The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-15
GIVES IMPETUS TO EDUCATION Atlanta Conference ls
 Opened. WELCOMED BY TIE GOVERNOR President R. (. 0gden Delivers
 Address. xsstl,s Piaas for Grsater werk !. the se~th I. the wsy # I.Srev- ins the ssAsel
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ing the seAsel
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 /Atianta. Ga. Apfl 14--The twelfth Annual conference for education in the South was-~ formally opened tonight when the conference was welcomed to Atlanta and Georgia by Governor Hoke Smith, and listened to the annual ad- dress Of the President. R. c. Ogden of New York, as well as paper on The American Spirit in Education" by pr. 6. c. Mitchell. President of the Uni- versity of South Carolina
 Governor Smiths remarks were not confined to a speech of welcome. He touched upon the problems which the South, as we'll as all other sections. had to meet and solve. and told or some of the aids that could be used. :. He placed education above all others and commended the men and women who are giving of their time qua money in an effort to aid humanity. But. he said. the education .wnicn s is most effective is the education which builds character as we'll as tmparts knowledge from books.
 Next the Governor took up the race problem. saying:
 s-rhe presence of a great number Of negroes in the South creates a prop lem which must be understood. l do not believe that those who dwell upon the work of the negro institutions into which few of the race enter. compre- hend the question. The real negro ed. ucational problem is found in the a- 900. 900 negroes who never enter these institutions and who are utterly un~ suited for the opportunities tney oner. I refer to the great bodies or negroes engaged in the simplest lines or man ual labor.
 ssrhe first step in the education of the great body of the negro race is @ inspire a desire to do better the iapcs .they rely upon. to perform. ana to rlo fhen, of A willingness to live poofiy, if percnance a meaGre support can pc made with half time Iapors
 .Experience shows that negroes in- prove most rapidly where mere ,,,r,,t,ar of whites. The best friend ox inc negro should seek hts distrtbunon ta aIl sections. This can pc accoM- rli.b hv more white settlers comanM south and more negroes going Notsss F,axf and West. s z.
 The Governor next descries1 tls N. UsS4 06Nuk -...4 U South. and predicted that As tne pug ,,.s reatized more fully what coui9 " sccomnIished. khere would pe no lsl11 as sneans for carrying out the conAe~ srca's plans. He declared that one v.
 most Important things to pc aoHs ~
 10 guard against cnila n,.r, factories and said that tr,sscf,,r- ts would become greater ss
 ina enterprises increaseo. o,,,a
 s.es,,y manufacturing growtn a,.S !, \. curse ik we were to perHe S nreaance of a population worn ous = krndgerv In childhood and depriveu -, proper mental. physical ana spifi'A<'' growth" -.,.-sa one
 The rural schools he considereo one of the most important means ssad V. - hetter people and he expresseo tns helief that the next generatioh wo,,la see farm life made most at- t.actsve He closed by referring " tha mae of the convicts on the roaos ss one of the big steps forward ana -rxpressed his opinion that at all cos,s inc farm must be saved for the small farmer and kept out or the sr"Sp VA the big corporations.
 Governor Smith was foliowea Dy president ogden. who read his address
 MT. ogden said that in South Caro- lima, Georgia, Kentucky and Aiabama. the women,s organizations and worh had been very specially powerful.
 The Conference for Education in Mississippi, he said. had been organiz- ed specially for the promotion of the normal school idea. Each State. how aver. he said, had it's own peculiar points of attractive study.
 He asked the conference to remen- Der that what he had said covered Q story of useful activity. devotion, pa trfotism and self-sacrihce that was continually helping to make this land a better place for life and for living
 After pointing out that agricultural education was closely associated with
 ',Education is expensive. but there is nothing more wasteful than cheap education, cheaply supervised and ad- ministered by ignorance in partnership with neglect. What greater incongru- ity than to demand teaching certIfi- cate of the lowest grade girl teacher in an elementary school and yet to fill places in a school board with political favorites and to create local superin- tendents of men who are in perfect Ignorance of teaching as a profession 3''
 Tn conclusion, Mir. Ogden maintained the view that inasmuah as our insti- tutions of higher and lower education simply reflect the popular demand -Four efforts should be and are directed to- ward elevating the demand"
 The address of Dr. Mitchell. of South Carolina, was received with great in- terest by the big crowd which is pres ent at the conference.
 g"Universal education is a truer test of democracy than universal suffrage" he said in conclusion of his talk upon the American Spirit in Education" Q "The only sure basis of 6 republic are the intelligence and virtue of It's citizenship, whose common will is law. Hence the State concerns itself with the proper training of its children. It has found that public taxation alone is equal to the task of enlightening the masses. to which end $S00.000.000 are spent annually by this country on public education"
 The speaker stressed the importance of cooperation and a general distribu- ton of the burdens of teaching the children. citing the fact that the pup lie school Is not a free school since the people pay for it as truly as the Individuals who support a private academy. This Idea assembled about the present movement in the South is building up community life, he said. by making effective cooperation in all forms of progressive activity and is illustrated by the increase of moder- ately expressed school houses in the least wealthy sectfonn.
 For Trained Teachers.
 Dr. Mitchell urged the importance of schools teaching the people to think, holding that failure along this line is