Address of James F. Byrnes, Governor of South Carolina, to The South Carolina Education Association: Township Auditorium, Columbia, SC; 16 March 1951.
It has been three-fourths of century since South Carolina faced a problem more serious than the one we face today. After the War for Southern Independence, reconstruction was a tremendous task. Second only to that is the task now confronting us to provide adequate educational facilities for the children of our State.
For those children we must provide new school buildings, more teachers, and better transportation. And we must try to preserve the Public School System.
Every child in the State, white or colored, should have the opportunity for a full public school education. It must be our goal to see that each of them accepts that opportunity.
South Carolina must go forward. It cannot go forward without a new educational program. You cannot lift the State economically without raising the educational level of the people. Statistics will show that in the states where there is the greatest illiteracy there is the smallest per capita income.
I am sure you and all other South Carolinians were humiliated recently to read that during a three-months period last fall the rejection rate of draftees for military service, due to mental causes, was higher in South Carolina than in any other State in the Union. More than 60 percent of the men in this State were rejected. The rejection rate was 35 percent for the rest of the South.
I am convinced this humiliating rejection rate was due not so much to lack of intelligence as to lack of education.
If there were no other reasons, we need additional school buildings and equipment to care of children of school age who are not now enrolled in school. According to the last survey, an estimated 16,000 white and 17,500 Negro children were out of school. In 1950 there were enrolled in this State 494,000 children, but the average daily attendance was only 413,551.
That means 113,000 were not enrolled or were remaining away from school. If next Monday these children should all attempt to go to school, they could not get inside the buildings, which already are overcrowded. Certainly I would pray for the teachers.
I know of at least one school in the State forced to run two shifts daily to permit all the children to get into the classrooms. I am told there are others. That is not fair to the children. It is not fair to the parents, who must get children to school at 7 o'clock in the morning or wait for their return in the very late afternoon.
Without drastic action the situation will get worse instead of better. South Carolina is one of the oldest States historically, the State is young in that is has more children in proportion to the total population than do other States.
The average enrollment in classrooms throughout South Carolina is 29 pupils. Regardless, however, of the average, there are many classrooms with more than 40 pupils.
The shortage of teachers will become aggravated as men in the profession enter the military service.
That is our problem.
Because I regarded it as serious, last summer during the primary campaign, I advocated that the salary of teachers be increased, that the transportation system be improved, and that a school building program be started. I stated that an investigation should be made of our tax system to determine the best means of financing the school building program.
Later, I found that a special committee had been authorized by the House of Representatives to study such a program and recommend the best way to finance it. Senators conferred with the committee. So did I.
The Committee, known as the Hollings Committee, recommended the issuance of $75 million in bonds to finance the construction of new buildings. It recommended a 20 percent increase in teachers' salaries, a State operated transportation program, and State assistance for providing school administration funds.
The Committee advised that only by a sales tax could sufficient revenue be raised for this program. It recommended that persons with small incomes should be granted relief from State income taxes.
I spent many weeks investigating the subject. I reached the same conclusion, and, therefore, in my message to the Legislature, I urged the passage of the Bill introduced by the Ways and Means Committee which incorporated substantially the recommendations of the Hollings Committee.
I am delighted to say that Bill after being considered for many days passed the House by a 40-vote majority. It is pending in the Senate. Thoughtful people, of course, will differ about important legislation. Even where, as in this case, a Bill has been drafted only after months of study, there will be differences of opinion. But I sincerely trust the Bill will pass without any crippling amendments.
No Bill of such comprehensive character will be perfect when passed. After it has been tested, it can be improved.
Changes may be made in the Senate. My earnest hope is they will be of such character that differences can be reconciled.
For years the educators have differed as to details of a program and as to financing. Because of pride of opinion, there was no program. I do not want that to happen in the Legislature.
Naturally there is opposition to the Sales Tax. There is opposition to every tax, but I have failed to find any man who is really in favor of improving our educational facilities who will suggest a substitute tax plan.
I can understand the position of the man who thinks it is a waste of money to educate the children of people he calls "common people." He is willing that we should continue to have more illiteracy than any state in the Union. I disagree with him but I understand him.
I cannot understand the position of the man who says he is in favor of increasing teachers' salaries, improving the transportation system, constructing new school buildings, and yet opposes the sales tax and offers no substitute. He wants to help the children -- provided it does not cost him anything.
That cannot be done. It will cost money. But the education of our children is the primary duty of our State just as National Defense is the primary duty of the Federal Government.
When we properly discharge our duty, we make more difficult the task of those who would have the Federal Government control our schools.
Other Southern states have had to meet this problem. Practically every state in the South now has a sales tax. It is argued by some that it will be a greater burden to the poor. The benefits will be greater to the poor. It is among them that we find large families and their children cannot be sent to private schools.
Schools in our cities, as a rule, are well equipped. The schools in our small towns and rural areas are not. The one teacher schools in rural areas, having not more than 15 or 20 pupils cannot secure good teachers. Our people must realize that these schools should be consolidated. I want the boys and girls of small towns and rural areas to have opportunities in life equal to the boys and girls of cities.
Men and women who receive little or no education participate in the election of those who govern this State. Government will only be as intelligent as the electorate. Moreover, the cities of South Carolina cannot prosper economically unless the peoples of the rural areas are educated and can increase their incomes. The improvement of conditions in rural sections is of vital concern to every city.
