Since December, 1901, the interests of the State have been represented by Mr. William Elliott Jr., of the Columbia bar, who appeared at the request of the Attorney-General's office. Mr. Elliott has rendered valuable service to the State, which service certainly deserves compensation, and I recommend that he be paid such an amount as may appear to you just and equitable.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.

I am deeply gratified to report to your Honorable Body that during the past year the great cause of education has continued to advance in our State. No greater nor more all-important cause can demand our thought, our care and our best energies. In all lines, material and industrial, as a State, we have prospered, and to know that our common schools and our higher institutions of learning reflect this progress and prosperity in the highest, best and most important interests of a commonwealth, should be, as it is, a source of pride and of pleasure to us all. Time, labor and money spent for the purpose of educating our children yields a return than which there is none greater. Ignorance is an evil which we cannot afford to permit it is a crime against the future, and to get rid of this deplorable condition would be money well spent at almost any cost. The spirit manifested by the masses of our people all over the State is a safe guarantee of the hope that the future will continue to reveal progress and even greater success in this all-important cause.

The reports of the higher institutions of learning which are supported by the State will be submitted to you by the State Superintendent of Education. These papers will command your interest and every one will show a satisfactory condition of affairs generally in these institutions. I do not believe it is necessary for me to go into details, especially as the reports, full and complete, will be before you.

At the South Carolina College the enrolment of students is larger, I believe, than ever before in its history. The new normal scholarships have been eargerly sought, they have been awarded to most worthy and deserving applicants, and it is clear that they have been strong factors in infusing new life and activity in this institution.

At the South Carolina Military Academy an increased attendance is shown. The efficiency of the graduates from this historic institution has won signal recognition from the War Department, and this is indeed a tribute to the worth and excellence of its management.

This is one of our oldest and most honored institutions of learning, with a career of valued and useful service to the State.

Clemson College continues to grow and flourish. Its capacity is taxed to the fullest extent to accommodate the cadets, and life and growth are everywhere in evidence. The agricultural scholarships, established at this College at the last session of the General Assembly, will attract many young men along the lines for which this institution was primarily established. The new Agricultural Hall, recently completed, is a valuable addition to its splendid equipment. Winthrop College, the only institution of learning which South Carolina supports exclusively for the education of women, has a career which fully justifies the distinction it enjoys. Since its establishment it has grown year by year in the hearts of our people, and has proven a potent and influential factor in developing education in our State. From its doors annually go forth young women who have received the most careful technical training as teachers, and the effect of the work of these trained and cultivated educators is in evidence in every county in South Carolina.

The South Carolina Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Blind, at Cedar Spring, submits a report which shows that this institution is keeping pace with our other educational interests. I availed myself of the privilege of visiting the school last year, and was pleased and gratified to see evidences of the remarkable work which is accomplished. There can be no substitute for the training, the system and the helpful influences which are here so skilfully combined; there can be no just and adequate estimate of the good which is revealed in the molding of useful lives.

The trustees of these institutions, with one exception, together with those of the Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical College, at Orangeburg—which, I am glad to say, is well managed, and is doing good work-all ask from you practically the same appropriations as were given last year. I earnestly recommend that these appropriations be made, and the good work done, with the results accomplished, make me regret that we cannot do

even more.

COMMON SCHOOLS.

In reference to the condition of the common schools of the State, I would respectfully refer you to the full and painstaking details which are presented in the report of our State Superintendent of Education. This report shows an increased attendance, and also shows that twenty districts at your last session secured the passage

of special acts to issue bonds for the purpose of building new schoolhouses. In this report is included the statement that a very large number of school districts have levied special taxes. It is gratifying to note that the school terms are gradually being increased, with larger salaries paid to teachers, which, in my opinion, is most necessary and important.

Superintendent Martin recommends that a certain per cent. of the school funds be set aside for the erection of school buildings by the county boards of education, and in this recommendation I heartily concur. A recommendation looking to an increase in the number of rural school libraries, and regulating their establishment, which recommendation also has my indorsement.

In my last message I called attention to the necessity for estabing, in our larger cities and towns, schools of manual training, in which boys might be taught honorable pursuits. I also urged the need for night schools, especially in mill communities. There is much need for these schools, and I again request you to give your careful attention to this subject.

