The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-11-10
REMOVAL OF ILLITERACY
 OF SOLDIERS

Yhe club women of this state Wno are members Of the Federation of Women's clubs will take an active part in the drive for removing illit- eracy amon4 the draftsmen of this state and the following statement is issued by Mir. Dowell ill reference tp the drive.
 'In March, 1918, an emergency war call was sent out by. the Alabama Hit eracy commission in an effort to. enlist the patriotic people of the state iil | an intensive campaign for the removal 1 of illiteracy among draftmen. The 1 resul& were satisfactory in only few | counties, but enough was accomplished 1 to show that from psychological standpoint, the draftmen were ready to l be taught and that 9 little better 1 scheme of organization and supervision would accomplish vast deal.
 "Following up this conclusion, there- 1 fore. a joint committee consisting of ex-Gov. William D. Jelks and State tSuperintendent Spright Dowell. repre- Hsenting the illiteracy commission, and i Dr. c. w Daugette and Superintendent
 A. F Harpan, Representing the coun- 1 cil Of defense was formed to promote 1 the illiteraty work among the draft ] ment in Alabama..s The committee in turn selected MT Harman, who had volunteered his services for the cam ipafgn az executive secretary
 l 1Recognizing in this movement a distinct war measure the state coun- cil of defense through it's chairman, l Hon. Lloyd Hooper, assumed the re- sponsibility of defraying the. expenses of 10 of Alabama's representative ed- Iucators who had signiffed their will ] ingness to do the work. Theseregfonal 4 orsanizers were assigned to districts T consisting of from five to nine counS I fies each. The s-Alabama Illiteracy commission. the parent organization i for the removal. of illiteracy. prompt ly ircreassd it's force for the cam
 paien from one to four members, these field agents going from county to coun- 1 ty to give help as the needs seemed to require S
 aIt was also found necessary to issu a text book that would apyeal to the dra ftmen and .one that was filled'with stihject matter direstly related to army life. The initial edition of 10000 Was
 exhausted in a short while and sec ond edition of 5000 followed.
 4 lone of the most hopeful and cen lcrete pieces of work durIng the drive
 yvas the school at Camp Sheridan which
 grew to such proportions that more 4 than 1000 soldiers were taught daily under the direction of the Y. M. c. A workers by some 40 or fO teachers, yna iorirv of whom live in the city oi z Montgomery and were transported tt
 and from the camp daily by the wom as3,s motor corpss Six teachers. how ! ever, were brought in from Birn1fng.
 ham and their expenses were carei For by the Illiteracy commission.
 .qn order to care for this increaseS financial burden which the i1literac, drive ehtailed a request was made bs l fine advisory Mar council of the Ala
 hayns, Educational association throus, I! its ola;r,nan Superintendent Sprign
 powell to raise $500 this amount tt Be used for the purposes outlined abov' and for the contfIua ton of the wori .l of the Ifiiteracy commission until sucl . time as the legislature might have tn
 opportunity of making further provis ljcn. Wrs James R. Hagan. president Q tho Federation of Momans ciuDs, e;i Enthusiastically received the request an
 promised the amount within SD dass