It was with surprise that I read a few days ago that in the State we had 125 school districts without any schools. To me a school district without a school is like a kitchen without a stove. Those districts were established by the Legislature. Now that they have no schools, I hope the Legislature will abolish them.
It is argued that the sales tax will fall particularly heavy upon the Negroes because they have lower incomes. It is true that relatively few have sufficient incomes to cause them to pay income taxes. But the majority of Negroes will not complain about paying the sales tax to help educate their children. They are asking for better schools and better transportation facilities and I am confident they will be willing to help pay for those benefits.
That brings me to a discussion of the race problem as it affects the public school system.
I repeat what I said in my inaugural address, that we should provide schools substantially equal for both white and Negro pupils. We should do so because it is right. Let me tell you why it is wise.
Last spring there were pending in the United States Supreme Court two cases brought by Negroes, one against the University of Texas and one against the University of Oklahoma. These cases were based on the charge that facilities furnished Negroes of the Negro colleges of the two states were not equal to the facilities furnished in colleges for whites. The United States Government was not involved in the suit. However, the attorney general filed an argument. He did not ask for equal facilities. On behalf of the United States Government he asked that the Court abolish segregation in State supported colleges. The Court did not decide this issue. It held it was no necessary to the disposition of the cases in which the petitioners asked only for equal facilities.
Last fall, after the election of this Legislature, some Negroes who had brought a suit against Clarendon County, asking for equal facilities, abandoned that suit. But they instituted a new suit, asking that the provisions of our constitution and statutes requiring separate schools for the races, be held unconstitutional.
I assume these people were inspired by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Because the President had asked the Court to abolish segregation, they adopted that course, instead of asking for equal facilities.
That case will be tried before a three-Judge Court in Charleston the last week of May. I do not see how a Judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals and two District Judges can reverse a decision of the Supreme Court which has been the law of the land for more than a half century. They may express their desire to do so but only the Supreme Court can reverse a decision of the Supreme Court.
No matter what may be the decision of the Court in Charleston, the case will go to the Supreme Court of the United States. My hope is that the record to be considered by that Court will show that regardless of how we may have failed in the past to provide substantially equal facilities, that a courageous and forward looking Legislature has enacted a law providing an educational program that will improve facilities for Negro children as well as for white children. I hope, too, it can show that the Governor of this State has said he will use what influence he has to accomplish that end.
The races are separated in the schools of seventeen states as well as the District of Columbia, which is under the jurisdiction of the Congress. I shall ask those seventeen states to file briefs supporting our position that the Court should uphold the doctrine of separate but equal facilities, instead of ordering that segregation be abolished.
It is my hope that the action of the Legislature may influence the Court to uphold what has been the law of the land for more than half a century.
Should the Supreme Court decide this case against our position, we will face a serious problem. Of only one thing can we be certain. South Carolina will not now nor for some years to come, mix white and colored children in our schools.
In the Reconstruction Days, a carpetbag government tried to do it and failed. A Democratic administration cannot now do what a Republican administration could not then do.
If the Court changes what is now the law of the land, we will, if it is possible, live within the law, preserve the public school system, and at the same time maintain segregation. If that is not possible, reluctantly we will abandon the public school system.
To do that would be choosing the lesser of two great evils. Men without responsibility can talk freely about having the churches operate our schools. Those with responsibility realize the magnitude of the problem. The school buildings could be sold or leased, but who would operate the schools?
The Catholic Church now conducts its parochial schools. Will other denominations undertake that task?
The State spends for school purposes approximately $40,000,000 a year. This amount left in the pockets of the people would permit them to pay for the education of their children. The difficulty, of course, is that many of those who most need education would not be sent to school. Now we find it difficult to get many children to attend free schools.
How about the Negroes of the State? The white people of South Carolina would become adjusted to the situation and could pay for the education of their children. But how many Negro churches in the State could buy or lease buildings and operate schools? The Congress cannot appropriate money to one denomination in one state for schools. It would have to do the same for all denominations in all states.
Our Negro citizens would suffer because of the irresponsible action of representatives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. When the Negro children are out of school and colored teachers are out of their jobs, these misguided and irresponsible leaders are certain to desert them.
But it must be the duty of the humane white people of the State, as individuals, to see that innocent Negro children are not deprived of an education because of false leaders.
Certainly that would be my goal.
No matter how serious may be the problems ahead of us, I know that the State can rely upon the loyal and intelligent assistance of the teachers of our schools.
I have an exalted idea of the importance of your profession. I resent the charge that this Association has no purpose other than to make efforts to increase your salaries. You fashion the thinking of the children of our State. You influence their lives. I believe you have at heart the future of your pupils, as well as your own future. I believe from your group meetings here you have benefitted and will be better able to help your schools.
The life of a teacher must be a life of sacrifice. To teach you must spend four years at college, and, in addition, you must continue to study as long as you teach. The college graduate who enters your profession cannot hope to receive the compensation of the doctor, the lawyer, the bricklayer, and the plumber. You may receive compensation equal to that of a preacher. You are entitled to compensation that will enable you to maintain a standard of living demanded by your profession. But, you do have a compensation greater than your financial reward. You see your pupils go out into the world. When one makes good in life, it must bring to you a satisfaction second only to the satsifaction of the parents of that pupil.
I ask God to bless you. I ask it with earnestness because upon you depends in great measure the character of the men and women who will guide this State in the days ahead of us.
