Franklin's paper the statesman., 1911-04-29
BY cLEvELANp c. ALLEN.

four new buildings at the KOwaltga
school. in Elmore county. Ala, were
formally laid during the Easter holi-
days. and within a few weeks these
structures. now approaching compile
ton, will be dedicated to the uses Of a
colored community that is .'leveling
up" to use the phrase of its leader.
through the medium of simple educa-
ton and well directed industry. The
buildings take the place of those de-
stroyed by fire some two years ago
and are remarka Bile. inasmuch as they
are the product of colored workmen,
who felled and sawed timber for them,
made the shingles ard joiner work
and called upon the outside world for
no materials save nails and hardware
Kowaliga differs widely from other
colored schools in that IL seeks NOT to
train highly educated academic or in
dustrial leaders for the race at large.
but to develop the economic resources
of restricted territory by teaching
the landowners and tenants how to
take advantage of the opportunities
open to them. incidentally. their moral
welfare is not neglected. and in the
surrounding country the Kowalisa
people have the reputation of being
law abiding as well rs Industrious
Without the advantages afforded By
the school 1t is reasonable TO assume
that few of these people would have
outCrown the ignorance in which they
were bred. and without the industries
that have sprung up TO re-enforce the
educational features of their life it is
! doubtful whether they could have pro
gressed to any appreciable extent
along industrial lines.
How Community Was Founded.
The history of KowaliSa community
dates back forty years. when John
Benson bought 100 acres of land form
| ing part OF the plantation on which he
| had lived as ii slave. He was : thrifty
man and could turn his hand a. most to
anything. When he received his free
| dom he went to work for $40 month
| aud at the end Of his first year he had
saved 800. That WIS the way he ac-
cumulated money enough to purchase
land. His wife WAS a government
schoolteacher. one of the very first Of
| county In the reconstruction period to
impart to the colored people what lit
tie knowledge she had acquired.
All of the Benson children received
| a sound education. and when the son
William +. Benson. returned to his
home after graduating from Howard
university in 1895 he determined to
see what he could do to raise the
standard OF living among his neigh
bors.
They had little capital. and their
knowledge of modern agricultural
methods was practically nil. Under the
circumstances their children were des-
tined to follow the same improbable
path on the farm or suffer worse luck
by drifting TO the city, unless their en-
vironnent underwent n change.
So Benson junior. In company with
classmate and teacher. called the
farmers to the cabin schoolhouse where
he got his rudimentary education and
told them he wanted to give their
children grammar school education
and a certain amount of industrial and
domestic training. He wanted. he said.
to develop their latent abilities SO that
they might become intelligent and
thrifty. Logs were felled and cut in
the sawmill owned by Benson senior:
shingles were made and n kiln of brick
was burned for the foundation and
chimneys. Benson's father provided
ten acres OF land. and in two years
the first building OF kowaliga school
was completed.
Tv, hr,
was opened. Benson put into effect his
labor scheme by organizing the Dixie
Industrial company, in which several
uortberners took stock. Some Of them
did not expect to see their money
again. but were willing to make the
experiment Of building up an industrial
community. A tract OF 5000 acres OF
virgin timberland was purchased at
low figure. and the plan to provide
work the whole year through was de-
veloped along definite lines.
There are about 1000 people In the
Kowaliga district. which Is nine miles
long and six wide. and OF these about
thirty families. representing one-quar-
ter Of the population. own their
farms. on which they plant cotton
and vegetables and raise stock and
poultry. They are better housed today
than ever before. because the sawnills
they help to operate provide them with
building materials Mt moderate prices.
while the value OF the land has doubled
In ten years. owing to the exploitation
of the district. The company has in
creased Its holdings to 10000 acres,
and while II il turning over some Of
the cleared lnnd 90 the fxrmer It Is
also practicinE conservation by reserv-
iuk certain proportion Of its holdings
for the development Of q second