The age-herald., 1898-04-06
MT. Turner's Pamphlet,

N''sf'''~ss
 The Age-Herald has received a copy of a pamphlet issued by the department of edu- cation in defense of the school system of the state. As matter of fact every state ment of The Age-Herald in relation to the common schools of the state is fully sub stantiated in this pamphlet. The illiteracy in the state is shown by the pamphlet to be exceeded in the states of South Carolina and Louisiana and the territory of New Mexico only. South Carolina has largely increased her school appropriations, and the Louisiana constitutional convention is considering provisions that will soon carry neck-and-neck race between the Greasers of New Mexico and the good people of Ala bama for bottom place.
 MT. Turner explains the states percent age of illiteracy when he shows each states provision for taxation for school purposes. He does not hesitate to say that an exami- nation of the provisions of the differ5n mt states shows beyond all reasonable doubt 
 the states" He shows that Mississipprs appropriations for school purposes is $1, ,O9s.- 756, although she has fewer school children than Alabama has. Arkansas appropria- ton is $963, ,354, and the numberof her school children is fully 20 per cent. smaller than Alabama's The appropriation in this state for the year ending September 30, 1897, was s603 3,S72. Tt cannot be successfully said that our state," says MT. Turner Is up to the full measure of her duty" Farther on he publishes an appeal of his own to the people of the state to see that sufficient money is appropriated to run the schools at least five or six months in the year in order that "the 600 900 children in Alabama. 250,00) of whom are illiterate, may be on a par with the children of other states in the great race of life.'
 In only one respect Is the pamphlet de- ficient The number of common schools in the state is given. but the nature of those schools is not given. That they are not public schools in any proper sense of the word, is not stated. But the facts can be gathered from it here and there. ''The state," says MT. Turner. makes no appro- priation for school buildings or school sup plies." In another place the average length of the school session is shown to have a very close relation>to the percent age of illiteracy. The length of the session in Alabama is given as eighty-one days, as compared with 127 days in Mississippi, and 11e days in Arkansas. South Carolina is preparing to lengthen her school year. and soon the shortest school year in the union will be either North Carolina's or Ala bama's.
 All these facts and many more are frankly stated in Mir Turner's pamphlet. It Is an exceedingly interesting and valua- ble pamphlet. and it should be fin the hands of every citizen of the state.
 The plain truth is, Mir. Turner should in nowise beblamed for the low condition of educational affairs in the state. Nor can the blame be shifted upon the teachers of the state, nor upon the county superinten- dents. The blame rests solely and wholly upon the people of the state. The system they have adopted is crude and faulty; the money they appropriate each year is glar- ingly inadequate. When they go to the primaries and to the polls, they. and they alone, become responsible for all of the state's educational shortcomings. It is they. and they alone who doom thousands of the bright-eyed boys and girls of the state to ignorance and inequality. The re- sponsibility cannot be- shifted. It remains upon the people. and MT. Turner convinc- ingIy shows how sadly they are dealing with their own children.