The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-13
TaNoRANcE oR 1ALEvoLnNcH.

q
 IGNORANCE OR MALEvoLENCE.
 Some days ago The Advertiser received marked copy of The Indianapolis Jour nal. one of the leading Republican news papers of the West. containing some ed- itorial comments and reflections on re- cent occurrences at Booker washington's Tuskegee shool. With most of these om- nents we have nothing to do. but from the editorial we copy this much:
 | And so the tale goes on-a tale of aroused ambition. energy and hope. of success under adverse conditions. For in thsSs S there . s no ;n one to | by his own unaided efforts. There is not even the public support that the poorest citizen, black or white. in the North, ex- poets as matter of course. The black ed for his children free of cost to him self except a share of such taxes as he may pay, but must join with his neigh bcrs to, build school houses and pay teachers hire ct private expense.
 It Is difficult to believe that news paper like The Journal could make such statements through ignorance, and it is almost as difficult to believe that such an one would deliberately make such misstatements. for the plain charge Is made that the negroes in the South get no help for their schools "except a share of such taxes as he may pay,' to use The Journals own language, We do not assume to speak for any State but Ala bama, and shall speak for her very brief Iy, and for the edlfication of our contem- porarY we copy two sections of the Con- stitution of 1901. as follows:
 Sec. 266. The Legislature shall estab- lish, organize and maintain liberal sys- State for the. benefit ot the children thereof between the ages of and 21 years. The public school fund shall be apportioned to the. several counties i'm proportion to the number of school chill dren of school age therein, and shall be- So apportioHed to the schools in the dis- | trict. or township in the counties as- to provide. as nearly as practicable, school 1 terms or equal duration in such school districts or townships. Separate schools shalt be provided for white and colored children. and no child of either race shall
 De permitted to attend school of the other race.
 Sec 259. All poll taxes collected in this
 state shall be applied to the support of
 tne public schools In the respective scoun-
 ues where collected.
 These are the only constitutional pro-
 visions necessary to quote here. Under these provisions and the laws ons, tha subject the poll taxes are all apportloned , 70 the counties in which they are naid and 1t is made the duty of conntv s,,- , perintendents and Township Trustees to give to the white schools all the nop taxes paid by the whites and to the col ored schools all the poll taxes paid bv the colored people respectively. and this I. the only part of the public school funds
 so apportioned. According to the report { of the State Superintendent of Education ! for the year ending September n iao9 .. which is the latest report printed. the : total amount available for educationa, purposes in that year was S,6Is.4ss n,
 this sum si2s,s42 was poll taxes, of which the whites paid $1OS,sSO and the negroes ? SS1. .s22.
 This poll tax, as we have said; goes tc
 the counties in which 1t is paid, and tt
 the race which pays it.. subtraotlng thi.
 from the whole school fund it leave, SsSs,7s7 of the general fund to be divided
 between the races in proportion to tn, a number of children of school age. With , in this age the census, showed a popuIa
 ton of 2te,2s7 white and 20.s70 coloret
 children. The actual enrolment was lz7. , 4s4 whites and 7s.e54 coIored. and the av craze attendance was 1Os.54O whites ant { ss.G2s colored
 A little calculation will show that O