The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-07-20
PROF. THACH SPEAKS Of NEED
OF SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION

- - - ~
.Ses.essesesseessesss<sseSzssSs=essssk
1 go).. -. -. ......$125,0 900
Cornell :. ...... 6s0'zlo
| Lehigh (Penn).. -. 10000
| Massachusetts Insti-
| tute of Technology 37.576
Michigan Agricultural
College. -. 10000
Purdue tInd.) ...... 16S,@7 6s,l50
| Ohio University and
Polytechnic 1nsd-s-~
tpte -. -. -. !. 2ssoO6 17e,O5s
| Stevens Institute of
Technology. $4,000
With such a disparity of income the
technical college of Alabama is sadly
handicapped. and will perforce be reie-
gated to an Inferior position. Perhaps
TO some Its income may seem already
large. But let us not set up picayunts'h
| penurious standard. Mediate upon the
| figures that are given--they are Official.
| and their full significance should appeal
| to every citizen of the State who has
an enlightened interest in her progress
and development. . !
A Textile schod.
| In order to stfll further Accumulate the
| urgent need of liberal state aid to the
] instituts at Auburn. I cite you the par
/ ticular instance of our needs of a textile
department. The question of establish
| ing textile department in connection
with our college has been long discussed
the following figures relating thereto have
been obtained: %
Cost of Textile School.
First-Cost of buildings. Mississippi. Ss2,S
SEQ; Georgia. $4,000; South Carolina, $l6,%
900; North Carolina, $4,000.
Second-Cost or entire equipment, Mis-
sissippi $4,000; Georgia, $4,000: South
Carolina, $4,000.
Third-Anrual cost of instruction. Mis-
sissippi $4,000; Georgia, $4,000; South,
CAROLINA. $5.752 -
Fourth-Annual cost Of supplies, MissIs-
sippi. 5000: Georgia. $500; South Carolina,
5000
Fifth-Number of professors and assis-
tants. Mississippi, 6; Georgia, s; South
Carolina, l.
Sixth-Pe-centage of students electing
textile course. Mississippi IS; Georgia, 25;
South Carolina, Is.
At the last session of the legislature a
bill was introduced looking to the practi-
cal fulfillment of our desires for the
establishment of a first-class textile
school The effort, however, proved I'M
successful
Now, vital question of the develop
shall continue to lag behind in this res
pect, or whether the organized business
| interests of the Commonwealth will see
that the matter Is carried to a successful
| issue.
hold in my hand a cut of the splendid
building of the Mississippi A. and NJ
College. Here also are specimens of
| the handiwork of the students of that
institution, in textile work. One pound
81 - n.
3 cents and comes out worth 10; another
pound comes out worth %: another 49,:
another 50; and stiH another a dollar and
| thirteen cents. Whence the difference in
/ value? The gross material in each case
/ is the samoa pound Of lint cotton, the
| Joint product. as a rule. of the negro
| and the mule4-of unframed, lnsIsilled
muscular force. Whereas in the f1nish-
| ed product we have skilled labor, highly
scientific technical knowledge, complex
machinery, chemistry, mechanics, artIs-
| tic taste.
| Roughly estimating the cotton crop Of
Alabama at $50 100000 per annum. 10y the
Transforming touch of those qualities that
/ I have enumerated. this value could lie
easily tripled, or uuadrupled to the enor-
nous sum Of $l50.000, 900 or $500. ,OON. The
/ quickening touch of this great industry
| has already been felt Throughout the
| State. The latest census shows the i'm
mense strides made by the State of Ala
bamao in the cotton industry. Our per-
centage of increase in looms and spiu.Iles
| being among the foremost in the Union.
| Huntsville Florence. Gadsden, t3irmlng-
ham. Talladega, Admission. Opellka. Mont
| gomery. Selma. Uniontown. Eufaula ard
| many other Alabama towns have felt the
| Tivifying influence of this new stream of
industrial life. Larger population, higher
| wages. increased purchasing power of
operatives, a higher standard of life. let
4 Tier school facilities, and a general rplft
| in the community life are some of the
results. It does seem that an enliShtcn-
| ed seIffshness, business sense view of
-the interest of the State, would demand
/ that every feasible and reasonable EFFORT
| be put forth by our making mower
| for the upbuilding and developing Of this
! great wealth-producing industry.
Nearly all, If not all. of the srrerin-
4. tendents. managers. and bosses vt the
mills in Alabama have been educated In
| their profession beyond the borders of
| our State. The knowledge and still of
\ our native born men are altogether en-
pirIcal and have been acquired from the
most expensive of neutrality-suspicious.
| The President of this Association has been
forced to send his two sons from the
Alabama Polytechnic Institute to re-
mote State where the cotton plant does
! net even grow in order to learn the
science and art of the great textile in
dustry 1t is truly a reflection upon our
| State that of the wide stretch Of ter
ritory including North Carolina, South
| Carolina. Georgia. and Mississippi, Ala
| bania alone has no textile school.
Of the great work done in technolo-
| gical and Industrial training for women
at the school at Mentevallo' / have not
time to speak. l conf1ne my discussion
entirely to the industrial training of boys.
Trade Schools.
(2). OF the second, or tfade-scRoo1 type
| of archaeological education, IT will be
| necessary to speak hut briefly, AS a rule,
there is no need for the specific trade,
schools in Alabama, or,fora that matter,
in the South. The conditions that call for
them do not exist In fact, the strictly
| trade school idea the caste school. the
school for the common people, is of Euro
pean origin and is strongly repugnant to
| the American idea that every man Is
| citizen. and that every American boy has
the glorious brthright to an open career