The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-11-29
Splendid Progress Made IN
Statewide Campaign Against
Illiteracy.
TEACHERS PRAISED
BY SUPERINTENDENT.
Increase in Enrolment III Pub
lie Schools aud in Attend
ance Gratifying - Present
Year Good.

The Years Progress" was the st b.
Ject Of the annual message Of state
superintendent OF Public instruction
f. &. Stparues 10 the Eighth Annual
Educational Conference OF Virginia
which VAS held in Richmond during
the week. He spoke jr inspiring and
enthusiastic terms o. the increase IL
schooi enrolment and average daily
attendance snd predicted the cam
.paien against illiteracv Tn Virginia Will
have been proved Il successful one
aithin the next few years
When q State can show n greater
liner TN s.. hGol enrolment during
III" sf'ace If two year, than during
shy decade a. ill., recent history. all
good citizens W!ll ~ish to learn the
facts Furt befmore. If the - nae state
can teroWn L. special Efforts for tv Q
years With the intelligent and conf
dent predict on thar Ssich a record .
a no1st 10 hc .s.!ioscd ~ the record ~
a single year which wiiI show iargss
gains in enrolment thsu during tbe
1--WE preeedins years combined, eNsry--
one viii Join iu me sppla lse for Of
T9.sts ard teachers Who hae" SO sig
natIv triuup 91eJ over distance. roads
and limited financial difficulties"
The safe aperiuteDdept- then. pro-
cecds To- give some figures wdirh GER
te.nly cFgttjf5ed these w1o have the
interest of oar schools at heart. He
said: During the pas Two wears
Virginia has Increased her enro'linent
from 4aa.Sa5 10 i+g,72l The differ
ence between thes~ two numbers In
80. sas. and the ratio Of increase IL
8 per cent The number thus added
- AL Ia 81 -
eauaiiinr tire net increase during the
Yifteen wears that preceded the ses-
sion iai2-i :, snd ie greater than the
increase % any recent tcn-year period
rs has already heen stated The 1919
III increasc aior~ was 1888. Such
~ ins record Of the two years which
have just passed. but tho division sap
erirtenden have just been asked to
estimate the prohsbie Increase for the
current wear on the .lasis OF present
enrolment Their separate estimates.
which saouiG lie perfectly reliable
have h~en added together and the
Gran total equals $4,000. II thus Az
pears thst our total enrolment at the
close OF session 1stii5 will prob
ably reach the magnificent figure OF
ts0.1si. and increase OF 7o,se6, or !!
per cent. ia three years
Is Vigorous Campaign
Mr.. Stearnes said that these sp'en
did increases in enrolment, particu
Iarty those OF the current session. in
dictate the .1gcr OF the Statewide cam =
paixn against iiiiteracy. He called
attention to the fact that IN. increase
OF one wear In Carroll alone had been
1000. In Patrick soc, and in Graysor
500.
Next the speaker touched on the
r.. fx. % O..
tendance He repeated that the In
crease In enrolment during the two
wear period mentioned was a2,s9S.
while the increase In daily average at
tendance during the same period was
al zoos. The former increase was .
per cent the latter - per cent.
AT this point the teachers came I'm
for Z liberal share OF praise AT the
hands Of the State superintendent.
10 this correction he added that the
servfces rendered by the teachers were
evidently appropriated. not only by
himself. but by the people at large.
As 4 proof OF this, he cited the fact
that during the 1884 session teach
ers' salaries had been increased $36f,-
o8S.ol, while the increase during the
two-year period was sea7,3s5.es. He
expressed the hope that the session
1S14-1S would not only double the
yearly increase In enrolment and ey-
eragr attendance. but would likewise
double the annual increase In teachers
ysls ries
Encouraging Activity.
The superintendent next read ex-
tracts from many letters he had re-
ceived from the division supefintend-
cnts of the State. These extracts all
showed activity Of the most encourae-
Ing sort. and many concrete iliustra-
tjons of the good efforts OF the cam
paign against illiteracy.
4 moment later Mr.. Stearnex touci,-
ed on compulsory education and the
growing belief that 1t is an absolute
necessity. After mentioning the fac:
that the counties Of Allegheny, Henri
20, Rockingham. Shenandoah and Wis
and the cities of Clifton Forge, Lynch
burg, Petersburg and RichmQnd have
Nated for compulsory education by
overwhelming majorities, he mention
ed that the Teachers Association of
rsrayson County had gone so far m
TO cali for Statewide law with the
present local option feature eliminated.
1T really seems. said the speaker.
.'as II We are all coming to the point
where We are ready to say. with the
colored teacher who wrote me last
week that she was in the field fight
ing against iiliteracy. superstition, tu-
serculosis and other prevalent dis
cases
During the year which closed in
June Virginia built 1856 new school
houses at a cost OF ssSs.273.S4. These
buildings provide $50 .lew rooms, but
not enough. II is apparent Tor the $40
additional teachers who were employ
I'd. Twenty new high schools we're e.
tablished under that name during
1913-l4, making the total number Sl4.