The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-09-04

| mln1On. She mas always DeSll ~
of foresighted educational leduel .
Long ago Jefferson broke the Sro ,Il !;
"A system of general lnstfuculoli,
| said he, (which shall reach every de-
scription of our citizens from the IlCLi
est to the poorest as II was lilI
earliest. so it will be the latest OF ali
public concerns in when slldii Pc
nit myself to take an interest. 9eu'u
Henry A. Wise in 1856: IF / had an
archangel's trumpet. the plasI oI
| which would startle the living Oh an
the world, | would snatch 1t at inns
| noment and sound it in the ears or all
| the people of the State Whlcn nave d
| solitary, poor, unWaShed ana ullcul-
tured child, untaught at q Tree School
| Tax Yourselves first, to pay the pun
! lie debt: second, to educate your chill
| dren-every child of them-at com
mon, primary, free schools at STATE
| charge. OF William Henry Ru11nef
| frst SUPERINTENDENT of public instruc-
ton. it has been said, IN the remark
able list of Virginia'S great and nom
ored citizens, no one has done more
for her enrichment, in all that is
valuable" And this is the land of
Washington and Henry, of Lee ana
Page! These men were to Virginia
what Murphy and Wiley were to
North Carolina. They prepared the
soil for the harvest of today. The
Virginia harvest, like ours, has been
local taxation. consolidation of school
districts and an improved attitude Of
! the whites toward negro education.
| In Virginia too, the question most be-
fore the people is universal education;
IL this question alone they show tire
mendous interest This enthusiasm
| is not froth and foam. 1t has made
itself felt most potently in the new
constitution. Among the essentials
for good schools are local taxation,
trained teachers and expert supervl-
| sion. For all these the new constitu-
! ton makes ample provision The
campaign, then, has been Waged there
with telling effect. Virginia, too, has
her Educational Governor. The
trumpet for which Governor Wise so
devoutly wished has been found: the
blasts have been heard: the unWash-
ed child has become the States ward
| From far-aWay Louisiana comes a
familiar North Carolina voice. The
words parishes Mississippi Lou
siana State University sound strange
and unfamiliar from those lips: we
/ seem to expect to hear counties,
Cape Fear" UNIVERSITY of North
/ Carolina" and surely these words
would adjust themselves better to his
vocal organs. But strange to say alb
sence from his native heath has not
! made DR.. Alderman any less interest
! ing and we turn with pleasure to his
report. We naturally expect some
| thing interesting and instructive. The
people of Louisiana are ready =
! for large action" he says. Their
! leaders are enthusiastic and dead in
| earnest. All the evidences of re-
yiVal of educational interest are plen-
| tiful in Louisiana. Summer schools
! flourish, small districts are being con-
! I'll B.,ss Il
! til soil, educational meetings have
! thrown political conventions in the
shade, the State officers, following the
! leadership of the Governor, have
closed up shop and gone campaign
| ing not for office, but for schools.
| Business men, lawyers, teachers doc
| tors, preachers-all follow suit. The
state will be covered in the next three
! months" said DIR. Alderman. This
was in April. BY now, doubtless, the
state is ready for her second coating
| Nineteen hundred people attended the
thfst meeting. NEARLY everybody
| present" signed petition praying for
/ the privilege of leyying on their prop
erty a three-mill tax for schools The
| results have been commensurate With
the effort. In As of the SIS parishes
III the State, 81 new school houses of
| "modern and effective type" have been
| built: in TO parishes $50 houses have
| been repaired In p parishes local
taxation has increased the school
| fund by SIS, 1000; in IA parishes the
! increase by appropriations from parish
/ police juries has been $37,8000. The
/ Legislature has increased the fund
| by $128,000, and this does not include
the city of New Orleans. The total
| increase has been 100000. 1.-THE last
1 word | have to say to this Conference
! said DIR. Alderman, lis, therefore, a
| distinct word of hope for the future
and of praise for the citizens of
| Louisiana, from Governor Heard to
1.-The simplest man among them. Their
| response to our invitation to take part
| i'll this struggle is of such a charac-
! ter as to remove any doubt in my mind
I of the ultimate result. The popula-
| ton of this region is not taX-hating
population. The press of the State,
rural and urban, is behind this move
ment. The whole region is feeling
| the breath of the West and the spirit
of illimitable growth and opportunity
everywhere entering the consciousness
| of the Southern people"
DIR. Alderman also reports educa-
tional activity in Arkansas and in
| Mississippi In the former State the
| salary of the superintendent of public
| instruction has recently been increas-
ed so that now it is second only to
the Governors among the State Of
ticers. This distinctly points 10 the
larger things held within the grasp of
the future. In Mississippi genuine
progress is reported. During the
| summer of 1903 a popular educational
campaign was conducted there. The
results We're gratifying. Eleven out of
| A counties Signified their desire 10 in
crease the school tax. Within the
past two years the average term of
| the rural schools has jumped from 6
| to months. This great work has
| everywhere met with such astonishing
| popularity and success that one Won
ders that the selfshness of aspirants
for public favor has left it 50 long
asleep.
No detailed report of the work in
South Carolina was read. But. DR..
Charles D. McIVer, who has done some
work there, reported that everything
is ready for the great work to go on.
The soil has been prepared and there
only remains to SOW the seed. AL
ready South Carolina is ahead Of most
of the Southern States i'll the practice
of local taxation. There are over 200
local tax districts in the State.
In Georgia, although the willing
ness and the earnestness of the people
is not S11rnaCSpd nv that in, lpxz of tho