The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-25
WHERE PHILANTHROPY WILL
 PAY BIG DIVIDENDS.

l In a lecture at Milwaukee Professor
 o. A. Hillyers, of Atlanta, made the statement that negroes in the south | have twice the educational facilities the 1 whites have This utterance will likely
 cause wide comment and may attract ] attention to a condition of affairs that 1 is probably unknown to the people of l New England and the rich states of the | north. Professor Hillyers statement is a, little too strong, but 1t has enough truth in it to command attention. Since the civil war the white people of the south have been carrying a heavy burden When the surrender came at Appomattox it found them stripped of their property and even the labor that had titled their fields. Instead of being their aid and support, the millions of negroes became an industrial and edu- cational burden laid on shoulders al- ready weighted down. To this was added reconstruction, with its robbery and extravaganza, condition that did not build up. but tore down what little was left of the educational structure. At least one state university was sup podted by a substantial income from state lands set apart for an educational fund, and this was stolen by the carpet baggers and their ignorant negro allies The university was closed, and since it's reopening has had to be supported by annual appropriations, as it has no en- dowment fund. Most of the southern colleges and schools for men and women were closed by the war. and the states had to build up an almost entirely new educational system.
 In addition to educating their own children, the whites had to share the pittance of their poverty with millions of negroes whose instruction had to be begun at the alphabet. Under the con- etitution adopted the blacks shared alike in all the provisions for public ed ucation, while the whites paid practi- cally all the expenses. For, after generation of aid, encouragement and instruction, the negroes pay such @ small proportion of the property taxes that it can hardly be considered, and in many states 80 per cent. of them dodge the poll taxes.
 The southern states are sparsely pop ulated, and in order to have the schools
 
 must be many more school districts and buildings In proportion to population than in more thickly settled districts Owing to the racial conditions there must be a separate school in each dis trict and separate teachers for each race, and this nultiplies the number of schools and teachers. Only al certain amount of money is available from ta x- ation, and when this is divided between the races it leaves only small sum for each school, and this is. in most cases, not sufficient to erect good buildings or secure competent teachers. There is no compulsory educational law, and the pupils have the right to attend or stay at home, as they please.
 In comparison with the north, the south is poor, and 1t is only in recent years that it has enjoyed prosperity. The people have not had millions to poud out for education or for any other And yet they have hHd before them the most serious educational pro- blem in the country. M
 From the hour the negroes were freed a steady stream of generosity has been poured on them by wealthy north erners. Large colleges were erected at many points in the south that, with handsome buildings and ample endoW ment, offered the negro an education al- most for the taking. Millions have been donated for the education of the freedmen and every opportunity and encouragement has been given them This is to be commended, and the osuthern white people were glad to see the establishment of these institutions.
 At the same time their own schools and colleges were struggling along, able to exist only through the self-sacrifice of devoted educators who gave their lives to the service. With one excep- tion, hardly single large donation has been made by a northern philanthropist to a college for whites in the south, while many millions have been given to negro schools, colleges, hospitals and |
 It is a fact that negro can go to col lege and secure an education in the south at far less cost than can white | boy. It is fact that a colored girl can | 20 through college with inconsderable | expense while white girls must practi- l oally pay the expense or malntalneng l the institution they attend.
 The white colleges in the south are ] loing a great work for a comparatively | small sum- and nowhere else is such ex- ,ellent work being done on such small l appropriations and endoWments. They | ire maintaining high standard of in ,truction, and are turning out thou ands of useful and able men. But they Ire crippled for the lack of funds, and he work could be vastly extended for lot very large amount of money
 The southern whites are paying prac- ieally all the expenses of the common cbools for their own children and for he negro children. The schools are yet ar from what they should be, but thety re fast improving. There is deep, in ellIgent, public interest in education, nd the abest men in the section are evoting themselves to bettering the ed- cational conditions for both races.
 They have not appealed for help from ther sections, because they bear their