Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-07-14
WHITE iLLlTERAcY in SOUTH.

The Boston Transcript-There was
something almost pathetic In the ad-
dress recently made at st. Louis by
Mr.. Phillips, superintendent OF the
schools at Birmingham. Ala. 1t was
frank Acknowledgement of the deplor-
able deficiencies of white education in
the south, in proof of which he cited
the statistical fact that while the
southern states have only "a per cent
of the total white population of the
United States, they have 81 per cent
of the white illiterates over 10 years
of age in the country" This is fore.
ible statement of the pressing need in
that section OF which comparatively
few of the north have been aware.
Yet the white people of the south are
of purer American stock. take them as
whole, than they are In any other
portion Of the country.
They had lacked the educational
momentum. up to the time of the civil
war. that had produced such general
enlightenment In the north. Under thei
semifeudal conditions that had pre-
vailed. the educated people were those
OF class, and comparatively small !
class. To educate the people as a |
whole was a new idea, and 1t requiredi
some time to familiarize them with it. /
Even then, the general poverty was an
obstacle to the accomplishment Of the !,
object. The old way of living was not |
suited to the convenient establishment
Of public schools, and new condittonsi
had to be created. Some progress has
been made: yet Mr.. Phillips compare !
son is not story Of long ago. but OF
today. 1t Is the situation as 1t att
present stands that calls for the help
ing hand.
This is one of the southern problems,
or one-half Of a great problem. The
education of the blacks Is the other
J., 49, Il t51~ VI ,t&l
Is the more important. Assistance for
either race or for both races is no mis-
taken philanthropy. But this one thing
Is true, that whatever tends to elevate
one race will help to elevate the other.
There is doubtless an intimate rela-
ton between the savagery that has
characterized the treatment of the
negro in many portions of the south
and the wide prevalence of illiteracy.
There are sections where white people
know nothing of their standing in pub
lie opinion beyond their own immedi-
ate environment, and that opinion, of
course, they largely create themselves.
They are out of touch with the broad
err life of their time. They are semi
barbarians in an enlightened country.
because the schoolmaster has not been
among them.
If effective educational forces could
be put in general operation there
| among the whites, we believe the re-
suits would be highly gratifying They
have proved so, certainly, among the
whites Of the mountain regions. Lin
coin university and Berea college are
object lessons that carry large meas
ure of encouragement for the extern
i sion of such facilities. The people of
the mountains are a.,more virile sort
1 perhaps, than they ofssthe pla ANS hui bH
the latter are by no means beyond the
reach of enlightening and redemptive
influences. The most valuable, thing
about business development In the
south is that educational institutions
must follow In its wake, a,2d at
means deeper sense Of resv5nsibj v
among whites and blacks, not d
with respect to their own individual.
interest, but to those of one another as
well.