The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-27

the ringing of silver bells at evening comes the hopeful harmony that shall make the yoke of service easy and the burden of effort light as we help fellow Americans to the liberty that Is the child of knowledge.
 While the conference is exceedingly simple, it's membership voluntary and unconditional. it's policy broad and liberal it should, because of its pow erful influence. be considered very se- riousiy. In a very actual sense 1t is Q dynamo and storage battery, unseen but potent. imparting power to many offlcjaf, institutional and individual agencies that working in sympathy and harmony are creating greater edu- caticnal light with the people at large and generally improved educa- Honal conditions.
 Quite appropriate 1t Is to notice that this conference is very strong because of it's very slight constitutional basis. and extremely simple official life. Tru. ly of 1t may be said. 'the letter killeth but the spirit maketh alive" With no creed but that of social service. with no condition of fellowship save that 'twhosoever will be chief among you. let him be your servant" with no small detail to distract from devotion to an object so evidently grand as to require uO dEH umCut tO dAty ho0tC kthAh1t As9 simplicity is wisdom, its weakness. strength. While I make explanatory statements as to the rationale of tho conference make no argument for its right to exist. Such argument would but feed wilfuily blind preju- dice and thus would defeat Itself. The question is frequently asked Why should there be a conference for education in the souths" It is as- sumed that the absence of sectional educational organizations in the East, North or West implies that this one In the South Is superfuous. It Is an open question. not germane to our present purpose. whether the country would not be helped by other confer encns similar In character to this. De- tailed discussion, past and to come based on ascertained and proven facts, indicates a very special and unique de- mand for this conference.
 Credit for the original suggestion that created the conference belongs to New England clergyman. the inspi- | ration came from the Lake Mohonk Indian conference. The quick approv- al, cordial response and personal CO., operation from many Southern states- men. clergymen and educators is spon. taneous evidence that the demand had basis in fact.
 The Right Reverend Thomas U. Dud- | ley. the Protestant Episcopal bishop of l Kentucky. was the first president. and | the Honorable J. L. M. Curry, of Ala bama. was his successor. The Honora- ble William L. Wilson, president. and members of the faculty of Washing ton and Lee University; professors from the University of Virginia. rep- resentatives from various institutions for both races, principally in Virginia | and North Carolina, with a few North ern friends, made up the earlier mem | bership. The executive work needed ! for tho creation of the conferenc was performed by Dr. Frissell but 1t Is quite likely that its survival of the Capon Springs period was entirely due I to the earnestness, frankness. compre- | hensive grasp of conditions. and mas- terful presentation of facts by Doctor Curry and President W. L. wilson. A few of the hearers were so deeply im- | pressed that when the crisis of chang | ed conditions appeared 1t was resolved l by certain persons that the conference must live--and it has lived, without the | aid of an incubator. ,-
 1 From these great leaders our earlier lessons were learned. They were men of plain speech. We would hardly dare | follow in their train with description l VI ilttLGEdCys LnS AtIIittCQ IdClllIl6S TOT | popular education, the education apa- thy of a large portion of the people. the small public resources and the con- | sequent intellectual decline. Equally frank were they in stating the causes | of the conditions-slavery, the pover- ! ty resulting from the sacrifices of war, the disintegration consequent upon res Iconstruction measures which General
 Armstrong has epitomiEed as bridge
 of wood over river of fre," the ex-
 acting demands of economic reorgani-
 zation, the universal strain of labor for livelihood: the various questions presented by the presence of two races
 under peculiar conditions, strangely
 separated but curiously united in the
 same civilization.
 The emphatic statements in the first lconvocations of conditions and causes
 lead clearly to the conclusion that this l conference for education wa sealed
 Into existence by the needs of 6 situa- | tion peculiar to the South.
 Dudley, Wilson and Curry no longer
 appear in the metings of the Conference
 We reverently pronounce their names ir
 minor key as we take up the move.
 ment to the measured echo of their for
 ward march. Our lines of inspiration
 run backward to these men. The vitality
 of their testimony inspires further In
 vestigation and the accumulation of facts l develops a field so broad and a need sC
 great that we may respectfully question
 whether they ever comprehend the i'm.
 menBe proportions of the case now be.
 ing so rapidly revealed.
 The conditions of education in thS
 South have furnished a field for interest l ing study to many educators. The dis
 cussions of this Conference and the ad
 ministration of the two Boards have
 evolved spirit of investigation. Great
 service has been rendered not only by
 the secretaries and some members of the
 Boards. but also by presidents and pro
 fessors In the Universities, by Governors
 and educational executives in various
 States The great original sources of in.
 formation are the United States census
 and the report of the United States
 Bureau of Education. But the knowl.
 edge derived from these great store.
 houses of statistics is made luminous
 popular and instructive, through the
 painstaking work of the aforesaid train.
 ed observers whose artistic faculties oi
 analysis and combination transmute dry
 facts into living pictures. artists whose
 arithmetical pigments are wrought into
 compositions that touch the heart strings
 of all who love the land we live in and
 the children who are the makers of l future America.
 The results of such study demonstrate
 again that this Conference for Education Is concrete response to an existing need | of the South. But more than this
 familiarity with the facts cannot fail to I prove the right of the Conference to an
 ever growing abundant life.
 The claim that although this organlza-