The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-11
ALAlBAMA'S ILLITERATES.

ALABAMA'S ILLITERATES.
 The Birmingham Age Herald devotes itself to abuse and islander of the Con- stitutional Convention. and placarding | of Alabama as the most illiterate State in the Union. Day in and day out, with out any Justification therefor. it charges that the Convention is con- trolled by a Black Belt clique" A more baseless statement was never put in print. The delegates from the Black Belt divide on questions just as do those from other sections of the State and as do those from The Age-Her- aids own county. The members from attention to the proceedings. The rec ord discloses the fact that they are as liberal in all matters pertaining to ed- ucation and the public schools as any delegates in the Convention.
 All of the interest in public schools Is not centered in The Age Herald. There are other people just as much in terested in that matter as the conduc- tors of that paper, only they have bet ter judgment and know better what the State can and cannot do.
 The Advertiser few days ago stated in effect that the time would never come in Alabama or anywhere else. no matter how large the appropriations, when there would not be some igno- rance. unless a compulsory educational system was established. That did not mean that.The Advertiser favored com- pulsory education. but was simple statement of & fact proven by the eA- perience of all enlighted communities. We print what The Age-Herald has to say in order that our readers may see what ridiculous positions it has to as- sume. It holds out the local taxation idea as the panacea, yet if every beat in Alabama had the right of unlimited taxation of its citizens there would still be some who would not take ad- vantage of the opportunities afforded.
 The world knows that not one of thousand of the negroes in Alabama prior to 1868 could either read or write and that fact alone runs up Alabama's illiterate rate to .33 per cent. If The Age-Herald was anxious to put, Ala bama in the proper light before the world it would not continually seek to make 1t appear that the heavy Hit crate rate applied to white and black alike. The per cent of white illiteracy in Alabama is 14 and that is not all due to lack of opportunity to learn, but rather to dIsinclination on the part of those whose duty it was to send their children to school. There are some old white people, of course. who were so unfortunate as not to enjoy opportuni- ty of learning when they were young. but for the last twenty years there has been opportunity for every white child in Alabama to attend school long enough to learn how to read and write and the fact that there is IA per cent of white illterates, only emphasizes The Advertisers contention that ex- cept upon a compulsory basis. there will always be some illiterates. no matter how large the appropriations. The Birmingham Ledger prints the fol- lowing which is commended to the careful consideration of The Age Her aid:
 There are many negroes in Birmingham who are past the school age. They will show up in the census illterates. Now, will any amount of appropriation for schools or school houses affect these grown negroes in the census returns? There is a vast amount of immature thought expressed on this educational clause and some of 1t comes from educ,t | tors. The idea that more schools will at once reduce the census figures on i'll ter | acy is absurd. With tLese negr )as ra- ture and uneducated in the State schools cannot affect the census. There are a!so | some uneducated white people past the | school age. and that is the cold :aH.
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 It would be great relief-a filling of a long felt want-if The Advertiser would give the names of the nine newspaper men who voted in favor If disIoYaty to Party pledges.-Selma Times.
 The Secretary who called the roll did not keep the sheet on which the vote on the Press resolutions was recorded, and therefore it is impossible to give the names of all those who voted. The Advertiser. however, can recall nine of those who voted for the resolutions, viz: The Greenville Advocate, The Clarke County Democrat, The Mobile Register. The Alabama Baptist, The Tuskegee News. The Pratt City Herald, The Montgomery Advertiser, The Mon tevallo Sentinel and The Wetumpka Herald. The actual vote was 19 for and Il against, and of the latter, one l was a Populist, one not a newspaper | at all but publisher of patent outsides, | and two not strictly Democratic pa- pers, but organs of labor organizations. |
 The expression ''disloyalty to party | pledges" is a mere catch phrase and is in no manner expressive of the spirit | or letter of the resolutions adopted. which were in these words:
 Resolved. That the Alabama Press As Bociauon endorses the position of Presi- l