538 A SKETCH OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



of famine." It must be remembered, too, that a very large proportion of 

 the illiterate blacks were too old to avail themselves of school facilities. 

 So that in ascertaining real progress they should be eliminated from the 

 problem. Data for doing this are, unfortunately, not at hand. 



The census of 1870 was obviously incorrect, in many respeiets. Taken 

 carelessly, it was more apt to include prominent than obscure individuals, 

 and, therefore, to lower the percentage of illiteracy. For this reason, 

 greater progress may be claimed for the past decade than a compari-son 

 of the statistics would seem to indicate. 



Despite the most favorable showing that can be made, it is yet obvious 

 that some extraordinary measures must be taken to combat ignorance. 

 A State, in which the average amount of property per capita is not more 

 than a hundred and twenty dollars, cannot be expected to put one-half 

 its population to school. That it is doing much in proportion to its 

 means is shown by the constitutional tax. The government of the United 

 States elevated the slave to citizenship. His political mistakes are to-day 

 apparent in their influence on public affairs. The United States must 

 aid in universal education as supplementary to universal suffrage. One 

 cannot safely exist without the other, 



Xor must South Carolina be weary in well doing. Her own people are 

 capable of additional effort. They cannot wait for outside aid. 



In these da3\s, knowledge is power. Xo longer do men sprinkle their 

 chariots with Olympic dust. Never again will Hercules raise himself to 

 Heaven by dint of muscle, or the fate of Christendom depend on the 

 weight of a Coiur de Lion's battle-axe. Phvsical strength is not the 

 standard of merit. 



^lan has conquered Nature. She does his work without fatigue, and 

 without complaint. But for him she cannot think. Thought is his 

 alone, and he thinks best who thinks most, whose mind is best trained 

 in correct methods. Bismarck, Beaconsfield, Gladstone, Moltke, have 

 swayed Europe by brain, not by brawn. Indiana's war Governor and 

 Georgia's Commoner, from their invalid chairs have, at times, shaken 

 our political fabric to its foundations. A single thought of Edison's may 

 be worth millions. 



Fertile soil, salubrious climate, rich mineral deposits, unlimited water 

 power, valuable virgin forests — all that nature can bestow — are but noth- 

 ing compared to the cultured brain. More than railroads, more than 

 canals, more than factories, Carolina needs schools. Having them, the 

 rest will come. 



A State that claims such glorious educational traditions, that has mani- 

 fested such love of knowledge in most untoward circumstances, that even 

 now is making progress in solving a problem never before submitted to 



