The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-06-20


 tLe ofice of county superintendents to teachers as the proposed law does, ". have class Legislation of the rank est sort and that this law will Set aside for them {the teachersD sixty seven hne, fat offices I presume that 1t has not occurred to MT. Put: that the Constitution itself has. by fixing the qualification. set aside more than sixty-seven fine. fat offices for that learned in the law Is there any reason why if judges and solicitors should be learned In the law school teachers and school superintendents should not be learned in their profess sion, a profession which Robert E. Lee, conceived to be the noblest profession on the face of the earth--save preach ing alone.
 Did it ever occur to him that those elegant gentlemen of fine business ability to whom he refers are also cut off from those fine, fat offices reserv- ed for the learned In the law It may be said in passing that these sixty-seven fine. fat offices which will be set aside for school teachers un- der this law, at present average about $500 per year, while more than sixty seven fine. fat offices.' set aside only for those gentlemen who are learned in the law average more than $2,000 per year.
 Has Been Blinded.
 T am afraid that my friend MT. Pitts has allowed his partiality for an old custom in his county to blind his judgment to the beneficial results which would necessarily come to the children of his county through the pas- sage of this bill. The object of the bill Is to place as nearly as possible the country child on the same basis as the city child. When 1t is considered that more than S1 per cent of the children of the state live outside of the incor- porated towns and cities, and that ev- cry year they are 'practiced on by young. untrained inexperienced teach CTS who teach what they please. when they please, and how they please with out any guiding hand to give direc- ton, the discrimination against the country child becomes appalling in its magnitude. Mir. Pitts lives in the city of Selma where there is an excellent school system and a most excellent principal. elected not by the people but by the Board of Education
 His duty is to supervise the schools of the city of Selma. The Board fixed the salary and the duties and they can discharge him, I presume at their pleasure. Are the people of Selma up in arms asking that they be allow ed to elect by direct vote the superin- tendent or principal of their schools? Would Mir. Pitts advocate such a change? If the children who live in the city of Selma are entitled to and if their parents demand high salaried teachers and expert supervision, why should not the poor children who live in the rural districts have the right to such advantages as nearly as 1t is pos sible to give them? The proposed su- rlatA kkA oxnla of anything. It simply says to them The State of Alabama is giving nearly two million dollars to the rural schools and she wants to give to your child advantages approximately the same as she gives to the children in the cities, and in order to do this 1t will be nec- esary to change the method of selecting the county superintendent"
 Gunnels Cites Man.
 "Tn a certain county in the state, county with which Mir. Pits is familiar. there is county superintendent who is splendid educator, capable man, a useful citizen and my personal friend. He is qualified to hold the off, flee of county superintendent under the proposed law. am sure that would not undertake to say that he has given the rural schools of his county that supervision which is necessary to bring them to that degree of efficiency to which they should be raised
 'The report made to the Department of Education by this county superin- tendent last year shows that during the entire year he did not visit or in- spect a single school in his county, and yet he draws from the State more than one thousand dollars per year. Knowing this superintendent as I do. knowing his zeal and his high fitness for the ofrice. can but wonder what would have been the results in the ru- ral schools of his county (there Is only one city in the county) if the law had made 1t his duty to give to these rural schools his time his ener- gy, and his wisdom.
 My complaint is not against the present county superintendents in Ala bama 1t Is against he law which re- duires no qualification and fixes no supervising duties.
 "I will admit that there is some thing in MT. Pitts statement that in some particular counties it would be impossible for the county superinten- dent under the proposed law to super wise the schools closely. This would come. however, in the course of time. What we want to do now is to provide some kind of supervision for the rural schools. and put the supervisory pow CT in the hands of a man who knows how to supervise schools. I do not be- lieve that there is a sensible man in Alabama who would undertake some great business enterprise-and this question of the education of the boys