The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-20

school In the South is destined to ac- complish for local self-government what the meeting house did in New Eng land. The school district must become the key to local self-government in the rural communities of Alabama.
 Obstacles to Education.
 Many people imagine that an effi- cient State school system is merely Q question of money, no matter how the money Is obtained. This is a grave mistake. Money is necessary, but it makes a great deal of difference in the interest and sympathy of the patrons of the schools, if they are individually responsible. In many communities of the State the public schools are still referred to contemptuously as free schools and charity schools and pauper schools. How can 1t be otherwise when the State forces public school of equal duration upon all communities alike. whether they want it. or not ? How can 1t be otherwise when the people of the community contribute nothing directly to the maintenance of their school. but consider their per capita school fund as stipend gra- ciously bestowed by liberal Leglsla- ture? It Is not money alone that our schools need, but with 1t they need local sympathy, local responsibility and local pride. The results of the pres ent school fund in Alabama would be more thar doubled, in my judgment. If at least one-fourth of it were raised by local taxation, voted by the people themselves. School efficiency demands that maintenance and responsibility shall not be separated.
 The greatest obstacle to educational progress in Alabama today is not pow erty, but State absolutism. and the tyranny of the representative system over democracy. We need stronger and more abiding faith in the people. The restoration of sovereignty to the people in the control of purely local affairs will result. in a more economic, efficient and intelligent administration of government: it will promote thrift and intelligence in the real source of power; 1t will multiply the productive power of the masses; 1t will check the growing evils of our representative system by the development of popular government and popular responsibility.
 Address by Mr. Cory.
 Mir. Chappell Cory of Montgomery also spoke on this subject. MT. Cory said that every State in the United States has local taxation laws for
  cal taxation, he said, is the best Mir. Cory said that one dollar spent by schools raised in their township is worth g which they get from Mont gomery. the Capital. MT. Cory thought this problem was one to be fought out among the local people. He said that If we took the drllest beat in this State, where the people stagger, are careless, haven't any school, don't want any school, and should the question of local taxation be thrown at them, they will wake up long enough to say mo.
 In Ala bama, said MT. Cory, the popu- lation is half-black and half white. That which suits the white county don't suit the black county, and what suits the black don't suit the white. Local taxation should have been applied some time ago. The white man failed of his opportunity. The black county would not have it because 1t did not want to pay for negro education. The white county would not have it because 1t got money from the State in proportion to the population. The white people get out more than they put in.
 In the law, the white people got In a phrase which they call equitable. It Is a naught is a naught. a figure is a figure, all for the white man and none for the negro. But they give the ne- gro some.
 Mir. Cary said the people of Alabama are more deeply interested in the ques- tion of schools than they are in negro suffrage. When the election was held for the holding of the Constitutional Convention, forty thousand white per- sons voted. If 1t had been question affecting the common schools, he pre- dicted that nearly 100000 would have voted. Mir Cory said that it was bare ly possible that we may get out of the Constitutional Convention the 10 cents offered by the Committee on Taxation, which is better than we now have.
 MT. O. T. Smith, principal of the Goodwater High School, also spoke on the question. He said that if we gave the children of this State fortune without education, he thought they would soon sink into the tomb of ob- livion, perhaps ruin. Give them educa- ton and they will accumulate fortune. He extolled in eloquent language the great good accomplished by education. 1t Is cheap at any cost. He thought it a mistake for the people to look to the State mainly for funds They should rather look to themselves. Local tax ation has a tendency toward self-de- velopment. Education means increas- ed intelligence, greater patriotism and the right of local government, which was the principle for which the South fought.
 J. K. Powers, President of the State University, said that in the Eastern States public education did not begin with the State funds, but began with the community. Vermont derives all of its school revenues from local tax ation, not one dollar is directly appro- priated by the State.
 Prof A. G. Seay of Sylacauga, also discussed the question.
 pr. R. M. Cunningham of the Com mittee on Taxation of the Constitu- tional Convention also spoke in regard to the subject under discussion. He said that he believed that the duties and responsibilities of citizenship can only be properly appreciated by him who exercises it and the more he ex- ercises it the more deeply interested he becomes.
 He seid that the people were afraid of the taxation power and the taxation power was afraid of the people. He said that the men in the Constitutional Convention were not enemies of taxa tion. He believed that they would do all they could to relieve and improve the schools. Mir. Cunningham said that as a member of the Constitutional he was opposed to unlimit- ed taxation. There should be q limit to all things except bliss.
 Hon. Cecil Browne, Chairman of the | Paxation Committee also smoke to the |