The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-31
Letters te The Editor.
Dene lGueh lVeeded Legislation.
Andalusla, Ala, Jan. 2s, IyV.


 |. esns 1Eueh Needed Legislation.
 Andaiusia, Ala, Jan. 2s. 19S
 Rgitor The Advertiser.
 ss H ssn sstension ,s. to qns hsen pnsse nsse iected see- lone for the good of the com. mon schools of Alabama. During the last Iour years our schoois have been improv- sse tapUth of time. The legislators first | k.ucIyeee0 the approprtation and then de- mepoed hiUhsr standard of work. As a kreeNk pr thas our schools are doing much
 end gre ar aSare Ssrer ! csaNve of tho work done. This progress hea heon brought about by q practical | school man as State Superintendent. We ! soE hsvs snother practical teacher at the 10 the point If the State needs prac- ucai echcot man to superintend the scnooi4 Of the State and city, normal and | aericuhural schools need practical school men an supertntendents would 1t not be oetter Tor the schools if county superin- | tendenss were practical school men? Is not necessary for man to understand tne work which he superintends! A lar mer understands farming, mason ma sonfy and q merchont the mercantile nuaaness- But under our present laws in sons counttes the superintendents of our scn0oM are men who know absolutely nothing about the school work. men who 20 nothing except appoint township trus- tsee. approve contracts and pay of teach err. Under such supervision our schools cannot prosper as they should. It seems to ne that the once of county superin- tendent is . very important one. Is it not the most important county off1ce? In some counties is 1t not the least remuner- auve? Bills are being introduced in the present. Legislature to increase the sal aries of Governor, clerks in the different omces etc. One bill to raise salaries of clerks to .500. Is not the office of county euperintendent of much more importance? e4oo Our last Legislature appropriated large sums of money to the Girls Indus trial School and State Normal schools. Nov the first appropria ations are to these saMs schools. Is 1t not of more impor- dietFicts than the favored few that can attend these schools? Then why not give more money to lay the foundation well ny mcre.sing the salary of county super the place? In all counties are men well qualiaed to flii the office of county su- perintendent, but the pay will not induce them to gye their attention to the work. l hope no one will understand me to say that all of our county superintendents are unfttted for the place. for this is not the situation at all. It Is only few counties that suffer.
 uation and needs of some counties in this line am sure they will give the much needed legislation. Offer the county su- perfntendent enough to induce competent mand of him his thiusht. energy and time. Let us have men who can inject new life Into our country schools. grade them If necessary and help to teach by visiting the schools and giving new and modern ideas and methods to those of our teachers who pass the examination but don't know how to teach. Yours truly, W. L. Yarbrough.
 The Negro and His Country.
 Louisville courier-Journal.
 A mass meeting of the negroes. held un- der the auspices of the Afro-American League. which has been in session in Washington, was opened with the sing ing of the hymn My Country. 'Tts of shouted tSe orator sSa of the s svenng as he began the speech in which he called on his hearers to seize the torch and sword and spread waste, blood and desolation through the South. Why do you sing that songY You have no country!
 In the midst of the busy West Indian waters there lies an island which the ne- gro may claim as, in the fullest sense, his country. Hayti is exclusively black mans land. In the eastern half of it proportion of mulattoes mingle with the blacks, but in the populous territory of Hayti proper there are fuil-blooded Af- ricans alone. The white man nowhere ex-
 
 large as Massachusetts, with Connecu- |ctft thrown in. It has a population of nearly two miihons-an excess over that Of, Cuba. It Is by nature one of the most marvelously favored spots on the face of the globe It has been under negro domi- nation for almost a century-it was just ninety nine yers ago that the independ- ence of the black nation was declared, after the inhuman butchery of the French popula ton. It is fair to ask what the negro has made of his country.
 So sinister has been It's reputation that the island is shunned by the ships of the nations. and its interiC. lt'least has re- mained for many years unvisited by white men, though from time to time reports of hideous conditions to which the people have sunk have reached civilization correspondents have penetrated into the heart of the island and have come back with a complete picture of the most de- graded, the most abject and contemplate human spectacle which the sun has ever looked down upon in any land pretending to civiliSation-a state of society appall- ing in its wretchedness. an offense to the conscience of the world, and an af- front to every instinct of deceney and order.
 It Is not merely . case of country without a mile of railroad. or even of highway over which wheels may pass; nor of harbors filled with filth. rotting wharves, roofless warehouses, abandon ed plantations and the encroachng jun gie nor of mere squalid, groveling. hope less poverty; nor of imbecile governments occasionally emerging out of normal an- archy. It is a case of national atavism far on the way to primitive African sav- agery, characterized by serpent worship. the sacrifice of children, cannibalism and kindred abominations.
 It Is with no exultation, but with pro- found regret, that the horror of the fall ure of the experiment of negro govern ment is contemplated. But when a black man. living in the enjoyment of the right of property and citizenship, in the midst of an orderly society. rejoicing in the opportunities for education. the exercise of religion. rational pleasures and all the manifold advantages secured to him under this government-whens such man in his folly. because he and his friends are not given offices enough to please them cries out "We have no coutry." 1t is expedi- ent to remind him from the example of Hayti that in the sense in which he means it, he is happy in having none. A Matter of Taste.