The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-22


terms of treaty signed at Washington
December 90 1907.
delegates were Carlos Lara of Costa
Rica, Victor Sanchez. ocana of Guate-
mala; Jedro Jose Bustillo of Honduras
Emilio Alvarez of Nicaragua and Manuel
l. Morales of Salvador.
Mariono Vasquez. minister of foreign
relations of Honduras, made the address
of welcome and gave the keynote of the
convention He said:
you come here to complete the task
of drawing together the peoples of Cen
trail America, who wish to return to a
union that will be political entity-that
will make them one nation.
The most important part of the pro-
gramme was a proposal from Nicaragu
that the conference insist that those gov
ernments which had not already done so,
number of schools or classes SOL: num-
ber of teachers, coz; number Of seats 81
ASS; number cases of tardiness 23,l95;
number cases of truancy, S4l: number
cases of corporal punishment, 4524; num-
Der cases of suspension, 81 total registra-
ton 1912-1913, 25,320; total registration 1911
1912, 23505; increase in registration. 1915
average membership 1912-1913, 10, 346;
average membership 1911-19l2, 11s7a; in
crease in average membership, 1872; aver
age daily attendance 19l2-l913. 7,79G; aver
age daily attendance 1911-1912, 1885, in
crease in average daily attendance, i401.
"A comparison of the total registration
in the schools with the census figures OF
July 1912, must necessarily be misleading.
As the census of youth between the ages
= Il &,I4,,
we must assume that a much large.' per
centage of youth of education ase are
not registered in the schools than would
appear from these statistics. 1t is esti-
mated that not more than 1000 pupils,
white and colored. are enrolled in the
private and parochial schools of the city.
Improvement in Attendance
I'm the absence of compulsory at
tendance laws, it is not to be expected
that in the matter of enrolment and
average daily attendance, the record of
our schools should compare favorably
with that of cities of the same class in
which school attendance is not left to the
Volition of pupils and parents. The fact
that the increase in the average daily
attendance during the last year Is sight
ly greater than the increase in the aver
age membership is an indication of i'm
provement in attendance. In the white
schools about 1913 per cent attended
every day the schools were in session. in
the negro schools only about Az per cent
of the total.
the white pupils were born in Birmins-
ham. 2s per cent in Alabama, exclusive
of Birmingham, and II per cent In the
southern states, exclusive of Alabama; Z
per cent We're born in eastern. northern
and western states, and only 2.5 per cent
We're born in foreign countries. Nearly
80 per cent of our white children were
born in the southern states.
State and County School Funds
Under our present constitutional and
statutory restrictions, it will be readily
admitted that the city of Birmingham. as
well as the other larger municipalities
in Alabama, must operate their local
governments under serious disadvantages.
| wish to indicate few of the more
! serious difficulties encountered by our
city in dealing with the educational sit
uation.
In article xiv, section 266 of the state
constitution, we find the following pro-
vision for the apportionment and dstri-
button of the public school funds of the
state: The public school fund shall be
apportioned to the several counties in
proportion to the number OF children oil
school age therein, and shall be so ap-
portioned to the schools in the districts OF
townships in the county as to provide.
as nearly as practicable school terms of
equal duration in such school districts OF
townships The power to carry into eff
feet this provision is vested by the legis-
lature in the county board of educa-
ton. 1t is worth while to consider the
practical operation of this constitutional
provision as it affects the city of Bir-
mingham
fAIIA a.
tistical facts necessary to an understand
ing of the question:
Biennial Census-Jefferson county, CEN
sus 1910, 65,904; census 1912, 71,72S; Birming-
ham, census 1910, 1886: census 1912, As, $50;
county outside city, census 1910, 26, 36S;
census 1912, 2S,O69.
State and County Funs Received-Jef-
ferson county Q910-lD, 1882, ,s05 .24 Q91l-12),
S359, ,657. CD: Q912-13), $I3O54 OF; Birming-
ham 09l0-lD, 500, 900; Q911-12), 500. 600;
d912-13). s2ls,oOO; county outside city, q9l0-
ID, s15o,s05,24; q911-12 $l57.657 81; Q9l2-13),
$195 054.07.
Per Capita of Observation-Disclosures
county Q9l0-1D, $5.35; Q911-12), $5.46; d912-
49,, 10; Birmingham, Q910-1D, s5. IL; 1911
12), s511; G912-13), s4.99; county outside
city, Q910-1D, s5.72; Q911-12), 599; q912-13),
$685..
Increase Is Alarming
ne dpoNe IdctS are given Tor the past
three years, so that the figures may be
studied as they apply to series of
years, rather than to a single year. t
will be noted that the child living in
Birmingham received less than the child
living in the county outside of Birming-
ham in 1910a11, by 61 cents: in Hs1-12 by
SS cents. and in 1928 by 1896. In other
words the discrimination against the city
child and in favor of the child living in
the county outside the city is progressive.
The amount apportioned TO the city by
the county board of education in 1911-l2
was exactly the same as the amount APP
portioned the preceding year, although the
amount of state and county funds, owing
to increased assessments, was greater
by s6s52.S. But in 1923 we find the
total of the state and county school funds
in the hands of the county board in
creased by $53,396.46. and the per capita
Of Birmingham reduced to s4.99, while
the per capita Of the county outside of
Birmingham Is increased to $685., a dis
elimination of $1.96 per census child
against Birmingham.
'1f the city of Birmingham received
her apportionment of the state and county
school funds on the per capita basis
given for the entire county including
Birmingham, as under the former con-
stitution, the city would still receive far
less than the amount of taxes contribu-
ted to the schools of the state and county
under our tax system, as everyone well
knows. The amount lost to Birmingham
through the methods of apportionment
employed during the past three years.
computed on the per capita basis for
the entire county, is as follows: