at the store next to) A.
lcville.* jewelry storo, on Saturday morning.
JOHN WALLS, Cliior Agent,
Late of Firm of Messrs. Walls «0 liyrne. Importers, franklin iSt, N% 1\
THE EXCELSIOR STOVE HOUSE.
HEADQUARTERS FOll
STOVES, RANGES
HOT AIR FURNACES,
HARD COAL, SELF-FEEDING PARLOR STOVES, MARBLEIZED IRON AND
SLATE MANTELS, PLAIN and ENAMELED GRATES A SPECIALTY.
t be Bul l, So save
PLAIN AND STAMPED TINMVARB, GAS FITTINGS, CHANDELIERS, PEN
DANTS. BRACKETS, GLOBES, PLUMBERS ami STkAM FITTkRS
SUPPLIES, BATH TUBS, WATkR CLOSkTS, MARBLk SLAB*,
STKAM WHISTLES, JKT PUMPS, KUUliKR IIORK, KTC.
We have the largest flock and greatest variety of goods, in our line, that has ever bean offered in
this city, and all ttought Wore the recent advance, We are hetter prepared to aerv
the public generally than wver. Our stock la large and at reaaonable prices, and mu
lime and money hy sending your orders or come an I make your purchase* of .
HTCTXTXCTT’rT <Ss BELXiUTGF-ATJS,
36 AND 38 PE ACHTREE STREET, - ATLANTA, G V.
BS-Aqenla lor Knowles’ Slonin Pumps. Mwufiictnrors of Concrete Sews
cr anil Drain Pipe. Galvanized Iron and Tin work a Specialty. oct24 or
