The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-08
SOUTHERN EDUCATION
DR '. L. N. CURRY ABLY DIs-
 CUssEs THE SUBJECT
"The White Mans Burden"-Shall r He Be Permitted to Bear It Alonee-Depressing Ante-
 Bellum Conditions.
Washington Correspondence New Or-
 leans Times Democrat. -.-

Washington Correspondence New Dr. leans Times Democrat. 4. .r. pr. J. l.. M. Curry, General Manager of the Peabody and of tho Slater eda- cational funds, has prepared an article l on What the South Has Done for the South.' regarding education. He says:
 Property in man is of immemoriai ex- istence. It has been recognized fin an- cient. mediaeval and modern law. stat | ute and organic. international, local, civil and Christian, by Protestant and Roman Catholic. In the evolution of civiliza- ton and Christianity, and growth of uni- versal brotherliness, this property in man
 as legal institution. as organized la bor, making time and physical powers. liberty of action, acquisition of separate | property, development of moral and in- of another. has fortunately and wisely been stricken from the law of nations, from public opinion in all countries called civilized. Among the best consequences | was the total and irevocable abolition of African. slavery in the Southern States. Conditions Before the War. Prior to that war. no public school sys- tenn for free and universal education ex- isted in the South. Whether right or wrong. no provision was made for negro instruction at public expense. Our pecu- liar social system forbade the general education of that class Obviously. that ble. Universities and colleges and acad- emies for white youth were as plentiful | as at the North, and the expense of sustaining them, the course of instruc- ton, the capacity of teachers, the, at tainments of students. were as high, in proportion to population, as at the North. In army, navy. law. medicine, diplomacy. statesmanship. pulpit. no one could fairly contend that the South was one whit in- ferior to our brethren in other parts of the country. Inadequate provision was l made for 'the poor of the white people,
 and the schools. for many reasons, failed l to reach the masses The war emancipated the negroes and | impoverished the South. The poverty, the hopelessness. the mortification of the defeated, was intensified by the cruelties,
 robberies, horrors of reconstruction. Bet | ter days have come. Alien and ignorant and corrupt rule has been superseded by
 the transfer of municipal and State gov ernments to those ito the manner born" !" | With what results? Gradual recovery of | former industrial conditions. hope talk ping the place of despair, national patri-
 otism revived and agriculture, mining. and banks are, under energy and faith, giving new aspect to affairs
 State and Federal Government ob- legations.
 Soon after Appomattox, despite the dark environments. some of us felt that ton to prosperity. to dignity, to a just of our lost prestige. to meeting our I'equal responsibilities as citizens. were contingent upon higher education and free schools for all the people: Every State now has State established, State supported schools for both races, with out legal discrimination as to benefits conferred. In the former slave-holding States, including the District of Colum- bla, of the number of children of school age, to IS. B per cent. are negroes. Of the enrolment in schools. about E tan nnf af hn Gsha rht Irap are found, and of the average daily at | tendance there are about 64 per cent of the enrolled colored children. The expen- allure for the education of negroes by the States, according to tables prepared by Inc Bureau of Education from 1870 to 1891. was over 00o,000. and the pro-
 gress of school expenditure. per capita, | from 49 cents in 1s70-T, was $2.N in | iS97-9s Of three school revenues paid by | taxation. the white people paid about $92 in every sl0o. The official assessments | in the States present these remarkable
 contrasts--two or three examples will | suffice Jn Georgia, in 1890. tho property | returns for whites were $S74035, 6a3; for | the colored. $14. 20. For the year end property of whites in North Carolina was $242. .3i2, 1oi, and of colored, s9,4O2,66a. For | the year 1899, assessment for whites in country parishes in Louisiana was $122,- New Orleans the white and colored as- | sessment rolls are not separated.
 Amount of taxes paid in Virginia in 1899:
 By white By colored citizens. citizens. On real estate. ..$, ,1365O4S2 s39, 7s3. 70 | Personal. .. .... ST4,I76,0o l0,433,S S9
 Total. O.. .. ..,...$1. .oio, ,2l.7s o.1s6.5s Assessed for taxes on real estate over
 800 in value; White, 95,662 persons; col
 ored. S.1H.
 1t is worthy of consideration that these 1 aVa at a hi ah cd i1N vy1ita a l legislators. eight-tenths of whom were
 Confederate soldiers or their descend
 ants. They have been administered and | continued, and are now supported. by white people under circumstances or con dit!ons of party antagonlsm which have sorely tried patience and patriotism. Nothing in tho history of modern civil lizatiou surpasses .his sublime self-de- nial.
 South's Care for the Negro. It is freely and gratefully conceded
 that prior to State action and since Northern religious societies and some libcrally for the education of the ne- groes. and mission history shows no ex- amples of conservation and devotion su- perior to that exhibited by teachers in the schools which owe their origin and support to these contributions. Valuable as has been this work. it Is insignificant in results compared with the needs of the black population. The education or
 
 dI tv; and no other instrumentality is ad equate, or can supersede, the obligation to make the property of citizens furnish proper instruction for the young.
 The vast amount of American chill dren will remain in remedless ignorance If education be not recognized as par amount duty of civil govern1Snts. When the negroes were suddenly. and without any preparation, made citizens and Vot- CTS, there was a resulting obligation on the part of the Federal Government to aid the States In removing and prevent ing illiteracy and the consequent peril to representative institutions The Con gross blindly and criminally turned deaf ear to the imperative duty. The Peabody education fund through com mitteo Of trustees-Messrs. stuart, Evarts and Waite-presented an elabor- ate and unanswerabIe memorial in behalf of the aid. The general agent twice pre- scented petitions and appeared before com mittees. Senator Blair and other mem- bers of Congress for several years press ed the matter upon the public mind and conscience, but all in vain. Since then, with profuse hand, the Congress has ap- propr!ated money and sent teachers to Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Phii- ipplnee, but in the Southern States the white mans burden has to be borne un- aided.
 Some of the Present Facts.
 In addition to the public schools nor mai schools. in whole or in part. for fitting negro teachers for their work, have been established, and are sus- tained mainly by the white people Tn Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro. lima, Georgia. Florida. Alabama, Missis- These do not include the noble instituA tions of Hampton and Tuskesee, which have been such unrivaled factors in ere ating a sounder sentiment in the south