The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-28
PROMINENT EDUCATORS DELIVER ABLE AND
 TELLING ADDRESSES
(contInued from First Paoe.)

ton because I wanted the cause of local taxation to become strong enough to have other stronger influences in our public life to seek an alliance with 1t, and strong enough too to make its enemies prefer not to encounter It openly at least
 Tt has been the plan of our campaign i in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to prevent so far as possible any friction between the state and the de- nominational colleges so that every teacher and every partisan of all our in- stitutions might have a good opportunity to become q strong and. habitual defend- CT of local taxation for rural schools
 Press is Friendly.
 Along with local taxation wherever it has been adopted has come a number of good things chief among them being the invariable tendency to school consolida- tion and the building of better and larger houses.
 The press. as a rule, is friendly and is glad to announce every improvement In schools One advantage of constant campaign running through the entire year is the effect upon leaders of thought. who frequently are really watchers of the press and hasten to lead enthusiastic ally in whatever direction they see pub lie opinion moving
 Tn 1880 there were four local tax dis tricts in North Carolina. In 1890 there were nine. In 1900 there were nineteen. and at the end of 1901 when the present systematic campaign was begun there were fifty-six. Today there are 195 with the probability of more than one hum l dred elections, representing every section of the state to be held before September We have lost only about 20 elections dur Ing tn past two years.
 fxs s,,4,
 necton that in 1897 every school district In North Carolina voted upon the ques- tlon or local taxation, and out of the thir- teen hundred townships only twelve voted faVora bly, This was due to several causes but one of the chief causes was that the teachers had no campaign fund and the question could not be discussed before the people.
 T have prepared a local tax map of North Carolina which tells interestingly the story of great struggle against worth Carolina's two ancient enemies | llhteracy and hostility to taxation, and shows how thoroughly the thought of the whole state must have been touched py the l70 elections held, and how that no sectioh or the state has entirely escaped
 Greatest Activity.
 It IS well to note, however that the greatest activity has been in Guilford Mecklenburg and Henderson counties where the general education board and the cities of Greensboro and Charlotte agreed to donate $2O0O0 as a leverage to promote local taxation in the rural dis trlcts of those counties The only coun- " that rivals these is Dare, in the ex- treme eastern portion of the state, whose activity can be accounted for by the ex- cellence and energy of it's county super lntendent, and from the further fact that Tn lS9f 1t established three local tax dis tricts The object lesson has had it's ef- feet and borne it's natural fruit.
 "Almance county where there have been about ten favorable elections Is the pioneer cotton mill county of North Car ollna, and It has had for a long time one of the best educated men In the state as 1 Its county superintendent.
 The value of an able county superin- tendent Is we'll illustrated in Guilford county. On July the most. active friends of education there. being exceedingly de- | sirous that the sS0O0 raised by citizens of Greensboro and the general education board as bonus to stimulate local tax alton, should be wisely invested, cooper ated with the county board of education to secure a well-trained supervisor of teachers. MT. Thomas A. Sharpe, a na- i've Of Meeklenburg county, N. C.. and once principal of the Goldsboro, N c. public high school and until recently su- perintendent of the Darlington S. c. pub llc schools, was called from the latter po- sltion to become superintendent of schools or Guilford county. He is trained train- CT of teachers, and is a strong, tactful advocate of local taxation. Since his term Of service began July l, the annual pub lie school fund of Guiford county has been increased by local taxation more than 5000. His salary is S1600 q year. believe that the increase in the annual school fund of Guilford county by taxa ton will soon be equal to the entire amount contributed as a donation by the general education board and the citizens of Greensboro. Twelve school districts in Guilford county have local tax elections now pending.
 Good State Leadership.
 ''In North Carolina, as in other states we have good state leadership and are developing local leader ship. The man in the strategic place for educational advancement in the south is the county superintendent. For years to come the teachers of our rural schools must receive their training and inspira- tion from him.. and he must also be leader of the people in securing local tax alton. Statistics will show that rural teachers are not secured. as a rule, from graduates of normal schools or teachers colleges. Massachusetts is a good and a fair illustration of this fact. Massachu- setts has only about 200,000 rural popula- tion, whereas North Carolina has only 2e0,000 urban population. Massachusetts has had one or more normal schools since the days of Horace Mann, the number now being twelve; and yet about 1900 the states report showed that only 4S per cent of it's teachers in urban and rural schools had any training whatever