The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-08-25
SKAGGS WRITES ON
 STATE EDUCATION
Relative Progress of White and
 Colored Races
HOPES TO SEE ACTION
Believes People of Alabama Should Find Cause of the Present Con- dition and Prescribe the
 Remedy

eago, has written another article on the
 educational situation in Alabama which
 contains an interesting comparison of
 the relative progress being made by the
 white and colored races. He writes:
 To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 The latest report of the superintendent of education contains a table showing the amounts paid during the year and balance left on hand September 30, 1909. According to that exhibit there was paid to whites s2,143, 662 .15 and paid to colored S2S7,045 43. The negroes represent 46. 10 per cent of the total school population and received 1872 per cent of the school fund. The enrolment of the whites is 69. .34 per cent of the white school popula- ton and the negroes is 39. .31 of the ne- gro enumeration. The average daily at tendance of the whites is 62.91 of the enrolment, while the negroes show an average attendance of 67. 35 per cent of their enrolment.
 If the whites show greater interest in the education of their children, as evil denced by the higher percentage of en- rollment why is it that greater interest is not also manifest In regular attend ance? And if the low per cent of the school population that is enrolled by the negroes is evidence of apathy on the part of that race, why do we find such com paratively greater interest in regular at tendance? In answer to inquiries I have made, I have been told that inadequate accommodations and lack of sufficient teachers prevent a higher enrolment of the negroes. This may be a satisfac- tory explanation, from one point of view, if so, it is greatly to the credit of the negroes But it appears that the greater interest in regularity of attendance by the negroes, at least in large meas ure, is due to the more strenuous effort on the part of the leaders of the race to educate the children. And here we have evidence of one great blessing that has come to the negroes as the result of disfranchisement. Those who bestowed the blessing, perhaps, did it unwitingly and unintentionally, but it is none the less a real blessing for the negroes. The negro has been told that he can never vote if he is illiterate. He has been taught that education will give him the ballot, and he believes it. This teach ing has been a potent incentive to the race.
 In the absence of ample opportunities for both elementary and secondary edu- cation, disfranchisement has pulled the white race down; in proportion to his opportunities, it has lifted the negro up. It does not take the precedence of is being plainly marked, along this line of cleavage, between the industrial classes of the two races, but it will take the heart of a patriot to correct the evil and avoid the danger. If those who built the constitution did not foresee this defect in the timbers of their structure, they did not build wisely in their day; if they foresaw these defects, and made no provision against the storms that must try the strength of the material, their children will curse them when the struc- ture tumbles down.
 No review of the educational question in the south would be complete, nor in any respect satisfactory as an index to the true situation, without some comparative statement regarding the progress of both races. The Alabama educational reports contain little information on this vital point. No percentage tables have been comments that give any definite idea of the true status of any phase of the ques- tion. The report is incomplete and super icial, not so voluminous or accurate as 1t was two or four years ago and, by comparison with reports from fl states, it is the most cursory. In an investi- gation of the educational situation in Ala- bama, it is necessary to rely altogether on the report of the United States bureau of education.
 The reports from Florida, Georgia and North Carolina are comprehensive and complete. The North Carolina report is an interesting and instructive book for any one interested in social or economic questions. In Florida the percentage of school population enrolled is 72.22 for the whites and 57.31 for the negroes, the percentage of enrolment in daily attend ance is 68 IA for the whites and "A. 42 for the negroes; in Georgia, the percentage of school population Is 70. 46 for the whites, and 49 64 for the negroes, and the percen- age of enrolment in daily attendance is 66 for the whites and 59.3O for the negroes; in North Carolina the percent age of school population enrolled is 75 40 for the whites and 61 .S2 for the negroes and the percentage of enrolment in daily attendance is 63 59 for the whites and 5S.30 for the negroes. In at least five of the southern states, the negroes show higher average attendance than the whites. In this connection 1t may De interesting to consider the following, ts ken from the late biennial report of the superintendent of public instruction of North Carolina:
 There is another phase of this prob lem of negro education worthy of the serious consideration of our people. It IS manifest to me that if the negroes be- come convinced that they are to be de- plived of their schools and of the oppor- tunities of an education, most of the wis est and most self-respecting negroes will leave the state, and eventually there will be left here only the indolent, worth less and criminal part of the negro pop ulation. Already there has been consid- erable emigration of negroes from the state. There is no surer way to drive he best of them from the state than by Keeping up this continual agitation about withdrawing from them the meagre edu- eational opportunities that they now have. heir emigration in large numbers would result in a complication of the labor prob