The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-03
ON EDUCATION
GOVERNOR OF MISSOURI SPEAKS
 AT LEXINGTON.
Says State Has Right to Compel In- struction of Children in Or- der to Bring Citizenship
 to Higher Standard.

IeXtnRLOn, Ny RtdS ht N~' enth annual Southern Educational Con ference began at the new auditorium in woodland Park here tonight with 2,50o people in attendance. The ao- dress of welcome was made by Cover nor J. c. W. .Beckham of kentucky followed by Robert c. ogden Of New York, president of the Southern Eau cationai Conference. Governor FOLK ol Missouri then spoke. His speech was in part as follows;
 .'Children of today will be the SOW ereigns of the nations tomorrow. AS the state has the right. in order to protect society, to punish those tna' commit crimes. so 1t has the risnt 70 compel the education Of children II" order to bring the future citizensnip m to a higher standard A few years ago there was great prejudice agaInst compulsory educational laws rms prejudice. believe. is rapidly passins away. Lack of education and crinns statistics should go hand in hand. It IS not only the right of the state 10 nffer education as a privilege put '. is the duty of the state to demand t"' education of its future citizens. ,.,
 ssEvery dollar a state expends III education is returned ten-fold Tn his CT citizenship. better morals .hern anu sened criminal costs. In the sar States partlcudlTly, thC
 more compulsory education
 CT believe if a parent Is so poor tnae 1e rnust depend for support upon tns lahor of an infant child, ne IS pyu, aro,,yb for the state to support mn
 nauner He should not pc
 snu,cd to destroy the child mehtamsii vbvsically and morally, as IS the '..s "a result when children are T. ,s
 s.,- ,, factories at tender ages. ,,s imnortant that the cniIo
 ,ia he given an education ana ue ssa useful citizen than that tnc ,arart eke out a miserable eAissenSs p~t the meager earnings or an ,mtant when the parent can De as "olA nr hetter supported by the state.
 A few of the Southern Sta. .se laws forbidding child laoor. Sy
 factories are too often ope' s..a~a sc iS yvith this kind of labor: StTanse .o ly WI" naariv all of this child labor IS Ls,.a Child labor Is the enemy 0i ss,,eet tion and Of civilization.
 ..nyat orIv is there need of more com
 .,-N,-. Educational laws of wider ap- ip.Israt,or but there should pc more st,antion paid to the education cf tno s, assny instead of expending nearly all of our energies on the nignsr enu.a ss, sayn se1aars is spent for higher education uy. s,s,.ara one goes to lay the foundation "s sn esucation in the common scnools. sa oa ..' ,sLs n,Itting a million dollar dome ., thousand dollar house.
 Vh S.ar exercises at the auditorium racention was held at the Sayre Esr n,ale institute. over 2,ooo peopie tending. Robert c. ososn ton train from New York bearing over INV sataa educators arrived tonight.
 rba following is en abstract or tne r,.As,dant,s address which was deliV- a,.ad hv Robert C. ogden peAore .ne o,.esrence for Education In the Soutn we meet here. clergy and lalty, reg, tslators and commoners, governors ai.1 governed, professional ana s,,ar representing all types ana ae- s-raes of oura democracy. for a positive ana clearly defined purpose.
 s0, these occasions the imaglnatlon oe tha audience must wander away to Inc lowly farm houses, miners capins o'rerattves' cottages, railway shacks III which the greater part of the ltooV,VoV rural population of the Southland i've In this background we must get W Wln' view of flliteracy ana us cohse9uIn i,. narrowness. vacancy and general III tsllectual hreariness. The mooes oIainas of the conference do not impl! anv original creation. Its function na hsen to discover, to associate, 10 III form. to inspire, to become Tn Wal . sort of clearing house for the drait of education upon intelligent sympa thy. os oa,.s
 Thus has resulted sort Of educa tionaI renaissance in the Soutnidhu the outcome of spontaneous condllohs mental, material, spiritual with wntci tha conference has had an importah reIation. Since the conference met rirrninrham, Ala, thirty-five counties ir thaf State have voted the local tax tbug adding $117,606 to the State ap nronriation of $255,959, an increase I6 ner cent. Similar advances nav haAn made in other Southern State during the same period. To the actlV itv of this association is due splendi' IseisIatiye enactments for the large sunnort of high schools. better pay for teachers and the construction O new school houses.
 ri is. however, quite certain that l the conference Is to go on, there mus he some modification in its ways II no in it's policy The Executive commit tee is too widely scattered 10 De con vened during the year 1T the cohlel ence is 10 continue and to realize tn possibilities that seem to be within fuIl view. some plan must be perfecte hv which, without sacrificing Tn an degree it's historic breadth and tree dom it will yet have more compao workinR central body and thus large life and usefulness. The great an rapidly expanding business lie or tn South has not been brought into Una active relation with the conferenc which is positively the common inte~es of economies and education. Perhap this is the crux of the whole situation