The age-herald., 1901-07-22

would bring the matter of schools home to the white people who would take more interest and pride in local school which they helped support than under the pres ent pain where the money comes from the State and county fund and is contributed by people al lover the State. he build ing and support of schools all over the State by these school districts would, they claim, stop the rush from the coun- try to the cities where better schools now exist. and would thus keep up the civili- zation of the county districts and the calue of country property.
 Holding Down the Convention.
 The convention is an exceedingly diffi-
 cult body for a presiding officer to hold
 down. It Is chock full of parliamentari-
 ans and points of order are as numerous
 as flies over a molasses jug. Every dele
 gate, also, is a law unto himself. No
 great leader has appeared in the conven-
 ton and every delegate thinks he knows
 as much about how things ought to be
 run as his neighbor - probably little
 more. At times the convention is exceed
 ingly noisy and hard to hold down. Presi-
 dent Knox has proved himself a good
 presiding officer. This ability to hold a
 large body is probably a knack like every
 thing else. It Is not every man who has
 muscle who makes good driver. For instance, General Harrison of Lee, who is one of the ablest men in the conven- tion, when he was presiding Friday af- ternocn in some way let the convention slip away from him, with the. result that there was great confusion, and out of this confusion and an effort to change the Journal arose the momentary misunder- standing between President Knox and Governor Jones. Governor Jones, by the
 way, has the reputation of being an able and impartial presiding officer and good parliamentarian. He has not presided at any time over the present convention, due doubtless to the fact that he Is on crutches and has difficulty in getting about President Knox frequently leaves the chair temporarily, and when he does so always calls on some member to pre- side Some make better presiding officers than others who are of equal ability in other ways. They have the knack of the thing and can feel the pulse of the house better. One of the best in the convention is pr. Cunningham of Jefferson. He is al-
 ways courteous and makes an excellent
 presiding officer It may be because he is a physician that he can feel better than others the conventions pulse, but wheth-
 CT that is the case of not, he presides well.
 The State Capital.
 Some farmer was kicking the other day because he had to work twelve hours a day, a large part of the time following the blow under broiling sun when the
 thermometer was above hundred, though not quite in the thousands, while the members of the convention, he said, were only working two hours day un- der electric fans. The farmer was mis- taken about the length of time the con- vention works, but was right about the electric fans There are ten of them in the convention hall, which makes 1t the coolest place in Montgomery. Many of the delegates who do not spend Sunday at home come up to the hall to keep
 cool. If 1t were not for these fans the
 
 too small for the convention and the
 delegates are uncomfortably crowded to-
 gether and the one little table set apart for the representatives of the press is so crowded that they can hardly write. If Alabama continues to grow it will not he long before new capitol will be nec- essary or the present one have to be en- larged. Governor Oates introduced an or | dinance some time ago to provide Tor is- | suing bonds to enlarge the capitol ana buy up the remaining portion of the cap- itol square, but it was defeated. The capitol building is shabby, dilapidated' | dirty and a disgrace to the state The | officials probably do the best they can
 with the appropriation, but if the state
 won't make a sufficient appropriation to put the capitol in first class repair it
 ought at least to buy a large supply Of | sapolio and have 1t cleaned.