The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-20

upon any foundation of selfishness and
dishonor will be as a milestone hanged
Must Share Burdens
20 The business man who has regard
for high civic ideals will never forget
that even high character does not, of
and by itself constitute good citizenship.
In order to be a good citizen the busi-
ness man must be willing to share the
burdens of the community and the COM
monwealth and the world lie must con-
cern himself in the common welfare.
Even though he may be forced 10 ex-
claim. silver and gold have | none. he
will still have the power and the heart
to say to struggling humanity, rise up
end walk. He will help to establish
and maintain schools and hospitals and
libraries and sanitarums and parks and
sood roads and every conceivable agency
to reduce crime and suffering, thereby
making men better and happier and more
prosperous. if any man would be great
among you. let him be your servant.
Naturally as college man, en-
phasize in my own mind the relation of
our business men to the problem of edu-
cation. The recent report of tile Sage
foundation placing Alabama, which stands
first in the encyclopedia and in the cleo
ton returns. at the very foot of the list
of American states in educational ef-
ficiency, was a rude shock to our pride.
Shall it not likewise prove to be a stern
challenge to our patriotism? The good
citizen will help in this supreme crisis. He
will advocate a constitutional amend
ment giving to the people the right to
provide by local taxation the money to
train their children He will follow
Thomas jefferson. the great democrat,
rather than Alexander Hamilton, the
snarling aristoerat who struck his desk
with his fist and declared that the people
were great beast, He viii repudiHte'
the idea the governments relates solely to
the material things in life. He will re-
iect the theory advanced by Mr.. Hume in
the following colloquy with Lord Rus.
sell:
Lord Russell: What is the object of
legislation"
Mr.. Hume: "The greatest good to the
Lord Russell: What is the greatest
number?''
Mr.. Hume: Number one
Why This Is Stressed
"If any one desires to know why 1t IS
that | am stressins this particular phase
of civic activity, let me say plainly that
am doing so for two reasons; % that
good schools lie at the very basis of our
civilization, and (2) that many of our
way of an efficient system of schools on
the purely selfish ground that it costs
money. IT is said that these men are
prolific of advice only il they are spared
the torture of taxation What we now
need is less soap-suds and more clothes
ashed. The rea trouble now is that
many men Nannot see that a community
is not rich simply because 1t contains a
few wealthy men; that ii is not moral
CT, ,.r,1x- hoo fol inc fau
men; that it Is not healthful simply be-
cause it contains few strong men; that
it is not Intelligent simply because it
contains a New educated men.
Here in Alabama we have great sup
ply bf iron and lumber and cotton the
three raw materials necessary to indus
trial prosperity, and an ample supply OF
coal and waterpower with which to con-
,vert them into the finished product Tell
me, then, why it is that Massachusetts
l., able to ship iron and lumber from the
west, cotton froms the south, coal from
Pennsylvania, and with its raw materials
thus gathered from the ends of the coun-
try is continuing to outstrip Alabama as
an industrial commonwealth The simple
reason is that Massachusetts has edu-
Gated her people. We talk exctedly about
developing our natural resources, appar-
emily unmindful of the fact that our
greatest undeveloped natural resource is
the neglected child, and that in the bal
ance sheet of a nation, as we'll as on
heavens books, men count for more than
coal and iron and cotton.
Business Mans Duty
us there a business man in Alabama
who is opposed to building modern
school house in every district in this COM
monweath, employing trained teacher
to conduct it, and providing for it a nine
ont he there is SnnH /
do not hesitate to say to him that he is
thinking in terms of the feudal ages;
that he has never touched even the hem
of the garment that good citizenship is
expected to wear; that he is a dead
weight on Alabama; that he is a living,
moving reason why property is not
" worth five times what 1t is worth today;
why the soil does not produce five times
what it does produce; why there are not
five million people in Alabama instead
OF two.
1--WE cannot evade the issue by saying
that we are spending for eduaction more
than we once spent. That is true. But
it is also true that we have more than
we once had. The trouble is that what
we spend is not keeping pace with what
we get The result is that Alabama to-
day, measured by the amount of money
spent on the public schools in proportion
to her actual wealth, ranks 45th in the
catalogue of American states. Surely il
behooves our city people to help In this
crisis. For, as Secretary Houston has
recently declared, II the people of the
city refuse to cooperate with the people
OF the country with a view to improving
the schools and helping to make rural
life really worth while, their selfish pol
icy is some day going to drive them out
of the city and force them to the farms
tc get their bread and meat.
Drift of Population
mo man need be surprised at the drift
of population to the cities. The surprise
is that any man who has regard for the
future of his children will remain in the