The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-13
Children Now Pay Tuition
 Fees. MANY LITTLE ONES ARE
 DEPRIVED OF EDUCATION Finest School System in Alabama
 Knocked Out. On Account of the Big Decrease in Revenues, the Salaries of All
 the Teachers Were
 Cut Twenty Per
BY CHAS. l.. HAROLD.

BY CHAS. l.. HAROLD.
 Mobile. March 12-(Special. )-When that notable telegram was sent to Montgomery by President M J. Mo Dermott. of the Bank of Mobile. threat ening secession of the county from the State and setting up of separate government. he was not so serious as most people coolly reading the lines may have thought He said so today
 It was his sentiments and perhaps his will, but he knew, as he confesses now. that such a move was impossible under the State form of government. He realizes, as he always did. that the county of Mobile never had any au- tonomy to start with, that 1t never had any independence to enter Into a com pact or federation with other counties of the State and that secession was even in theory an absurdity.
 prohibition was simply so gross unisnt." said this banker today. that 1t was enough to exasperate anyone solicitious of the welfare of Mobile. 1t looked as if the legislators in Mont 'Eomery would shove prohibition down our throats whether we wanted 1t or not It aroused more resentment be- cause the Governor had pledged him. self to put in force local option. Of course, 1t was very evident that pro- hibition would be forced upon us. Then I sent the secession telegram to try to typify the feeling of the major ity of citizens here."
 But regardless of the governmental fetters that bind Mobile County to her sisters of the State. the telegram of secession was not without the shadow of foundation In history. It's note of despair was not altogether as hol- low-sounding reed. For the exclusive
 ,1.- t,ntx nf a State finds warrant in the public school system of Mobile County. With out setting up an independent govern ment of its own, this county has new ertheless had its own way about rum ming its schools.
 Traditions Are Dear.
 The traditions of the system are as dear to the citizens of the Gulf City and their rural neighbors as are the memories of their priest poet or town builders of medieval times. They are more sacred because the advances in ,education made by the Mobile County schools have been the admiration of all schools in Alabama.
 Little wonde then, that leading men and women of the city who had fostered this school system thronged the legislative lobbies of the Capitos on those memorable occasions when House and Senate put through State wide prohibition. It meant serious inn pairment of that system. It seemed to Bome to mean dissolution Of the great maohine that was pumping knowledge into the rising generations.
 The resentment might be expected from the very nature of the case. The enactment Of Statewide was the first disturbance the Mobile County schools had experienced since the various acts of the Legislature were passed laying the keystone of the great arch that invited all to come to Mobile who sought the fountain of knowledge. The Constitution of Alabama contained the provision that the regulations of the Gulf City school system should not be disturbed or changed unless the Legis- I1ature should see fit. That section also provided that whatever general laws might be enacted with reference to education should not apply to the Mo bile schools. They might affect all other counties of Alabama but the care fully nurtured and historic regime on the coast should remain intact. The only connection with the state De- partment of Education that Mobile has today is to receive the States appor- tionment of the general educational fund and to transmit through its su- perintendent reports on the census and other things to Montgomery.
 Out of curiosity or out or 1eal- ousy. many men have wished to kno" why Mobile should be an exception In the State school system.
 History Gives Reason.
 If they would read history more they would find the reason. Mobile, being one of the oldest settlements of Ala bama started educational impulses Ethat brought early fruit. Before the war between the States, those latent forces which longed to make Mobile an influential center on the Gulf Of Mexico, began their powerful work. The proud efforts of those -bellum days resulted in the establishment Of a series of schools that grew and grew in numbers. finally making a nucleus worthy of the attention of the law making body at Montgomery. That at. tention was received. and so we find strange but most varied sources of rev. snue provided for the support of the schools in Mobile county. It was in tho act of the Legislature approved January 16, 1854. that the seeds were sown which caused education to tour- fish for half century and then by legislative disturbance to get a serious setback.
 When Statewide was forced upon Mobile. if took away the liquor licenses of saloons there. At single stroke the schools of Mobile were deprived Of more than third of their annual rev snue. The Legislature had previously told the SCIlOOl S4iNS eau could have all the State and county s share of the retail liquor licenses col lected in the city of Mobile for the support of the schools. In the last wear of saloons, this fund amounted to S6S.s96.25 Not a provision was made for filling this vast void. All that was loft was the State apportionrnent from the general fund. amounting last year No S6I.934.29 and the one mill tax on the real and personal values of the county. On the last valuation this amounted to $35,410.16.
 It was not exactly the voice Of a spoiled child that went up In protest against State wide in the fall of 1907. It was not the voice of a pampered ward. but 1t was an indignant voice. It was an injured community crying oui as earnestly and as loud as the Colon fists when the yoke of the Stamp Act pressed down upon their shoulders. More than a half century had been em- ployed in the upbuilding of this school system and without warning the bril- liant edifice was to suffer serious ad- versailles.
 Legislative Records.
 That one may know how dear wa' this system to the patrons and to the benefactors turn back to the records of the Legislature. It was provided In the act of January 16, 1854. that taxes from eleven different sources should be collected and turned over to the Mobile County School Commits sioners for the maintenance of the