The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-01
Some Details Showing the Advantages of Free Text
 Books for Children
SOAP AND CLOTHES
 ARE ONLY EXPENSE
A Few Items Showing What the Authorities Furnish for Benefit of Children Living in
 Washington
By WALTER HARPER


 city of Birmingham has public school system of which it may well feel proud. Ii has in Dr. J. H. Phillips one of the .g best equipped superintendents in the United States.
 But there is still something lacking 10 make the system perfect and as 1t should be. I believe that Dr. Phillips has al ready suggested one of the reforms that would go far toward extending the pub lie school advantages to those people who are in most need Of it's benefits. That is the free distribution of books and sup plies.
 The next reform. and one that would naturally follow the first, is compulsory attendance. You could not enforce com pulsory attendance without free books. Free books would render compulsory at tendance easy. So the two ideas or sys- tens go together.
 Under Birmingham's present system. l and, for that matter, the system that pre- I yails in most of the cities of the south the expense of keeping the pupils sup
 piled with books and other supplies puts | even free public school out of the | reach of many poor children. The expense of keeping a small family | of children supplied with the books and \ supplies that required in Birmingham x is a sore burden to many families of mod .l crate means.
 M I know one widow with five children in '= the school age who had to deny her ehil- ,s dren the advantages of the public school in Birmingham for the simple reason that she was unable to answer the repeated
 calls for new books and supplies l sup pose such cases are known to almost
 every citizen of the town
 I have been greatly interested in the ' z system here in Washington. where even 2 the beads used. to teach the Kindergarten
 pupil to count are supplied by the munich
 pality.
 Here every child in the school age is re- oulred to attend school, and the only ex- , pense to which the parent is put-is in " soap and water to keep his children clean
 and tidy, and comfortable clothing. These essentials are expected of the parent whether the child Is in school not. and \ 1t Is a very extreme case where this re- | quirement cannot be met.
 A few statistics culled from the last
 annual report of the Washington pub ] lie school officials will probably in-
 1erest Birmingham readers Indeed. the
 public institutions In Washington are
 public in the truest sense of the word Y As the seat of government of the United N States. its institutions are supported by the fedeTa1 government ana every ' -.itizen of the United States has a citi-
 zenship interest in them.
 The enrolment during the last ses-
 sion was 54.792. White enrolment was
 s7.0s9. Colored 17703. The average number of pupils in daily attendance
 was 43,s1s. Number of teachers em-
 ployed. 1928.
 y1 Text books and supplies are furnished bnly to the first eight grades. The pupils are expected to furnish their own books above the eighth
 )\ The total cost of the day schools for fhe session. including everything, from teachers and officers salaries. medical inspectors, rents on buildings, new buildings, to books and supplies was
 s2.775,950, A.
 Total cost of the night schools, whicn ran for "A nights and had an attend 4 ance of 3779 pupils. was s21. .242 .04.
 The amount paid out for books and supplies for the entire system during the session was s63, 0.Sl. Of course this does not represent the full value of books and supplies used during the year. This only represents new books and supplies added to those already on hand. The books belong to the city and are only loaned to the pupils while they are actually using them. It is claimed that the wear and tear is uo. as severe where the children own their own books and feel none of the responsibility or keeping them Tor fu- ture use If book is unnecessarily destroyed injured he parent or guardian is expected to pay for the damage.
 There are in the Washington system 1l7s separate schools. including 6l kinder gartens and l5 ungraded schools These ungraded schools are for the training Of delinquent or feeble minded children
 The average cost per pupil for books end supplies including salaries of libra rians was s1.41. The average cost per rupil for books alone was $0.76S Compare your boy and girl in school in Birming- ham.
 Here are some of the items culled from the list of supplies purchased during the session for the use of the pupils: 925 sets of beads. s1s6.75, 75oo bean bags, fSisC. 75. 34.60o book covers, $500; 26 740 draw fs2 4ooo quarts black ink, s56O; j2i cans of ue. s96.94 697 pnts of mucilage, S1sl 6S : 4A yards white enamel oil cloth, s121 50: :. poo cakes paint, s5s5.S0: 295 packages of e 2pposition paper $4,2o625; 9l.g97 pack z as Is of writing pads. $2.S2490: o75 quarts ( si ke pegs, $54 2360 gross pencils, s3.g7 70; tGHe, just few less than half million peAcis. Did you ever stop to think how i they count up at nickel a throw?) i: clo0 gross pens, $1,0S0: 24 pyramids pins trlain pins), s10s; 600 pounds rubbers. :. ss5Ss; 4s00 pairs scissors, SASS. These are z just a few of the items listed as sup plies. but give some idea of the great < saving to parents.
 " The chief attendance officer, who, by