The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1889-01-21
TIE PUBLIC SCHOOLS or MISSLS,
SIPPL

we'll wordcd and pointed paragraph in the
columns of The Ncriian Ac@, and we at
once made n place for il in our columns;
The three Suites which border on Mississippi,
Alabama, Louisiana ana Tennessee, have an ny
I rrcgatc Indebtedness Of sl0OO.G)O, averaging over
sl3OlOOoO whilo Mississippi hns practically no debt
1 AZ ALL II Mississippi would add the same sums
paid by the other state, In interest 10 her school
/ fund. this state would have the finest school sys.
TEN In the South, aud superior to many Of the
| State, Of the Norlh.
Sympdthzing with The Nc,win the broad
public spirit that dictated these lines, THE
APPEAL made haste to indorsc them in tho
following paragraph:
There is no denying the truth or force Of
! this. A well managed system Of public
schools running six months Of each year
would be a better advertisement than Mis-
aissippi could otherwise make with which to
attract immigrants A healthy public school
system would soon create healthy broad
and liberal public opinion that would not
| tolerate mob law or the yillainous and in.
famous convict lcnsc system.
The Aoy, seeing this kindly meant in.
dorsement, took umbrage at II because OF
It's reference to the Infamous and murder
Gus convict lease system and rcjoincd with
column or more OF yaryingly moOdish
matter from which we extract the follow.
ing
There is nothing In the N1a paragraph In draw
D g
/ since rnr Arrr,L Thought 10 worth while 10 aI.
/ ply Il 10 HAT much ycNci question, with which a
number Of States ARE now wrestling among which
| L. thc State of Tennessee II wuuli have been io
TN AurAL's ndllulhr, tiit hld giyUuu little moro
/ Thought o. thg public school question. liit Ind 10
would not have fallen into the gruyous error II did
iu the irv lncl VI comment which area given hoo iull
/ uUuyc. ~ the writer hld Within hi, Uuph recent
/ ,ppy of tbu statistical Abstract" issued from the
| Treasury department. be- would hn,, found thai
] lhc "uNurry duration oi the public schools ul
Mississippi for tho }r1r 1854 a, wa. ltO day which
/ b equivalent iu eight school months. uuI that
Mi,i sIpm expended 70 .ur ever, person uu the
siHtr Included in tbp school age, he would have
Misc learned that Tennessee IN the same ycnf "a.
pended 60 ~ per head Tor the same purpose The
dumion ~ 1cuncsccs public schools Tor that
year vu. only eighty dnys.
Conscious Of the short.comng, Of our
own state, OF It's deficiencies in educational
facilities aud Of the enormous mountain Of
iIlltcmcy that still dsgracos it, aud hay-
ing also some knowledge Of the sad cond.
ton OF things ~ TO schools in Mississippi,
We were stricken with amazcmonl To learn
that the average annual duration OF the
public schools Of that State was 1870 days
ia lNSi-Ni, rs ~, Ncir states, according to
"a recent copy Of the Statistical Abstract
issued from the Treasury Department" We
ut once had reference 10 the entirely safe
and reliable statistics Of the Commissioners
of Education oi the United States aud from
10 found that We wcro justified In making
the suggestion contained In our paragraph
aud M. A1u was wrong in IT, reading oi
the Treasury statistics, or the Treasury
stntls,ician did not know what be- was
doing whcnhc made the figures upon which
Ihs MT,iion Nur dwrlswith w triumph.
ant an MIR. beginning with the report oi the
Commissioner Of Education Tor 1873 We
end that thc average duration " lhr pub.
Dee schools OF Mississippi Tor the year be-
iorc was Tor city school, 2ul days In the
year anal ior country schools Ion. In 1879
tine city schools Tell 10 l75 duy, aud the
country 90 sl. m 1870 the rily advanced
'gaiu Ia 2oO, but the country icll TO IL:
in Is" the city irIl To l5l day-
AMI tho country advanced 10 7o.a.
IN 1875 the city advanced 10 Ia
DAYS aud the country icll to 7L5. In
1870 the average duration Of uc city
schools fell 20 5'.b, there bciur no report
from the country schools IN 1850 the city
schools advanced 10 las days and the
county schools reported rs. In 1891 the
country schools failed to report again, hut
lhc city schools reported il7 days as their
duration ior the year IN 1852 tLc cts
schools reported i5l DAYS, aud the coun.
icy 81. Tor 1854 90 We have no reports.
hu, from thr statistics OF 1857, furnished
hy the National bureau OF Education f1r
Itf Nor i0rt lloifs Alnuulc Of 1855
Uc loln That lhr average duration Of The
city schools II Mi,s..spri acrc lja daya
and Of the country school. IS DAYS twill
thus be .ccn that Iir N1r either leaned
on broken REED when II trusted AMI
placed implicit ulianc, on lhc statistics OF
tho Treasury department Ia q matter that
has NO relation o. that department Of
the Government or else that 10 rcai
the statistic, wrong ruE Arrr,L
therefore feels fully justified In repeating
tha, Tho State of Mississippi Nasio make
adequate provision ilr keeping iu public
schools oprn for .iy months Ut every year
30 would thus pvt out an advertisement
that would be- more seductive 10 n,cl,i.
gyni immigrants than anything else that
could be- thought ol or done by her poo.
| pie ~ government
rrriprSr ll,rrrv called At TuE AZ
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