The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-29

 having thousand students before many years had passed, and that this number may be accommodates. 3500.- 900 was needed for the erection of dor mitories and other buildings. Dr. Patrick expressed the utmost conf dence in this future growth of the inc stitution of which he Is President, when he smilingly announced that he expected no trouble in carrying out the plans in mind in the course of time allotted
 lEr. wilIingham's Address.
 Mir. n. J. Willinghafl, of Wetumpka, Secretary of the State Board of Ex- aminers and. a prominent Baptist, was congratulated after he finished with the reading of, an excellent paper on '4rhe Baptists and General Education in the State"
 After mentioning several promi- nent educators of the State who were of the Baptist denomination. Mir. Will linsham concluded with the follow ing:
 'sThe State established the depart ment of Public Education in the year 1854. For the purpose of bringing oF- der out of chaos and of esta ablishing a system of public schools throughout the State, the Legislature selected a Baptist, William F. Perry, as the first Superintendent of Education. How well his work was done ia shown by the fact that the system he establish ed continued with only slight changes for period of more than forty yeara
 "Since 1854 when the department was established and so well organized by Mir. Perry. several other Baptists have been elected to the office of Statc Superintendent of Education. They were John B. Taylor. John M. Nickel. roy, John c. Harris and John ". Aber- crombie--a distinguished quartette Of "Johns" and each of them gave life and inspiration to the cause of public education in Alabama.
 'sIn the growth and development of the Girls Industrial School. of ouv normal schools. district agricultural schools, and of the county high schools the Baptists have furnished large percentage of the oficials and larE- er percentage of the student bodies.
 ~'SThe Governor of State Is likewise an important factor in It's educational development. The Baptist Governors were John Gill Shorter. Thomas H. watts, Rufus W. Cobb. William D. Jelks and R. M. Cunningham. Each of these men contributed in full measure to the educational uplift of the State.
 e'No review or punic euucAtlon III Alabama will ever be complete with but a more or less extended refer ence to the great work done by that distinguished Baptist who has already been awarded one of Alabama's two places in Statuary Hall in the National Capitol. pr. J.SL M. Curry. In pro" noting the cause of public educatlon in our State and in the South no mans name deserves to be written before that of Jabez L. M Curry. Time has allowed me to point out only very few of the many Baptists whose names are made illustrious in the develop ment and in the maintenance or Ihe States educational system.
 .swhilN we have pointed with pride in this paper to some or our brethren whose names are linked with the ed- ucattonal growth of the States history, let no ono conclude that we as a peo- pIe are ulace hunters, or that VIC pre- fer always to lead while others fol- low. Tn the general election two years ago. ten places were filled in the ex- ecutive department at the State Capi- tol. To only one of them waS Bap- tist elected. Our people work just as loyalty in the trenches as when com manding on horseback.
 "we believe most emphatically in the complete separation of church and State, And in order to maintain this view of complete separation we shall insist on allowing no one denomina- tion-not even our own-to dominate