The Times And Democrat

Stand by Your Schools.

There is not a school district in the county but will lose some of its resources by the closing of the dispensaries. This, of course, is a serious loss, but the people should not let it cripple their schools. They should levy a tax sufficient to make up the loss the schools have sustained through the closing of the dispensaries so that the school term will not be shortened. The education that the average boy or girl gets is the most valuable asset that he or she will have in the great battle of life that is before them, and which they must fight out whether they want to or not. This is one thing they can't get around. Therefore, it behooves every father and mother to give their children the very best education that they possibly can. Most of the boys and girls must get what education they get in the neighborhood schools, as comparatively few are ever sent off to college. Therefore, it is very important that the sessions of the country schools should not be shortened.

The best investment any community can make, in the country or town, is in good schools. In every community where a good school is maintained land values are bound to advance, and this is but one of a hundred ways in which better schools pay for themselves many times over. The whole life of the community is richer and finer wherever there is a good school at its center; the citizens feel a pride in it such as they never felt before, and everything in the neighborhood begins to catch step with the new standard of progress thus set up. It is not the fertility of the land that makes it valuable: it is the intelligence of the community in which it is situated, as the Progressive Farmer says.

Land in Africa today is more fertile than the average Southern farmer of the uplands ever saw, but it is practically worthless because of an ignorant population, while land in Belgium, originally little more than a sand-waste, has become intensely valuable by reason of the presence of an intelligent population, and intensely fertile by reason of the wise methods of cultivation practiced by these intelligent farmers. Give your boys and girls an equal chance with other boys and girls by liberally sustaining your schools. Even if a man has not boy or girl to send, the school tax investment is a good one for any property-holder because of the increase in values that always results from the presence of an intelligent citizenship.