Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1891 — The South not in it. [ARTICLE]

The South not in it.

The township trustees will meet next Monday, to elect a county school superintendent. It is a very important ditty, and one which they should discharge conscientiously and with a view singly to the best interests of the schools of the county. The desire to gratify this or that individual should have no weight in determining their action in this matter. The office of county superintendent is one of the most important in the county, and it is the one office of all others, the value of which depends upon the character, qualifications and conscientiousness of the person who fills it The value to the educational interests of the county of a good superintendent are almost incalculable. On the other hand, a poor superintendent could easily be more harm than good. . The office is peculiar in this respect; its value depending so entirely upon the persou who fills it. The office of clerk, sheriff, auditor or recorder, may be much more satisfactorily discharged ny one man than another, bnt no man of ordinary intelligence and honesty would wholly fail of depriving these offices of their usefulness to the people, while in the case of the superintendent’s office, nothing could be easier than for an inefficient incumbent to do vastly more harm than good. In all parts of the state this peculiar feature of the snprintendent’s function have been recognized, and even in localities where the principle of rotation in office finds its fullest recognition,

! it often happens that the county superintendent js retained in -office term after term; 6, Shir 10 years at a stretch. The relations of the county superintendent to the schools of the county generally, arc much the same as those of a town superintendent to the schools under his care, and to make frequent changes in the incumbency of the position from considerations of “rotation in office’’or of political expediency, would be about as illogical in one case, as the other. Under their present wise, and c onscientious and discreet man agement, the educational affairs of the county have .made excellent progress and maintained their exceptional efficiency, and if the trustees, when they meet next Monday, decide to “let well enough alone” and to continue the same, management for another two years, the great mass of the people will heartily endorse their action. All of which is said without any unkindness of feeling, or intention of desparagement, toward any of the deserving and laudably ambitious young men who are candidates for the position. We simply speak for what we believe to be the best interests of the schools.

I have no reason to give. I give you facts not reason. * * * You may callus of the South fools. * * But the fact remains, we are Democrats of the South. If yon choose to ride on roughshod with your third party scheme, go ahead. The fact remains there are seventeen States down in Dixie’s land that won’t go with you.—President Livingston of the Georgia Alliance at the Cincinnati Convention.