The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-10
ATTENDANCE LARGEST
 IN BOARDS HISTORY
Mass of Delegates Are Southern
 Men Of Affairs.
State is Accorded ovation en Account If Successful Campaign Waged for Bis Appropriation for
 Schools In the Les
 sslaturs.
BY WILL T. SHERMAN.

Pinshurst, N. G.. April s.-(special) Alabama. holding first place in edu' cationaI accomplishments among Southern States, enters the tenth an nual conference for education in the South with the applause and congrat- ulation of her sister States.
 They give her first place and praise her accomplishments. No Southern State has ever had a Legislature which gave SO much to education us did the present Legislature of Alabama.
 In round numbers Alabama increased her gifts to her schools and colleges by $3,000,000 No other Southern State has ever been so open-handed to edu- cation at one time
 The tax rate of Alabama is limited by the Constitution to 1-2 mills Alabama property can be taxed no more than that, but the State of Ala bama today is giving to the cause of education an amount that is equal to the total fund that would be raised on taxable property in Alabama from . rate of mills.
 The figures are astounding but they are official. They are part of the ad- dress of State Superintendent H. c. Gunnels.
 They snow that AidDdHld AS 6ANAhS away more than all the money that she is raising from taxation; nor should 1t be forgotten that one mill Of the rate is devoted exclusively to the In terest of old soldiers. This means that out of the convict fund and out of the fund raised by the revenue code the State must pay its running expenses ana an amount equal to the one mill soldiers tax. The men of Alabama ~ men who led in the fight for the edu- cational rejuvenation of the State, men who watched the educational revival from its inception to its splendid ac- comp1ishments.
 They are men who have kept In touch on the one hand with the South ern and General Educational Board on the one hand and with the people or the State of Alabama on the other. Led Educational Revival.
 They are men who led in Alabama In The most remarkable educational revi- val a State ever experienced. Among them are the three men who have dl- rected the work of the departments of education from the inception of the movement to the fruitful present. John w, Abercrombie. Isaac w. Hill ana Harry c. Gunnels.
 They give tribute to the help and assistance that they received from the Southern Education Board. Without that assistance the splendid results that have been achieved would have been impossible.
 The three Alabamians who Jed say this. They know. The Southern Ed ucation Board has neither endowed nor built colleges. It has given no money to any educational institution. Prejudice has misrepresented the work of this board. The slightly informed speak loosely of the sums that are given to Tuskegee and Calhoun and other negro schools, of the attention that Is paid to negro schools to the exclusion of white schools.
 This is an error born of ignorance. The Board is not in the business of endowing colleges and schools. The work of the Board is campaign work. Its purpose steadfastly maintained throughout the ten years it has been fin existence, Is not to make a gift to a college with @ rope tied to it, but to arouse the interest and enthusiasm of the people of a State to their educa- tional needs and possibilities of edu- cation.
 Success of Alabama Campaign.
 How well the campaign has suc- peeded in Alabama has been written In the statute books of the State.
 It might be said that the board has not one cent for donations but thous- hnds for campaign work. The board itself does not spend the money nor does it say how the money shall be spent. The State educational author lties are in charge of the expenditures They are asked: How much do you need this year to carry on the cam paign work in your State?" The reply may be "$2,500, $3,000. or $3,500, The money Is turned over without ques- ton or restriction. In Alabama the fund has been expended by the Super lntendent of Education. It has been used for the distribution of literature for the conduct of an enormous cor respondence.
 Whenever a fight for local legisla- ton has been made there. the helr and support of the Southern Education Board has made itself felt. A speak Ing campaign for the educational revi- val was inaugurateo by that brilliant and gifted Alabamian, Joseph B. Gra- ham, supported by the Southern Ed hcation Board.
 The tragic death of this distinguish ed scion of the State ended that fea- ture of the work but 1t was continued