Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-15


had its effect said Dr.. Rawls. where
upon there was a clapping Of hands ap-
plauding the determined stand he had
taken at a critical juncture.
Superintendent Willis, OF Elizabeth
City, attributed the healthy school SEN
.timent In his county to fine board OF
trustees and a corps Of exc !lent women
engaged as teachers III the ffty-six
schools a salaries ranging from SIS down.
The average length Of the school term
is fraction over seven months. Good"
CALCULATED DR.. Buttrick, as mr.. Willis
concluded.
Mr.. Frank West, of Louisa, asked for a
definition Of the term 'local taxation, =
which ELECTED an explanatory statement
from DR.. Buttrick, who also added this
interesting paragraph:
'"rhere seems to be an impression that
somewhere in the caves-the caves Of the
wind, maybe-there Is a vast sum Of
money to be used to duplicate any sum
raised by local taxation. The General
Education Board has never dreamed Of
making, such an offer. It couldn't. It
So1l1 e1lCO
the vast capital Stock Of the Steel Corpo-
ration would not be Sufficient to duplicate
the sum that could be raised by local
taxation Fight here in your State Of Viz
ginia.''
The reports of superin tendents then pro-
ceeded. One superint endent made the
point that only the weather. counties
had been heard from, and expressed the
wish that representatives Of the poorer
counties would tell Of the conditions In
their respective localities.
Campaign of Facts.
The subject OF a campaign Of education
was preached by several Of the speakers.
This suggested to DR.. Buttrick the emil
nent qualifications Of DR.. Charles r. Nc
liver, Of North Carolina, whom he declared
to be the shrewdest can1paigner he had
ever seen. He told Of a recent Campaign
of facts which DR.. McIver waged Iii
the interest OF local txation in North
Carolina locality. "a campaign OF facts.
and not Of sentiment declared DR.. But
trick, will greatly advance. the cause Of
education in Virginia. He advocated
such q campaign.
+ Superintendent West, Of Norfolk county,
hoped that the Legislature would aseer-
tain lie sentiment Of this conference to
NY AZ Lev VI VI 81 oiiI1AS, pow Cl tiG SOaIi-
ty and district authorities to levy such
taxes as the needs or the schools might
! require.
Mr.. West, of Louisa; contrasted the pow
erty Of his county with the prosperity Of
those which had been heard from. The
...'black belt'' complicated the school prob
lem there The negroes outnumber the
whites. Discussing local taxation he said
the supervisors took this ground that
the benefits of increased taxation would
go to the negroes rather than to the
whites and. therefore. refused to show
iberality in the fixing of the tax rat e.
How are we to reach and benefit the
few white people?' asked Mr.. West, as
he sat down.
It was at this juncture that Mr. But
trick made another significant remark:
!" 1t, is just such counties as yours (mo-
ttoning to Mr.. West)s that the General
Education Board is disposed to help
He asked how many such counties
there We're in the State. to which Mr..
West replied: about 20 per cent, or
twenty Counties
Superintendent Dickinson, Of Cumber-
land jumped to the front and made re-
port for his county, which. he said, was
considerably blacker than Louisa. Only
Nottoway was in Cumberland's class The
county tax is known as the teachers
building tax. Neither tax could be ap-
piled for the purposes of the other, The
whites, one-fourth Of the population. paid
J six-sevenths Of the total tax rate for all
purposes. The colored tax amounts to
5000, the white to $4,000. The population
is only about 9,G0u, and. as said, ,one-
fourth only are white.
Plan to Call 1t Local Taxes.
Mr.. Washington wanted the conference
to get down to business; to formulate a
plan for the collection OF local taxation
The new Constitution permits distribution
: Of the district school funds as the local
school authorities think best. All can
SO to the negro. or all to the white. or
be divided between the races at any ratio
determined upon. The tax levying power,
he commended. is in the hands Of the board
of supervisors. but 1t is an open question
whether the county board must first in
struct the supervisors to make the levy.
1t was; suggested by Superintendent
Lynch. OF Frederick. that q committee be
named BY the chair to draft a resolution
memorializing the Legislature to show the
limit Of liberality, under the new Com
stitution, In regulating the levy Of all
taxes for school purposes
This suggestion was afterwards made
In the form Of a resolution, which was
warmly advocated by Messrs- Watson
and Dobie. both Of whom recognized the
present as period Of crisis, which AFFORD
ed this conference an opportunity to be-;
come potent in the adoption Of policies
affecting the schools Of the State.
&. llr. West offered the following as a.
subs titate for Mr.. Lynch's resolution:
Resolved, That AVE., the county and
city superint dents, pledge ourselves to
do everything in DUR power to raise the
local taxation to the fun amount allowed
by the new Constitution.
z That we r1ehnorialize the General;
Assembly to make suhlcient appropriation.
for State school purposes e
Mr. West withdrew his 1abstitute q
few minutes later, when Secretary Brent
announced the receipt Of informa ton from
the General Assembly that the Education
alt Committee would be pleased to- hear
from the superintende nts,s conference to-
day NIL Brent con tinning, advocated the
Lynch resolution. which was adopted
una tiTnously &
81 Ghairnan southall appointed "a the
comm tteeS A1essrs ylach chairman. ]:
e5tss