The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-21
DUEo EDuIAliUN TAI?
PAPER BY PRESIDENT CHARLES
 ". DADMHY.
A World Wide Law That the Pro-
 duction of . People is m Proportion to Their Education.
By Charles W. Dabney. President of
 the IIniYeraitY of Francesca.

I century was the extension or the penc- its or education to the masses of the people. lts chef lesson was taat eau oatIon increases the wealth. proaucing power of people Tn alrect proportion ! lo it's oistrlpution anu tnorouknness- | The relarions between euucativn anu productivity are so well understooa now that you can measure the wealth. l producing power ot the a peopie py hle | school pllslieses wnicn t.Aey nave eh- | joyeo. statistics snow, Tor sAampie, | laat the power or the peopie ot the uiL- | lerent states 70 earn nAoIiey is m direct | proportion to the iengtn Of the peri0u InaL the average ciuxen of each State ] uas aIlenoed seaooi
 40 illustrate. the average school per- | iod In leso-ss of eacn lnnaDitant oI the united states was 4.A years; or Aassa : | cnuseIts. ( years; of Tennessee. a nttie | less than 5 years. The annual proouc- | ton per capita of the people of tne
 United States in the year lovv was less l than $30 year, or 1v cents day, counting 3su working days in the year, l for each man, woman and child: by isoo the production had increased to nearly $Y2 a year, or 50 cents day; ana Iii Ioy9 1t was $l1O a year, or o5 cents d day. The production or Massachusetts in 1899 was $z00 for "a ;h man, woman and cnilu. or DO 6.cents oay. The most favorable figures make the total an- nual production of the people of Ten nessee in 1858 less than xllb year. or SS cents a day. for each fnhabitant. or what the average of the country vas in 1860.
 Another way to express it is 10 say that the average family of five m Ten nessee must live on $bs0 a year. count ing everything produced on the farm and in the home. as well as sales and money wages; while the same family in Massachusetts has $f. 300 year to spend, and the average family of the United States has $S50.
 Put these facts together and we at once see their tremendous significance. The proportion between the school per iod in Massachusetts. the school period in the whole United States. and the school period in Tennessee is expressed by the figures IA, S.S. and 6. The pro- portion between the productive capac- ity of each person in Massachusetts, fin the whole United States and in Tennessee Is expressed by the figures IS. S.5 ane 5.S. This is a practically constant ratio.
 Education is as 14 in Massachusetts to s.S in the United States to In Ten- neSsee.
 Production is as 13 in Massachusetts to S5 in United States to 5.S in Ten nessee.
 This is not a mere coincidence in the case of Massachusetts. the united States, and Tennessee: 1t Is the law the world over. The productivity of a peo- pie Is everywhere proportional 10 their -education-to their intellectual, rhysi- cal and moral training. It Is not the natural resources. the climate, the soils, rand the minerals;'it Is not even the race, much as these things count In production; but 1t is education which above everything else determines the wealth-earning power of people.
 The population of Massachusetts IS 2.S05. .346; of Tennessee is 2,020,6l They have the same aumber of children to educate. The enrolment and the aver age daily attendance of their pubic schools in 19Ss-99 were as follows:
 Enrollment--Massach 4n,sH; Tennessee. 49s.S45. Average attendance
 Massachusetts, 360,S17; Tennessee, 352,734.
 Massachusetts taught school 1sS days in the year, and her enrolled pupils at- tended an average of 143.b days. Ten nessee taught school only S9 days, and her enrolled pupils attended only 62.S days.
 Massachusetts expended for all pur- poses on her public schools in lSSS-Ss, SIS. ,S3S, which was SSS.55 per pupil. and $5.07 per capita of her population. Tennessee expended for her public schools in the same year S,62S.313. which is $.62 per capita, and only 83 cents per capita of population. The average expenditure for all the States of the Union is $19 per pupil, and y2b1 per capita of the population of the en- tire country.
 The power. of education in production may be presented again in this con- crete way: si -,-.
 Massachusetts spent in 1S9S-99 $l2.- 261 ,525 more upon her public schools than Tennessee. But see what re- turn she gets. Each one of the 2,SO5, SA0 citizens of observation-disclosures, women and, ,infants-has. as we have said, a productive capacity of $26O year, against $170 a year for the average in- habitant of the whole United States. and $116 a year for the average inhabi- tant of Tennessee. The inhabitant of Massachusetts has thus an excess of $sO a year over the average inhabitant of the United States, and $144 a year over the average inhabltant of Tennessee. This means that the people of Massa- chusetts earned in that year $262,4S7, ,l4O more than the same Huiuucf OL dNcIdbc people of the United States. and $4o3,- | Y69,S S24 more than the same number of people in Tennessee. Twelve million | dollars invested in superior. education | yield 400 millions year.
 If the people of the South would com l pete in production with those of other | States and of the wofld-and they must | uo so whether they will or not--they | must educate all their children, and not | only their white children, but their | black; and they must educate them all, l not poorly for few months in the | year and a few years in their lives. | but thoroughly through long series Of wears. If history teaches us anything | 1t is the solidarity of all mankind, | that mo man liveth unto himself" and | and no man dieth unto himself" but | that each is his "brothpr's keeper"
 Our great resources In the South. cli- | mate. soils, and minerals, are useless l in the hands of an untrained people. | Moreover. If we do not educate our own | people to use these resources intelli- | gently. the trained men of other States | will come in and do so and make us | the hewers of wood and drawers of | water" in their Industries.
 The Ratio of Education to Produc-
 tion.
 Massachuset setts-Education, 14; pro-
 United States-Education, SS; pro- duction, S.5.
 Education. 6; production. 5.S.