The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-30
EDUCATORS MEET
ANNUAL MEETING OF ASSOCIATION.
 BEGINS.
Teachers Gather in AtIaata for Nfme- teenth AnnaaI Conventson--rresf-
 deut F. F. Claxfem Delivers His Address.

$ -t ffs I Atlanta, Ga..' Dec. 2s-Representlu9 every State in the South and praoticai- " every branch and variety of educas uona1 institution, from 300 to 400 edu- cators zres.ssTs in attendance upon the nineteenth annual conventfon of the Southern Educational Association which opened in this city today for Q thrss days session.
 The association, while itself solid and independent is made up of ten Sep- arate and distinct departments. each of Which relates to separate phase Of education. The afternoon sessions are divided into these ten sub divisions. The eraI.
 The principal feature of the evening session was the annual address of the president of the association. P. P. Ciaxton.
 President ciaxton said:
 Since the year 1900. most Southern States have more than doubled their expenditures for public education in elementary schools. State appropria- tions In some instances have increased tenfold. The length of the annual school term has been increased in every State. In some as much as fifty per- cent The standard of qualification of teachers has been raised appreciably, but nVt. believe, in proportion to the increase in salaries of teachers. The total value of public property in the Southern States is now more than twice what 1t was ten years ago.
 Tn the construction of all new school houses more thought has been given to comfort. health and beauty. Still more marked has been the increase in num- Der and improvement in character of Vtsh1fr hf0h kuff axs11a axaA rural
 More remarkable sttii has been the movement for rural high schools. Tn only two or three Southern States were there any rural high schools at the be- ginning of this century. I believe there is now no State without some school of this kind.
 'In the virginias. the caroiinas, Flor ida, Alabama and Mississippi, and prob ably other States. large numbers of high schools have been established. In most of these States at least one high school has been established in each county.
 Under existing laws and laws which will probably be enacted during the new year, 1t Is quite safe to predict that the close of the decade will find few coun- ties in all this section without one or more high schools open and free to country boys and girls
 Little less remarkable has been the rapid increase in the appropriations for normal schools. In every State, be-. lieve. these appropriations are for the present year more than twice as large as they were eight years ago and it. some States four or five times as large"
 Four hundred or five hundred dele- gates were in attendance, representing all the states in the association. The convention was opened by the prest. dent of the association. P, P. Claxton. president of the University Of Tennes- see. Songs were sung by $50 pupils from the girls high school. An ad- dress of welcome was made by Gov ernor Hoke Smith. The responses was delivered by Vice President of the Association M. A. Cassidy, Ruperinten- dent Of the, schools of Lexington Ky,
 The annual reports On the Douth's progress were then read by the super intendsnts of each state. Improve gronnds" was told in five minute ad-. dresses by a representative of each state. ''The rural school house" was discussed by Superintendent M. L. BrItta, of the Fulton county, Georgia. schools. suTnmarising the work ac- complished in the building and equip ping of rural school buildings through out the south.
 The convention viii be in session, three days.
 "Stiu the average length of school term in the Southern States is. less than six months. Only about two- thirds the average for the rest of the country.
 -Still the average school fund Is less than s5 for each child. of school age, less than one-third the average for the remainder of the country.
 ''Still our teachers are paid less than is paid for any other kind of skilled labor. The average annual salary Of thousands of teachers Is still less than the annual cost of feeding prisoners In our county Jaiis.
 sIf the teachers should commit crimes and be put in jan, taxes would