The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-19
TOORDER A
 NEW CENSUS Montgomery Children Will Be Accounted. FINE POINT IS RAISED Will Be Taken Under the
 Constitution. In Asreeips to the New Census su- perintendest GunneiIs Exacts Conditions to Meet the situ-
 atlon in Montgomery.
 

A new school census of Montgomery will in all probability be taken. Su- perintendent of Education H. c. Gunnels yesterday authorized the talk ing of the new census. but with con ditions attached
 The City Board of Education will in all probability meet to-day to con sider Mir. Gunners letter.
 The Board of Education met yester- day to unravel the tangle into which the school census had gotten. The census shows a falling of of practi- cally 500 children of school age in Montgomery in two years. Nobody familiar with conditions in Montgom- cry believes that this could have hap pened.
 The Board of Education wanted only what the children of the city were entitled to. So large a decrease in the school population would have meant good loss of sch ool money to the school children of Montgomery. The Board believed through errors and misunderstandings the census showed a much smaller number of school children than there were in the city.
 The Board met at the office of Geo. W. Jones yesterday at noon, to take further action regarding the correc- tion of errors which had apparently been made in the taking of school census of the City of Montgomery. by which from the information in the possession Of the Board, the city of Montgomery would have been unable to collect the proportion of the school funds to which 1t Is justly entitled. The errors alluded to resulted from a misunderstanding, and unless cor rected, the city of Montgomery would have failed to receive considerable sum of money to which 1t Is justly entitled for the support of the pub lie schools.
 It had come to the attention of the Board that through a misunderstand- ing a complete census had not been taken in some instances. and in or der to exhaust every possible effort to get the census in proper shape, the following resolution was introduced by pr. J. L. Gaston, and unanimously adopted:
 Whereas. it has been made to ,ap- pear to the Board of Education of the city of Montgomery. that owing to misunderstanding errors have been made in the school census recently taken in said city;
 And whereas, 1t is the desire of the Board to have the census abso- iutely correct and complete in all re- spects;
 "Therefore. be It resolved by the. Board Of Education of the city of Montgomery that the State Superin- tendent of Education be and he is hereby requested under the provisions of Section 26S of the Constitution of Alabama, to order a new census for the city of Montgomery. provided he finds that 1t can be legally done at this tirne.''
 When the Board met to consider the situation 1t came face to face with one of the unexpected jokers in the new code. Under the old code the Su- perintendent of Education had the right to order new school census wherever he deemed 1t necessary. But for some unknown reason this section was left out of the new code.
 Mir. Jones had, however. discovered a section of the constitution which gave the State Superintendent the right to order new census in case the old census was false or erroneous.
 4 letter drawing the attention of the State Superintendent to this sec ton of the constitution, and pointing out that 1t was self executive was written the State Superintendent. It was the first time this point had ever been raised.
 superintendent Gunnels took the letter to Attorney General Garber and asked his opinion upon it. Col. Garher held that the section was self executive and that the Superintendent
 
 Mir. Gunnels then wrote Dr. B. J. Baldwin, president of the Board, say ing that after comforting with the Attorney General he had the right to order a new census when he believed that the first census was false or err roneous. Tn agreeing to order & new census the Superintendent said that 1t did not necessarily imply that fraud had been committed In the first cen- sus.
 MT. Gunnels, however. coupled con- ditions with his agreement. He was informed that the census taken in one part of the city by one man was sat- isfactory to the Board while that in another part taken by another man was not satisfactory. He understood that the Board had ordered the new census to be taken only, in that part of the city where the count had not been satisfactory
 The new census, he said. would be taken over the entire city. He sug-, gested further. that it be taken by a new man. one who had had nothing to do with the first census. He sug- gested in addition that the new man be not given access to any of the figures of the old census but that he work. absolutely independent of any