The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-02-14
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR,
Too Much Politics.

To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
Your editorial and the letter of Mr..
Phillips In today's ISSUE | wish to heart
lily commend and add just word which
it seems to me to be equally peril
nent and proper for our lawmakers to
consider in their dealing with our state
schools. As the law now stands these
| schools are entirely In the hands OF
| the governor, and are subject to his use
| as part of the spells of his office.
Every trustee of each of these schools
can be removed from office by each in
coming governor, and the entire personnel
Of the board changed by him to suit
his notions. Through these trustees he
can exercise complete control over the
positions in the schools, and thus the
whole working force is part of his
patronage for distribution among his
friends and supporters. So the whole
public service in the state schools are
subjects to be used by the governor as
q part of his spoils of office.
This is true OF every school of col
legiate grade in the state except the uni
versity. Here we have a self protecting
board of trustees, under the superintend-
ance of the Senate. l do not believe that
the people of Alabama approve of this
situation, but they desire that the col
lege of the state be taken out of poll
tics. No college can grow which is
, made the football of political accidents
every four years. That our state schools
are badly managed is beyond dispute,
when one compares them with the work
and the relative income which they en-
JOY as compared with that of the church
and private corporation schools in the
state 1t Is just as unreasonable to ex-
pect the state through its political life
TO run a college as it would be to ex-
pect 1t to run bank, or furnace, or
mercantile business No great business
can be operated successfully when the
continuity of its life and policy is subjec.
! to the accident of political events. Prob
] ably no concern requires more profess
sional skill to successfully operate it than
college. No board of directors need
the benefit of that solidarity and training
| in concert which comes from long CO.
| operation more than board of trustees
| of IL college.
For years the university has enjoyed
an income twice as great as that en-
joyed by the other colleges of the state
and yet its work will be said by few to
1 have exceeded that done by these other
| less favored institutions. And the reason
is not very difficult to see. 1t has been
the football of political situations and
| changes. Let the present legislature take
| the state schools out of politics. There
are two things necessary to this end in
| my judgment First, let the terms of
| office of the trustees be made such that
| the majority on the board cannot be
| changed in any one or two elections AS
it now stands, if the republicans should
| carry the state in any election they would
dismiss every trustee in every board in
| every school in the state; and a crisis
would arise in their history. Let the
| trustees be immune from removal from
| office by the governor, except for cause
duly shown by Impeachment before the
| courts. As the law now stands, the gov
| ernor can remove trustee just as he
can his own private secretary when he
| comes into office. | believe the people
| of this state want their schools taken
out of the basket of political spoils into
which they have been put by their
creators. Then they will be willing to
| put into them the money needed to make
them what they will then have some
prospect of becoming. As matters stand
at present they cannot be made what
YOU have in view in your editorial and
what Mr.. Philips so eloquently pleads
| for. A. J. DICKINSON