The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-02


 s3o annually for each child in school, or eight times as much as Alabama-North and Soath Carolina falling below. Only fooY would deny that in the long run states like individuals, get pretty nearly what they pay for, and this being the case. we have no right to expect to make a respectable showing in the sisterhood of state so long as we spend upon each child enrolled in school daily pittance of less than cents, while a number of other states spend three and four times this amount Are Alabama children thre1 or four times as bright as other children or will a dollar in Alabama go three oi four times as far as dollar in other states? Unless one of these alternatives be true. we must plead guilty to the charge of stinginess, ignorance or pow erty.
 | ,. Poor Teachers on Poor Salaries So long as more than two-thirds of oui white teachers hold only second or thirc l grade certificates, so long as these teach CTS remain a trifle more than a veal | at each school taught. so long as foul l years is the average length or service II l our schools, SO long as one-fourth O | our teachers have not gone beyond th' elementary school of seven grades. ant 1 so long as 1900 of the 15eo beginning ] teachers each year have had no profes sional training whatsoever, we have nc right to hope for anything but the poor est of teaching and the poorest o ] schools. Nor is that so much reflec tion upon those engaged in teaching a: upon the niggardliness and unwisdom O 1 those who are responsible for financing the schools.
 Other Vacations
 1 "Alabama is less intedested in the edu | cation of her children than is the coun try as a whole in almost any other voca tion. They tell us that the average an nual pay of a carpenter Is $S02, of coa miner $60O of factory hand so5O or ; 1 common laborer $51S Even the convict 1 in our mines are let out by contract To something like $40O per year. and yet W continue to pay the men ana women wn teach in our rural schools the miserl sums of $337 and S293, respectively, fo a years work A study of the salarie paid our teachers. in effect will sho, that they have been decreased since tn beginning of this century. A report Iron the United States bureau of educatio | sets out the fact that, based upon price | in 1897. wholesale prices in 1911 had m creas sed A per cent over the year 19o
 while retail prices had increased 50 pc
 cent. and there has been a total increas in retail prices since 1897 of 62 per cent
 "We may not deny that the teacher
 salary is both an index of the teacher ability and the stamp of approval wnic
 the community places upon the teache
 and the school. That our present teach ing force Is being paid all it is wort
 is not the question: the fact remains LIE
 so far as the education of our childre
 is concerned, we neither ask for nor dt
 sire-much less deserve-efficient sel vice.
 .rbe influence the above deplorab copetions might reasonably be expcSte to have on our literacy is fully borne ol by the facts: Only five states Tall peio
 Alabama in white illiteracy, and only or ii colored illteracy. We cannot, tnerelor as some have tried to do, justify ot
 humble position as to intelligence by u
 nresence of our colored population. W
 may disregard entirely the S,661 whi
 men and the 33 765 white women in Als
 bama who cannot read and write, ar think only of the 270OO children betwee
 the ages of 10 and 20 who cannot kno first hand the contents of any book
 the meaning of any printed character
 and we still have the strongest possib Indictment against Alabama for not fering even respectable educational o
 portunities to her sons and daughters. Have Not Looked Beyond "It is not fair to assume that Il peiurious policy we are following is eith studied of understood. The fact is V . have not looked beyond our own cor munity. do not know what Is going elsewhere and are unwilling to listen 7 the experience of others. If our peop could see the wonderful strides that a , being made in states naturally less To
 tunate than ours and with populati'
 more heterogeneous and transient; If V !. only had eyes to see what is going ! across the border lines of our own sta f even. there is no doubt that we wou
 get a new conception of duty and ado . new course of action.
 '"rhe one supreme matter which owe 9 shadows all others, the one obstacle whi ' bars all substantial progress, IS la' & l of funds for business-like administr e ton of our schools. No investment in al :. other field could produce so large return More money would give us better school q setter schools would give us better ci e izens; better citizens would produce mo l. money-a never-ending beneficient circle n Admitting that the improvement of e r ucational conditions in Alabama is q
 pendent upon additional reve.iue t . question arises as to how we should be e go about raising it. School funds in t = United States are derived, upon { s whole, as follows: dd From local taxes, including county al f dnstrict, 72 per cent
 s From state taxes. 15 per cent. Q. From permanent funds. 6 per cent. From other sources. per cent ,. ''The proportion of funds derived fro
 local taxes varies from minimum of