The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-20

the country and of the most successful county town, and district systems IT the South proves conclusiveiy the nec' essity and the wisdom of competen supervision. without competent su' pervision and direction, no great busi' ness can succeed This business oi education is no exception to the rule Each county system Of school mus have competent head. 1t can rise nc higher than it's head. The supervision of the county system should pc q man trained to his work with ability tt make and execute plans for the i'm provement and training the public school teachers. to direct campaigns for education of public sentiment on educational questions and for the ad- vancement of public education along all needful lines, to advise. stimulate and properly direct school committed men and other school officers: he should be endowed with tact, wisdom. conn mon sense, character, grit, ability to get along with folks and to command the confidence of teachers, officers, children and patrons Tn a word, this man occupies the real strategic point in all this work of public education in the South today. He must be a many sided man, possessing not only profess
 
 leadership. The world is dif1cult enough and delicate enough. the re- sponsibiiity great enough and sacred enough to require the entire time, thought and energy of the most compe- tent man, the entire conservation of every faculty of his head and heart and body. You cannot command such a man for long without paying him a living salary. The average salary paid men for this work in the South Is less than $500 year.
 Longer School Terms.
 4. We cannot hope to give the great masses of our people more than the mere rudiments of learning in public schools continuing only about 99 days a year. We cannot hope to compete with other sections whose public schools are open to all their children from 150 to 1so days.
 $. Before there can be such classifica- tion and graduation of the work in the public schools as to make possible thorough and successful instruction n, even the primary and intermedfate branches, some means must be found to consolidate most of the little schools with one room and one teacher into larger schools with at least two rooms and two teachers. Investigation shows that the average teacher In the littlo one-room rural school must have from twenty to fifty recitations daily. The farce of this is manifest on its face. The advantages of fewer and larger schools resulting from consolidation are apparent. Among these may be mentioned CD More money for better houses and better teachers: (2) More teachers in one school, making possi- ble better gradation and classification. with fewer and larger classes for each teacher and more time for each class. making possible more thorough and more advanced instructions; (3) increase in enthusiasm. pride. and effort on ac- count of larger number of pupils and greater competition.
 Public High Schools.
 6. Another great need of the public school syse m of the South is the pub- lie high school. There are but few public high schools in the Southern States and nearly all of these are in the cities and towns. A public school system without public high schools Is sadly incomplete; in fact. like some magnificent structure with only the lower rooms complete. Such system of public school can never raise the great masses of men to any high plane of general intelligence or civic usefulness and power. It will do well if 1t raise them bare- ly above the plane of absolute illiteracy. These public high schools township, county and district, cannot be supplied without more money. The money spent on the rural public schools of the South Is insufficient to provide even five months of thorough element ary instruction. The money for public hfv1x rnIas ok A~ t4Aw elsewhere by State appropriation sup plemented by local taxation, county, township. or district.
 More Money by Local Taxation.
 Seventh.-We cannot hope to supply these needs of the public schools of the South and place these schools on Ap equal footing with the public schools of other lands and other sections without more money. Better houses. grounds and equipment, larger salaries and better teachers, longer terms and better super vision are not to be had without paying for them. There is but one, sensible and successful way of securing the nec- essary funds for any permanent public purpose and that Is public taxation. We have tried for more than a quarter of a century to supply these funds by general taxation, we have reached the limit of general State taxation for schools in almost every Southern State and we have failed. Other States in other sections and certain communities in the Southern States, that have suc- ceeded in raising the funds necessary for successful and complete system of public schools, have been compelled to supplement the general tax by a local tax. More than sixty-nine per cent of the funds for public schools in the Unit ed States is raised by local taxation. We are forced to the conclusion then that the South must adopt local taxation by counties, townships, or districts as the only means found effective elsewhere in supplying sufficient funds for suc- cessful public schools.
 Rich Heritage of UntaInted Blood.
 With this statement of the defects, needs, and remedies of our public school system. as we see them, we make our confident appeal. in the children's name, to the people of the South. Tn the un- mixed blood of your children. strangely protected in the past from taint of un- desired strains of foreign blood by the very isolation, pride. independence and Imputed provincialism of the South, you have the richest heritage that any people can have. Shall these children have a chance through the public schools to be all that they are capable of being and to do all that they are capable of doing7
 Equality of opportunity Is the only foundation on which true republic can safely rest. Equality of opportunity is an impossibility in the twentieth cen- tury without equality of opportunity for education. Equality of opportunity for education is an impossibility for all the people without properly equipped