The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-29

practically forbid 1t. We have been engaged in a campaign for this tax for over year, and the result has Deen
 very gratify,ng put the net o Saeln nsr so ane se mum. .s
 cy of local taxation under the present constitution is found in Jefferson Copn- ty With consummate wisdom, her
 people for years have levied and col iected a one-half mill for schools as part of their general fund , ana a. It ,,a mas ties as one of the first to levy tax of one mill for that purpose So large are the tax values of our greatest coun- splendid total of $75,000 per annun. yet thls, supplemented by the State fund, only suffices for a seven months school in the rural districts .. supplemented by a local tax yielding $75, ,000 per annum, can only run seven
 months in the year. how can the tax pc stance, when it would only yield s1,60o per aflnum7 And there are several counties in the State smaller in popu- lation and wealth than cleburne
 Best Results from Local Taxation.
 Understand me, favor the local tax. and its influence Is by no means limited to the amount of money raised Dy IL. Its best results are que t1 she Sv fsct % sn saa
 cational revival, that 1t guarantees greater local interest and generally a more efficient local control, but as source of the supply of money necessary to bring these schools up to proper condition. it is hopelessly tnsumcient. To what other source can we then turn. under existing conditions. except whatever. We must leave them in- adequately provided for, or the Legis- lature must obey the mandate Of the gOn tro 9d tIs to time aS the necessity therefor and the condition of
 the treasury end the resources of the Sta'e l.1srr. islaS itesSest,onas pro9rens. It is said that we have made great educational progress in thts State In recent years. This is true. In 1900 now now si.45. It was then. and 1t still | Is, the smallest per capita of any State | in the Union. This fact Is further borne in upon us by bulletin just that in 1900 we had only sixty-one | teachers for each 10000 persons between
 and 24 years of age, smaller mum
 Der than any State in the Union. com pare it with seventy-seven in Missis- | sippI; eighty in Georgia; eighty-two in | Tennessee; and ninety-nine in Florida, | with a national average of 14O.
 Immigration.
 All abroad in the State is the cry | for immigration, but concurrent there | with is the wise and just demand that we EnaIl seek only In6 DetIcE Clabbs We have native Ignorance enough: we do not want to add to our illiteracy by | the imported article.
 We want only the better class or i'm migrants. This better class, as a rule, comes from Northern Europe where they | have the best free school system in the
 world. Can we expect immigrants In | large numbers to come from countries l furnishing the best system of free ed- | ncation in the world so long as our
 statesmanship contents itself with the
 Duty to Our Own People. But deeper and more fundamental
 than the question of foreign immigra-
 with vi e our rT own peopie?'' W
 That there has been and Is going on | today a gradual wedding out of the
 able ahheiSa fact. which vi % cannot be disputed Not | all, but many of the better class of | farm owners have left the farm. Why? | Ask them the question. and nine-tenths | educate our children?
 That many of our own better class of people have been forced to leave their | homes at great sacrifice, to come into | the cities, and, in many instances. to | leave the State. for the purpose of ed- ucating their children Is an unwhole-
 some condition that cannot too soon Do
 We want, and will welcome. the bet | ter class of foreign immigrants, but to | offer better advantages for the educa- | tion of their children.
 | In any case. regardless of immigra- | ton, we must lift up the educational l standard of our own people, to the end, | at least, that we would keep the best | of those we already have.
 Agricultural Progress.
 Our State. in the last decade, from l an Industrial standpoint has made grat- | flying progress. Evidences of material l prosperity abound all around us. What
 was the condition as disclosed by the | census from 1890 to 1900. as 1t relates | to our rural population? There was