The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-03
DR DABNEY TALKS ABOUT EDUCATION Negro is Better Citizen for Be-
 ing Educated WHITE MEN ARE AIDING Distinguished Educator Gives Outline of Plan for Expenditure of Money In the Educational Cam
 paign.
WHITE MEN ARE AIDING

[ Indianapolis, April 2.-Dr. Charles W. Dabney, president of the University of Tennessee, and president-elect of the Uni- versity of Cincinnati, in an address be- fore the Southern Indiana Teachers asso- ciation, in session here, upon the subject, Educational Needs of the South,' out lined the work which has been taken up by those interested in the movement.
 MT Dabney by way of introduction said that the present educational needs of the southern people arise from circumstances which, to a large extent, grew out of pe- culiar conditions in the past
 ''The war not only freed the black man, it freed the white man as well,' said he.
 Ut made a way for the small farmers, liberated the poor white man from the bonds of a semi-feudal system and estab- lished both for the first time in full clt- izenship. It also freed the minds and spirits of the aristocratic classes and by throwing them upon their own resources made them a stronger and a better peo- pie.
 The old civilization, whose ruling class was an aristocracy of land and slaves. has given place to a political and indus trial democracy with no ruling class. But herein lies our danger, and out of this fact grows the special necessity for a system of popular education which shall train all our citizens to think clearly and act fearlessly each for himself
 White Man Has Awakened.
 The plain white man has awakened and is pressing for the rights of his child and to him we now look as our chief sup porter in this effort for improvement of the schools
 The actual development of such a sys- tenn of free public schools was long re- tarded by the conservatism of the aristo- cratic class, which refused to recognize
 0ts7v individual and held as long as possible to old institutions and ideals. It has been delayed further by the poverty of the people, by the sparseness and con sequent isolation of the population and by the absence of roads. But this new conception of manhood has now caught the mind of the plain man, and will give rise to a great new system of education, supported by all the people for all the people,"
 Dr. Dabney then quoted statistics to show the illiteracy of both blacks and whites in the south, and continued
 Every intelligent southerner now be- lieves that the right kind of education makes the negro more thrifty, more useful, more model and more law abiding citizen, as 1t does every other man. Every southern state is now com mitted by its constitution and laws to the principle of negro education, and in their legislatures and courts they have so far successfully resisted all proposals to di- vide the school funds. In fact. the dis franchiSement acts are all working to compel this education. The southern peo- pie will be fair to the negro in these mat ters.
 Any plan of national aid should pro- vide, not a largesse of the south, but con- sstent. rational plans for uplifting the re- ;arded and depressed populations in all portions of the country. The people in some counties in Maine and New York are as illiterate as those in counties in the southern Apalachians. This is truly a national problem, not one for the south alone.
 Methods also can be found to aid com munties without paralyzing their powers. either of initiative or support. While we are helping the Fflipinos and others to establish schools, we should aid our own neglected people whenever they need as- sistance.'