In this connection I believe it would be an excellent plan to establish at Clemson, from the funds of the College, scholarships in the textile school for the benefit of young men from the cotton mills who seek technical training in this department.

SOUTH CAROLINA COLLEGE.

I take it for granted that the members of the General Assembly are aware of the fact that for some time an organized movement has been steadily in progress looking toward a change in the organization of this institution.

In consequence of this movement, application will be made to you. at this session to grant to the South Carolina College the title and charter of a State University. The Trustees, the Faculty, and the Alumni of the College believe the time has come for enlarging the sphere of usefulness of this venerable seat of learning. I heartily favor the proposed plan and think the time most propitious for this State to reestablish this College upon a University basis. The College has just celebrated its one hundredth anniversary and we have a right to believe that the adanced and progressive spirit of education now so apparent in our State is due, in a large measure, to the century of honored years which has marked the life and worth of this institution.

I shall not attempt to do more than to briefly direct your attention to some of the weighty reasons governing my recommendation in this matter. Almost every State in the Union has a State University, and this is true of every Southern State except South Carolina. We must provide such an institution sooner or later, or allow our educational system to remain incomplete. It is a fact that for the lack of such an institution a number of young men now go to other States for the instruction which should be furnished them at home. The demand for University facilities is further shown by the statement that a large number of the students of the College are now outside of the regular courses, and thus the faculty is forced by the actual demands of the students to do University work. A University organization would offer far greater facilities for expansion and growth, to keep pace with the rapid advance of education, and with the growing demands of the people. Such a change would give larger powers for service, with but small additional cost.

It is also the purpose of the Board of Trustees, in changing the organization of the College to that of a University, to increase the facilities for instruction in the Law Department; to add a Commercial Department, and to make such other additions as may be required.

To effect the necessary changes an additional appropriation of only $10,000 is asked for, and this is, I believe, a moderate amount when measured by the results it will accomplish. I urge this appropriation, and under the circumstances it should reasonably be hoped that the united appeal of the Alumni, the Faculty and the Trustees will receive the favorable consideration of your body.

COMPULSORY EDUCATION.

The people of this State have, for some years past, shown an increasing disposition to tax themselves for the support of their educational institutions. Especially is this true where our common schools are concerned. By this willingness is shown a growing realization of the fact that a State can do nothing better for the protection of its highest and truest interests than by educating its children. Ignorance has ever been, not only a serious incubus to any people, but a menace to its very civilization. This is truer today than it has ever been, and the question forces itself upon our consideration, whether or not we can afford to allow any number of our children to grow up in ignorance. As near as can be estimated from United States census figures and from the reports of the Super

intendent of Education, there are today about 25,000 white children in South Carolina between the ages of six and twelve years who do not attend school, though schools are easily accessible to most of these children. The question then, and a vital one it is, presents itself to us; can we, for the sake not only of the State, but for the sake of the children themselves, longer allow this deplorable condition to continue?

More than thirty States have adopted compulsory education, and we should now seriously consider whether we can longer afford to postpone taking such a step. Have our common school facilities reached such a point as will warrant this action? I believe they have, provided that the proposed law be not too burdensome in its practical operation. By this I mean that children should not be compelled to attend schools so far from their homes that attendance would be a hardship, nor should the age limit for compulsory education be too drastic. This would cause the law to become unpopular and thus fail to accomplish the purpose for which it was intended.

I have given this matter much careful thought and I am convinced that a conservative beginning should be made at once. Later on, as our school conditions advance and the law grows in popularity and its necessity is more fully realized, needed improvements can be adopted.

I recommend that you adopt a compulsory education law, making it obligatory for all children between the ages of eight and twelve years to attend school for a certain number of months during each year. The distance from the schoolhouse to which this law should apply is a matter for your wise consideration. But, gentlemen, a schoolhouse should be within the reach of every child in South Carolina. The passage of such a law as I most earnestly urge upon your attention would, I feel sure, be of material benefit from every standpoint. The duty to train and educate our children, to prepare them for lives of influence and usefulness, should be as binding upon the State as it is upon parents, and is, beyond all question, an obligation we can no longer afford to evade or postpone.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE AND

IMMIGRATION.

It is with a great deal of pleasure that I commend to your careful consideration the full and admirable report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, Commerce and Immigration. This report shows, beyond any question, the urgent need for such a department. Among