The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-03-29

the building of rural school houses. No
 incorporated city, town or village can lay hands on this appropriation which has been given distinctively to the rural schools to assist the struggling farmers to provide comfortable habitation for their children during the time of school keep ing. If every county in the state takes advantage of this law, and uses the fund set aside for it, at the end of four years there will be scattered over the hills and the valleys of our beautiful state nearly three thousand modern school buildings.
 The legislature has done much for us
 but there Is much yet to be done. The great administrative measures measures which make 1t possible to intellgently and economically spend the fund given us, are still pending on the calendar. These measures must pass. The teachers of Alabama and the friends of education Tn Alabama cannot afford to let them fail. A measure which I consider of more im- portance than appropriations, or more im-
 portant than aid to school houses, is a
 measure which makes it possible for the
 child in the rural district to have super vision, competent and intelligent, patriotic and efficient.
 l have no charge to bring against the county superintendents of Alabama. My complaint is against the law The coun- ty superintendents of Alabama are far
 better than would ordinarily be the case under a law similar to ours. These men are all my friends. l have no charge to bring against John Smith My charge Is against John Smith, the county superin
 tendent of education. John Smith may be a good farmer, a good lawyer, good doc
 tor and q splendid merchant. but Is John
 Smith d good county superintendent of education? l know of no other impor
 tant business on the face of the earth t., 1. Z1r ,,f doll
 invested for the direction of which the men interested do not demand superin-
 tendent and director of skill experience and training in that business. It has al
 ways seemed anomalous to me that the
 people of an entire county should permit
 thousands of dollars to be spent in this
 business of education the most important and far-recahing business in the world in | solar as it affects the present and future
 generations without demanding that the
 director of it all should be man of train
 ing, experience and skill in that particular
 business, and should give his entire time
 and energy to it. We can never raise this most cultured and delicate of arts, the
 art of inspiring human souls, training hu- man minds and shaping human character
 to it's proper plane of dignity and impor
 tance in the minds of the people until we
 demand. that the head of the work in each
 county shall be a professionally trained man. competent in experience, scholarship
 and skill to direct the work. There is no
 reason, and can be no reason why these
 rural schools, as far as supervision Is con- cerned, should not be brought as nearly
 as possible to the same basis a the city
 school. If intelligent supervision is com manded and required for town and city schools, much more should the country child have it.
 The country child Is entitled to teach ing just as inspiring, environments just
 as healthfu and comfortable supervision
 just as efficient as the city child; so
 says Superintendent Olsen of Minnesota.
 At the present he is not getting these.
 The city schools of Alabama are noted for the scholarship, professional attainment and high character of their superintend-
 ents who are elected strictly upon their merits regardless of politics or the acci- l dent of residence. We have professional | city superintendents, who, college bred as | a rule, have served their apprenticeship as teachers in the graded school, have
 been promoted to the superlntendency of l small cities and gradually advanced to the l most desirable positions of the state l Young men with thorough qualifications l and natural fitness may enter the field l with reasonable expectation of promotion 1 the prospects of advancement retaining 1 them and melting them to their very best l efforts. Meanwhile our country schools 1 in which S1 per cent of the children re- ceve their education have been left to l shamefuly unpaid supervision that has l too often lacked scholarship, culture, ex- 1 perience and intelligent interest It Is | surprising, however, that the county su- ) perintendoncy fails to attract and retain 1 our best educators. If the city super l intendents were elected only from resi- | dence campaigning during the turmoil l of party contests, and if the salary in prospect was so inadequate as to be beg | garly, it would be impossible to have such superlntendents as have made our l city schools as good as any in the union. l The plan of securing and licensing city l superintendents Is a success. No one
 thinks of changing 1t. Why not adapt 1t l to the needs of the country schools? Con- l ditons in the country schools in the rural l schools even more than in the city | schools, need better supervising talent. Campaigns in rural communities for the education of public sentiment in school
 questions is doomed to only partial suc- 1 cess without the active leadership of a | county superintendent of scholarly intel | lect tact. energy, consecrated purpose
 and proper ability, who can command the
 confidence and enlist the active co-opera- l ton of teachers, officers, patrons and pu- l pills Upon the county superintendents
 must depend all those forces of the coun- 1 try, public and private, moral and relig-
 nually has been appropriated to aid In