The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-11

ment into municipal affairs, in protection of the rights of the people against quasi public corporations, in the use of expert Knowledge and skill in public works, In the subjec ection of the administrative or ganization of the general, municipal and local governments to tle rational rules of civil service, in not granting street railways valuable franchises without con- sideration, nor allowing them to capital ize the value of public franchises so as to compel the public, as Is customary in the United States, to pay tribute to pri- vate capitalists upon ten or fifty times the sum that they have originally ad- vanced.
 While in such matters as these, public and private rights and interests are bet ter safeguarded in Germany than in the United States" the introduction of Ger many has been to commend to our peo- pie and legislators her worthy example in providing for universal education and giving to the son of the poorest man as good a chance as the rich mans son, or, as President Eliot phrases 1t, "accessi- bility of appropriate opportunity" to all men to become all that they can become. In universities. in gymnasiums. in indus we may profitably learn lessons from her and quickly copy her example. The teaching Is generally superior 10 what is found In our colleges and schools. The more professional and thorough in their work, and careful scrutiny is made into character, scholarship, training and ex- perience of teachers. Generally, they must be certiflcated, not by blanket certificate, covering years and all branch es but as showing special examinations and fitness. a requirement. the absence or which or an equivalent makes teaching In some institutions. whose catalogues are is often said that pupil in German school will learn as much In two years as a pupil in an American school in three
 years, and the difference, in so far as 1t exists, is due to the superior QuaInca- uons of trained teachers
 Sometimes, our pessmists excuse the iIiiteracy which so deploraby exists on
 the ground that 1t is impossible 10 g"t rid of it. Bavaria returns as illiterate
 not per cent. of her entire population. Twenty years ago one person out of every fifty-nine In German army and
 navy could not read and write: ten years
 ago, there was one in every III, and in
 1898, out of 250, ,000 only 200 could not read and write, or one In 1,250 had not been to school. Experience in peace and in
 war has taught Germany not to grudge expenditures for schools. Why should
 German and Massachusetts and Connecti- cut youth have better advantages ard Irivileges than boy or girl in Alabama!
 Mayor Low in his recent message takes the ground that the schools Of New fori7 City have the very first claim upon the resources of the city and he well says:
 Tt is idle to improve the material con- diticns of the city If it Is to be done at the expense of leaving many thousands of its children in ignorance during the hest wears of their school life. It makes compars lively little difference to the city, as to most public improvements.
 whether they are secured q year or two earlier or a year or two later; but two or three years taken out of the school life of a child affect his own well being and his value as a citizen as long as Le lives"
 Germany. in the last years. has made
 great progress Tn commerce, In aRricul lure. in manufactures, in general indus whole population. She steadily becomes richer not in a few colossal fortunes but by diffusion of property. She has made the largest contribution to the pop uIation of the United States and the immigrants are the best educated and the most thrifty. What Alabama and the South imperatively need is the incorpor- alton of industrial training as a neces-
 sary and compulsory part of the regular pone to the indefinite future what has | been so successfully and profitably tried elsewhere is beyond my comprehension. l The object is to familiarize with the use | of tools and material, to instruct in the principles of manual work. to cultivate l what Is neglected in the ordinary mental courses, to give a scientific instruction | not ordinarily obtained in the worshop l 'to lead away from the tyranny of rou- | tine" to increase the economic value of | labor. and products, to add to the use 1 fitness of the pupil and the wealth of | the country. Professor Carver. of Tus- kegee Institute, in a late magazine ar | ticle, shows the profit of book-farming. or scientific agriculture. and how the