The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-08
DIR. ROSE SPEAKS.
Splendid Address on Need of Educatio
 In Rural Districts.


 At the night session of the Alabama Educational Association. Dr. Wycliffe Rose. dean of the faculty of the Pea body Normal School of Nashville, Tenn. deliered strong, eloquent and patriot ic address on the Need of Education in the Rural Districts of the South"
 Montgomery and Alabama audiences have seldom had opportunity to listen to a more scholarly, deep. and inspiring address than the one delivered by the young educator in the historic hall of the House of Representatives last night Dr. Rose made no attempt at oratory He delivered his message in straightforward. earnest and lucid manner. He spoke as Southern man to Southerners.
 Dr. Rose is a young man, unless ap- voice. and a wide vocabulary. He al- ready ranks high as an educator and will rank higher.
 Message of Good Cheer.
 In beginning his remarks Dr. Rose said that he trusted that all had felt that a new spirit was coming over the people They are looking on life in a new and more hopeful way. Tho opening of the Panama Canal means a new comercial and industrial life in the South
 In passing through tae carolinas, he noticed factories and factories and he recognized that small hamlets would soon be great manufacturing cities. With this new comercial life. a new life of education Is coming over this section of the country. Not only ure the educators giving a more heartfelt interest to education but doctors. me- chanics. business men and all classes are Joining in the new movement. The movement is not confined to the cities but extends to the towns and villages. There Is not a mountain community that the wave hasn't req ,ned.
 q don't think I'm mistaken" said the speaker, when I term 1t an educa- tional Renaissance"
 He held that the movement is not confined to the South. It Is a national movement that makes a young man proud and glad to be an American. The movement is not confined to the United States, however, 1t Is almost world wide An educational activity is spreading over Europe, heretofore un- heard of.
 Dr. Rose said he believed that the chief business of our civilization is education as 1t provides a key to ouT social problems. The movement is therefore the most broad and deep of the age. He therefore impressed on the teachers that they are daily In- struments in a world wide movement. a movement that means much morally, to the entire world.
 No nation liveth unto itself or dieth unto itself. declared pr. Rose. Amer lea has taken her place among the world powers an dis therefore placed in competition with them. It will be a case of the survival of the fittest There will be a struggle for existence and a struggle for supremacy. Every nation would like to take its station among the others and perform its du- ties well. In this struggle that nation that represents the highest state of education will occupy the position of wealth. a position of power. The oth- CTS must follow. The nation that rcp- resents the highest state of intelli- Rence will lead That Is the reason nations are spending worlds of wealth for education.
 Just so, continued Dr. Rose, to keep pace with the other sections of the country and regain the political, so- cial, and economical leadership of the country, the South must keep pace with the other sections in intelligence.
 Warning to the South.
 The speaker was not pessimistic. He believed that the South would re- gain its place. But so long as the other sections spend S10 to our $1 for education and maintain better schools and libraries for the education of children. other sections will write our books. paint our pictures and mako our clothes.
 He asked the question if the school system of today in the South was any where near adequate to the constant and growing demands.
 He described the German school sys- tenn, compulsory and fitting tho pupil to his peculiar sphere. This type can not fit our Democracy. In Germany they are attempting to break 1t down. We say in America: there must be an open road from the humblest fireside to the highest education possible" That is the typical American system but have we in the South made this road open? It's a question for the hearts of every Southerner. There Is not a high school in several coun- ties in Tennessee where boy from the grammar school may enter, in order to prepare himself for college. The State of Tennessee and the State of Alabama, he said. are not giving this open road for the barefooted boys of the rural districts. The municipalities may have the open road but it was for the country boys and girls he was
 There is not a truly Democratic school system in the South. declared