The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-28

in normal school. and that only S6 per cent of its teachers were graduates of
 normal schools in Massachusetts or else- where.
 Should be Strengthened. "1f the general education board. the | Peabody board and the Slater board and
 similar philanthropic educational agencies | wish to do the greatest service to pub | lie schools in the south, I believe that
 1t would pay them to adopt some system of donation by which the county super
 intendents would be strengthened. Some wise soldier has said. that an army of
 stags led by a Hon would accomplish
 more than an army of lions led by stag
 ."If we could have ten county superin- tendents in each southern state, equal in : culture and power to the best city and state superintendents and with such com pensaton as would permit them to de- vote their entire attention to leading the people and instructing the teachers of ! both races in teachers institutes or teach CTS schools, they would not only revo- | lutionize the schools of the counties they serve, but the example of these coun- ties would influence every other com
 munity in each state Such superintend-
 ents cannot be secured with the present
 salaries offered by the legally constituted authorities.
 Educational Meetings.
 During the year just closed l have
 attended four important conferences. The l first in Atlanta, Ga, participated in by ! teachers representing the different edu- | cational institution and other citizens like Hon. Hoke Smith, Bishop Chandler ex- Governor Northern and Governor Terrell. The second conference was at Columbia, s. C., which was attended by the rep | t1 It, both states an executive committee was appointed to take charge of the educa- tional campaign. In South Carolina this commit tee consisted of Governor Hey ward, State Superintendent O. B. Mar tin, and President D. B. Johnson of the Winthrop Normal and Industrial college, This committee has carried on an active
 campaign for school improvement local taxation and the establishment of lib- rares. During the year South Carolina, which already had more than two hundred local tax towns and districts, increased this number by forty-three and developed
 much activity in the direction of school
 improvement, libraries, and consolidation. Tn Georgia at present the hands of the people are tied so far as voting a local tax is concerned by clause in the constitution, making it necessary 10 secure the approbation of two grand juries before an election for a special SCHOOL ldN cun De 1elu, anu then IL Gdn be carried only by two-thirds of the reg
 istered vote. The last Georgia legislature submitted to the people an amendment to the constitution making 1t easy to call an election without the consent of
 the grand jury, and after the adoption of this amendment an election can be carried by two-thirds of the votes cast, which is an easier proposition than majority of the registered vote. The cam paign committee in Georgia of which Chancellor Hill Is chairman and State School Commissioner Merritt is manager
 and MT Hoke Smith. Bishop Chandler and Superintendent Duggan and ex-Governor Northern are the other members, is mak- ing a campaign among the people and in the newspapers which 1t Is believed will guarantee the adoption of the con- stitutional amendment, and will at the ! same time have the people in fit mood to
 adopt local taxation by counties as well
 as by school districts.
 Good Investment.
 "I have kept in constant communication with the managers of these two cam
 paigns, and I believe that all the money used there has been well invested and that it will bring forth good fruit. South
 Carolina well as Georgia is preparing to have some changes in it's local tax law, but 1 do not think it will need a constitutional amendment before nov | ing forward rapidly.
 "The other two conferences to which I | referred were held in North Carolina l one at Greensboro of prominent North Carolina women interested in our cam
 paign for the improvement of public school houses, and the other for the lead
 ing teachers of the colored race, at
 Raleigh.
 Since at different times during this conference you will hear from representa- t1Ves of the Campaign fri faa in
 sia and South Carolina, l will not make more elaborate report for these states.
 Educational Statistics.
 :" In my report to the conference a
 year ago at Richmond occurs the fol- lowing paragraph: Our able state su- perintendent of public instruction Hon.
 J. '. Joyner, has furnished me with statistics recently secured from most of the counties showing that in those coun-
 ties there are now 79 towns and cities
 and rural communities that have spec
 ial local school tax, that elections are pending in 45 districts, and that in nearly
 100 other communities the question of a local school tax is being considered and
 agitated with probable elections soon' TO make comparison the number of local tax districts is now 194 instead of 79 making an increase of 1l5 during the
 year. or nearly 150 per cent. This shows that the local tax advocates won their 
 fight in nearly all of the 45 districts
 where elections were pending year ago
 and in four-fifths of the one hundred other districts where agitation had then begun. Moreover, there are as many cleo tions pending now as there were a year
 ago, and there is agitation for elections
 in as many new districts now as then. Rural Libraries.
 "The total number of rural libraries in North Carolina established since our
 educational campaign began is 800. The aggregate number of volumes in these libraries is about 60,000.
 During the past two years local tax
 has been voted in 40 districts, about 12G0 unnecessary small districts have been
 consolidated and Ssi new school houses have been built. The scchool funds have been increased and school terms length >%%Ae-~>~->>~<-s<
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