The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-04-13
PLANTERS HOME IS BURNEDAT BROWNS Immigration Failure is Causing
 Much Comment NEGRO SCHOOL PLANNED Proposition to Erect Another Structure In Selma Is Meeting With Much
 oppositon-other
 Selma News.
NEGRO SCHOOL PLANNED

Selma, April 12.-(Special) )-Information reached the city at noon today of the total destruction by fire last night at Browns, this county. of the residence Of 4. P. Leiser, one of the most well-to-do merchants and planters of that section The house was discovered mass of flames about 10 o'clock. and the family only escaped with their lives in their night clothes. Little if any of the house hold furniture was saved. Mr Leiser himself was away from home. being on ,l visit to Pensacola. The house was a mod ern frame cottage, built only a short while ago. It was handsomely fitted up and the loss will aggregate $9000. Some insurance was carried, but in the absence of MT. Ieiser the exact amount is not known.
 Another Immigration Failure.
 The experiment with immigrants to take the place of the negro as laborer which failed at Riderville, about twenty three miles from Selma. just across the line into Chiffon county, has been the sub ject of considerable comment in this city today. as it recalls the failure of R. Fl. Jones, a prominent farmer living about six miles from the city, in the same man ner about three weeks ago.
 Mr. Jones brought two families of Ger mans here from New York. paid their railroad fare and agreed to give them $15 a month and food They came and after staying a day left Mir. Jones. who had spent about SlS0 on them. The incident was related at the time and the good people of Selma arranged some way by which the families could subsist. The Riderville affair was first made known in Selma by a telephone message from Governor Jell1s to the Age-Herald's rep resentative yesterday afternoon request ing him to investigate a report that had reached the governors office that a colony of Germans were in a destitute condition at Riderville.
 The Age-Herald's representative called np Riderville over the phone and learned that twenty-four Germans had come to that place Saturday to work in the tur- pentine camp. that all but ten quit after the first days work and went to Rider vile. To the query whether the Germans were hungry or needed shelter the reply was that they are not hungry enough to go to work. They were offered places at $l.25 a day handling lumber. but none of them wanted to work. Ii is regretted that the two experiments thus far with the immigrants have been failures, as the labor problem is assuming 6 serious as- peet in these parts.
 Negro School House.
 report which was at first thought merely to be a rumor that the city schoo board intended to build another negro school house, and which has been found to be a fact. is likely to create more thar teapot tempest before the building reaches a certainty. There is already commodious negro school built partly from the funds of the school board and by donation of 5000 from the city. It is true that this school has more pupils than 1t can accommodate but there will go up a protest over the school board utilizing any surplus funds il may havt on hand for the erection of another negro school building.
 Those opposed to the proposition state that if the board is receiving from the mills of taxes donated by the city. the contingent fee of $2 per year. the tuitions in the High school department. and other sources revenues enough to create a surplus which is to be used for such a purpose that the contingent fee of s2 per year should be abolished and if there was still a surplus books ought to be furnished the pupils free.
 The negroes have ample school facilities in Selma. There is the Selma university the Knox academy, the Franklin academy and the Clarke school the latter alone being the only public school. The golder stream which pours into the south from the alleged philanthropists of the north for negro education. is sufficient. accord ing to the views of most of this people without taking the funds paid in by the whites for that purpose. From taxes alone Selmians pay $10.00O for school pur- poses. Of this about one-twentieth Is paid by negroes yet the negroes have al least one-third the school facilities of the whites, a proportion that. is pointed out to be not at all in keeping with the equity of things.
 The school system of Selma has always been it's pride. The board is a self-perpet- uating organization and has been singu- larly free. from criticism in the past Should the purpose be persisted in to erect this negro school, it Is predicted that there will be quite a protest filed
 Local and Personal.
 Willard Long, the II year old son of rum in the city where he underwent an operation yesterday
 Judge J. B. Christian of Uniontown was a visitor to the city today.
 Invitations are out announcing the mar riage which will take place on April % of Miss Permela Jones to Mir Cadwal- lader Jones. The bride-to-be is a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. A. W. Jones. and a sister of Mir. Calvin Jones of Birmingham The wedding will be post-Lenten affair of much social prominence.
 Mir. P. C. Rucker returned this morn- ing from a visit to Birmingham.
 Mir. H. l.. Tibbetts, who went to New York to live about a month ago, has returned to his home in this city, declar- ing that Selma is the loveliest place in the world.
 At the home of the brides parents in Chiffon county, Sunday will occur the wedding of MT. R. J. Campbell of Sum- merfield 10 Miss Belle McClary.
 Several of the chain prayer letters re- ported in The Age-Herald of this morn ing as having appeared around Courtland in North Alabama, have been received in Selma. The recipients here will hardly fn fhnf11