The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-29

Ana yet the record shows that in the
 year 1919, 4 years after the civil war
 the proportion of illiteracy among our
 white population is greater than it was | in 1880. More than two generations have
 grown up since the civil war, more than
 ore-half and perhaps three-fourths of
 whom have either been totally denied
 the benefits of an edcaton, or else have had access to schools of such limited ! equipment, and of such short terms and
 untrained and inefficient teachers as to
 leave the great majority of our rural | population without adequate equipment l for the great competition of life. The 1 figures of illiteracy are startling enough | of themselves but the figures of near 1 illiteracy if they could be obtained or even estimated, would be even more | startling, since they would show conclu- sively that the little learning which the ! poet says is a dangerous thing. is all | that has been vouchsafed to the great
 mass of our people,
 l Sections of the law relating to educa- ! ton during 1888. though enacted by a
 so-called carpet bag government" are | Troted m the statement to show that the educational authorities of those days were given more authority in this impor- | tant matter than is given in the year
 19l9. Details of laws on the books up to 1 1901 are given. Of the change in 1901 the | statement says:
 | III tIe or lyUl, mate | rial change for the better is to be noted
 The revenue dirived from three mills of | state taxes was to be devoted exclu- sively to educational purposes There was | also a provision under which any
 county of the State by a three-fifths
 vote could levy additional mill for school purposes. The other provisions | however, remained substantially un- l changed. Although conditions were im- proved by this tax privilege, the relief was entirely inadequate, as the results have clearly shown.
 1 The next step in this matter was taken | by the legislature in 1915 when it sub-
 mitted constitutional amendment au- | thorizing any county of the State by l majority vote to levy three-mill tax | for educational purposes in such county, With the further provision that when any county had adopted the three-mill tax l any district in such county might vote three more mills for school purposes in such district. A very marked improve
 ment has resulted from that amendment. | Sixty-three counties have already adopt | ed the county tax, in some of them, however, the tax is not effective until I the next year. About two hundred school districts in all have voted the district 1 tax.
 LINGERS AROUND BOTTOM 1 But with all this, Alabama still fingers around the bottom The limitations upon taxation are still the most drastic of
 any state in the union and the available | revenues are lamentably low and wholly inadequate.
 None of our city schools have been better than they should, few of them have been as efficient and we'll equipped as they ought to have been, but even our best have reached only small pro- portion of our population The great bulk of our population is ia the country. Alabama's great future is mainly in the hands of those who will till the soil | and labor in the mines and forests. Po tentially these people are our noblest as- set, but they have been neglected and the fruits of that neglect are spread all over the face of the history of our state. "An examination of records will show that school conditions in the country are not nearly 50 good as school conditions in the cities of this state; that the white counties of the State school conditions are not equal to those in the black belt counties; that school conditions in Ala hama are not so good as those in the great states to the north and west of which have met this question and have solved it in the only way it can be solved-by paying the price and reaping
 the reward. That they have paid more for the education of their children, all will admit. That it has paid them to pay more the records will indsputably esta blish."
 At this point the commission shows a ta ble, containing information of the area, population, native born illiterates, aver age annual salary of teachers, average
 amount per capita of population spent for education, total for education in the states of Alabama, California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts. | Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
 Washington. Wisconsin, during the years of 1914-15.
 1- This table shows that Oklahoma, al- though a much younger state, spends l annually $, 9,253,569 as compared with Ala
 bama's s5,010,426 Since that time it is probable that Oklahoma has increased her expenditure for schools Of all the states shown Alabama ranks last in the
 amount spent. The percentage Of na- tive born white illiterates per thousand of population is shown to be 99 This is compared to percentage of S3 for Okla homa.
 | We find that Oklahoma, the youngest
 of all the states. with much smaller population, expended nearly twice as
 much per capita than We did, | The commission asks this question: | "FJas 1t paid them?" And then the ans
 wer is shown in lengthy table which | shows the value of the crops. the numoer 1 of acres undtr cultivation, and the wealth | of all the crops of the various states The total value of farms in Oklahoma in 1910 ] is shown to be more than 800 900 as com
 pared to ss7O13s,429 for Alabama. | Total bank deposits in all the states
 mentioned in the comparison above, are i given, the contention of the commission
 being that educational institutions are ] beneficial from financial standpoint 10 l the individuals. The total individual de-
 posts in banks of Alabama are shown
 to be slo2, ,00o as compared with more
 than s232, ,0OO, 900 for Oklahoma, next 10 | the lowest in the compilation.
 OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHILDREN
 Says the report of the opportunities or 1 fered the children of Alabama:
 sIt must be remembered also that eau cational advantages are not equal within the state The average length of schooi term in the cities is substantially nlhe
 months for whites; in the country dls- tricts. it is only six months. In five ltypical counties-Cleburne. Cherokee, Jackson. Cullman and Franklin, 1t IS less than four and one-half months.
 while in Lowndes, Bullock, Butler, sum ter. Macon and Dallas, the average IS practically eight months. Statistics bearing on this point are as follows;
 TABLE IV.-Group L
 | County Lays