The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-05
DALLAS IS AMONG
 BEST ORGANIZED Sunday School Workersin That
 County Are Models
CONVENTION MEETS SOON
Carmichael Reports That Receipts From ConVicts From the Year Will Exceed the Estimates
 Already Made.

yember 10, 1t may not be out of place to mention some of the methods or organ ization used by some of the well organ ized counties of the state. These county Sunday school associations are all auxil- iary to the Alabama State Sunday School association, of which Judge Joseph Car thel of Montgomery is the general sec retary. They receive help from the state associations field workers at their county in turn they contribute anually to the state organization. The state association does not directly organize Sunday schools; it organizes county, district and beat associations, which in turn hold an- nual or quarterly conventions. discuss methods of work and create public senti- ment in favor of Sunday schools.
 Example in Dallas County.
 As an example of what is being done in some counties, facts about the Dallas county association, right in the heart of the black belt, may be given: This county association was first organized in 1894. Previous to that time the different Sunday schools had no means of coming into contact with each other or of learn ing from each other except incidentally organization, while in some degree help full to the Sunday schools, was not very active or aggressive in its methods; but about 1899 or 1900 the interest began to grow, and ever since then, through sev- eral changes of officers. the county as- out and endeavoring to extend and strengthen it's work.
 Previously the statistical reports sent in to the state association had been very fragmentary and incomplete but as the interest in the work increased the of ficers determined to send in an absolutely complete statistical report from every Sunday school in the county. After per- sistent eff5rt and much correspondence they succeeded in doing so, and the Dal- las county reports today rank as high as any at the office of the state associa- tion.
 Financial Problem.
 For many years the financial problem was a very troublesome one. and time after time the president or someone in- terested in the work had to advance half the amount of the state pledge. But in 1903 a large increase was made in the amount raised by the county association while in the year ending September l. 1904 the total amount raised was nearly three times that of any year except 1903. Few counties in the state can show such an increase as this, and no county is giving more to the state work, only one-Jef- | ferson-giving as much. The matter of l finances, as well as the general direction l of the work is in the hands of an exec utive committee, consisting of seven of l the leading business men of Selma-men whose business enterprise and conserva- tive methods give them high standing in the city. All denominations are, of course, represented on the committee.
 Much Labor Involved.
 Some idea of the labor involved in the carrying on of this work may be formed from the amount of correspondence. Dur ing the past year the secretary alone wrote between two and three thousand letters. while the other officers and heads of the different departments had also ar extensive correspondence. All this was entirely volunteer work, none of the officers receiving any compensation for it. Only the best quality of letter head and stationery is used by the officers of this organization. They say "A good bus mess deserves good advertising, and good stationery is one way of advertising"
 Ten leaflets on different phases of Sum day school work have been issued by the Dallas association during the past year. These are sent free to all Sunday school workers upon request of the secretary, Mr. G. F. Warner, of Selma.
 District Organization.
 u.t.o ,F ha otoftn during the past two or three years has been in the direction of district organiza- tion After the organizations of the dis trict associations within the county has been perfected they can then more eff fectively take up the matter of introduce ing improved Sunday school methods. Eff ficient presidents have been secured for each of the dist-icts, and during the past year a good convention was held in each.
 These were all thoroughly advertised and the results were shown in large att tendance. deep interest and enthusiasm. All but five of the Sunday schools of Dallas county were represented at one or more of these conventions, and while em- phasis has heen laid chiefly upon the mat ter of organization rather than methods, yet two schools have started home de- partments, three have started cradle rolls, one Teachers association has been
 
 separate primary departments have been arranged for during the past year. When the organization of the county and dis tricts has been perfected. more emphasis will be laid on the matter of adopting these modern methods of Sunday school work.
 Question Box.
 During the past year the Dallas county association has conducted a monthly "Question Box on Sunday school work in the columns of the county paper, in which [ iestions from Sunday school workers are answered, new methods de- scribed. and Sunday school news given. This is a novel feature. and one that perhaps no other county in the state has attempted
 As specimen of the thoroughness of their methods, it may be mentioned that in addition to the general statistics from each Sunday school, they have a com plete list of all the ministers, superlntend- ents and Sunday school teachers in Dal- las county. which is revised annually and thus kept up to date. This enables the county organization to keep in touch with each worker in ihe county, and whenever convention or other meeting is to be held in any locality. copies of the pro- gramme and other printed matters can be sent to each teacher in that district, and thus thoroughly advertise the meet ing.
 All this, however, is really only founda- tion work By the work of the past three or four years the county association has been put in such shape that the officers this year will be enabled to do active, az gressive work towards increasing the en- rollment of the Sunday schools and i'm proving the methods now ir use.