The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-15


 "Five-eights of the labor of this State is white. five-eighths of the cot ton crop is made by white labor. The first effect of this flood of cheap la- bor would be a vital blow to the white labor in our midst, this white | labor which reaches from our Northern to our Southern boundaries, whether engaged In production or manufacture.
 Immigrants? Yes. we want them. But we do not want immigrants for the purpose of reducing the price of labor, we want them for citizenship. Why did it not suggest itself to ask you to secure immigrants through your agricultural and State departments. to send with the seal of the State an agent to Norway. Sweden. England Germany, and some other sections that we couid name? Already the country is being hurt by the introduction of certain classes of immigrants, and we ought to pass laws rectifying and limiting that. &
 Alabama should not be among those which are clamoring for low priced and peonage labor. This scarcity of labor is accomplishing the very thing that we have hoped for, prayed fory- that is. high price production and high price product. It Is true this scarcity of labor will hurt a few men, but the introduction of the low class or la- Dor contemplated in the bill will hurt two millions of people, and that is prac- ticaiIy the population of our State, and our first duty is to guard the interest Of the millions, and not the few.
 S3O0,0O0 More for Schools.
 We have paid too little attention to education. Education is the basis of civilization, and the foundation of sue cess. The State could have no higher or greater asset than educated citizen- ship. From all sides comes the state ment of neglected conditions in our ed- ucational system. These conditions should be carefully investigated and corrected. The States school system Is divided into seven great parts, the common or rural school, the normal schools, the school for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, the Girls Industrial School, the agricultural schools, the Polytech- nic Institute and the University.
 'Tt is a fact that many people from the rural districts move into the vil- lages and towns for the purpose of ed- ucating their children. This Is entire- ly wrong. You should establish such school conditions and such school fla cilities in the country that the people would move from the congested towns and cities to the country for the pur- pose of securing an education for their children, thus enabling them to secure the high moral condition and the HC6ltuy dliHOSpACEc OA thS FSOeheAJ AA' the up-growing of their children. We should assure the country schools of the highest and best keep of the State. I ann advocating direct and increased appropriation of $300,o00 per annum, and think to this will be added more than s200. .000, which will come if proper tax values are secured. The Superintendent of Education tells me that these amounts will meet the pressing necessities of the country schools, and want to say to you. and to say to them, that so far as l am concerned, I would divide the last dol- lar In the Treasury to give them the proper care and the proper develop ment There should be no jealousies between the country schools and any other school, and we could give no healthier atmosphere to this State than to place in the midst of every rural community a first ciass school Help for Institutions.
 Your normal schools, where your teachers are prepared, should be giv- en the very best attention. The char acter of the teachers of the State in a large measure make the characters of the pupils of the State.
 This State is not what 1t was. Tn the olden days, our girls were culti- vated as the choicest flower, and that was well. At the present time. these same girls. meeting with their parents the stern necessities of life, many of them have entered the industrial oc- equations of life. The Girls Industrial School fits them peculiarly for this, and that school has sent out many a young lady to take up tho occupations of life to share with her family, not only her own expense, but the expenses of the family. Tht5 should be encour- aged to the very extent of their neces- sities.
 "The Deaf. Dumb and Blind School, one of our great benevolent institutes for the care of the afflicted of our peo- pie, should be made adequate to the groVing demands upon 1t. So should the Asylum for the Insane.
 ''The tag tax fund belongs to the ten | agricultural schools. Not a dollar Of 1t should be taken for any other pur- pose, and when I say the ten agricul- tural schools. l mean the nine in the Congressional districts and the Poly | technic Institute at Auburn; and then | if you want soil surveys, or lectures, or farmers institutes. you have got the channel for them, and they should come | through the great Polytechnic Insti- | ute.
 The little jeaIousies should not be allowed to exist; 1t matters little In your school development whether a thousand dollars paid to the rural schools comes from the general fund of the State, or comes by special al- lotment from the tag tax, or convicts' profit. The education of the children of the State belongs to the people of the State, and there can be no higher claim on on the funds of the State than that of education.
 Tag Tax Fund.
 The tag tax fund was established years ago. While many of us may question the wisdom of the tax, no one can question the wisdom of the appli- cation of the tax With it you have built up nine great agricultural schools in the nine Congressional districts, and the Polytechnic Institute, and they , stand living monument to the wis dom of the fund. Many have charged that dogfennel grows in their fields. Nobody has ever charged that dogfen- nel grows in the heads of their grad uates. And if these schools continue to send out manly men, which they will do, then there can be no higher charge on the care of the State than their upbuilding.
 Many have charged that these schools have not sent their graduates back home to SOW guano, to push a blow. What man among us would at tempt to circumvent the ambition of any graduates of any school whatever? There were six boys raised by a wid- owed mother at little cross-road place in Barbour County, and every dollar necessary was sacrificed to give them an education.