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 Alabama's First Question 
 
 From P. 0. Box No. 347 
 
 Montgomery, Alabama 
 
 1904 
 
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v-^rvrvv jfi'vyyltyL^ , ^^^ 
 
 ALABAMA'S FIRST QUESTION: 
 
 LOCAL SUPPORT S LOCAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 T 
 
 A PERSONAL LETTER. 
 
 JHE following communication was addressed on Feb- 
 ruary 15, 1904, to a number of the leading citi- 
 zens of Alabama. The letter is self-explanatory. 
 
 Montgomery, Alabama, Feb. 15, 1904. 
 
 Hon. and Dear Sir: 
 
 I send you herewith the printer's proofs of an article on 
 the subject of local taxation for educational purposes. This 
 statement has been written by Dr. J. H. Phillips, Superintend- 
 ent of Schools for the City of Birmingham It is my pur- 
 pose to reprint it for general distribution among the people 
 of Alabama, and to accompany it — in its published form — by 
 the printed comments of a number of the leading citizens of 
 the State. The completed pamphlet will thus form a local 
 symposium upon the subject with which it deals. 
 
 A Collection of To this collection of brief opinions I 
 
 Opinions. earnestly invite you to contribute, 
 
 making such comment upon Dr. Phillips's argument as you 
 may think best. Contributors are requested to confine their 
 statements within the limit of from tw^o to six hundred 
 words, in order that the whole pamphlet may not be ex- 
 cessively large. 
 
 In sending you this communication, and in taking the lib- 
 erty of asking you to perform this public service, may I 
 venture to lay before you some of the reasons why I regard 
 this subject as of such immediate importance ? 
 
 Alabama's Progress No citizen of our beloved State can 
 
 Since i88o. record w^ithout pride the history of 
 
 the development of Alabama during the past twenty years. 
 Industrially and commercially these two decades have been 
 years of conspicuous change, of change from small things to 
 great things, and from anxiety to confidence. 
 
What We Spend fot Unless our educational progress is to 
 
 lEducation. keep pace, however, with the ad- 
 
 vancing business of the State, — who will hold the larger num- 
 ber of the remunerative positions -which the movement of 
 business is creating? Must these be given, in the future, to 
 the trained men and women of other localities, while all too 
 many of the sons and daughters of the State must be con- 
 demned to the less advantageous employments ? Is there not 
 danger that this will follow, unless we bring the training 
 which Alabama is giving to her children a little nearer to 
 the standard provided b^ other commonw^ealths ? Alabama 
 expends, per pupil in average attendance, only $4.41 a year 
 for public education. Mississippi spends $6.48 ; Texas spends 
 $9.95; Louisiana spends $8.82; Virginia spends $8.91 ; Flor- 
 ida spends $10.41; Oklahoma spends $13.44; Maryland 
 spends $18.81; Kansas spends $17.59; Nebraska spends 
 $23.08; Iowa spends $24.63. I do not mention the even 
 greater expenditures of some of the other States of the North 
 and West. No State, apparently, in our whole country 
 spends as little as Alabama. (See the Report of the U. S. 
 Commissioner of Education, 1902, Vol. I, p. Ixxxviii). 
 
 A Question of Business Need I dwell upon the natural effect 
 as well as_ a Question Qf gy^h figures in determining the 
 of [Education. movement of desirable immigration? 
 
 To the man who really cares about the future of his children 
 — which State is likely to seem the more attractive — the one 
 which offers to spend $4.50 a year upon the child, in the 
 average ; or the State which offers to spend $20 ? 
 
 The Interest of the But more important and more sacred 
 
 Children. than any of the commercial or mate- 
 
 rial advantages of a strong educational policy is the con- 
 sideration of our children's welfare. It is not enough that 
 our city children should be well provided for. Our larger 
 cities and many of our larger towns have ample school ac- 
 commodations. But these reach only a small fraction of the 
 children of our State. Less than 7^2 per cent, of our people 
 live in incorporated places of 8,000 population and over. 
 Outside of cities and towns of that size there live more than 
 92 per cent, of Alabama's entire population. Ours are an 
 agricultural people. We must not, we cannot forget the 
 country child. That in this age of exacting competitions the 
 
young life of our commonwealth may be fitted to hold its 
 own, that every eager and awakening mind may be wisely 
 trained for its share in the labor and service of the world, 
 that every human creature may enter at least a little way 
 into that happiness which comes from knowing how to live 
 intelligently and fruitfully, that every child of this State of 
 ours way have its chance, — this is a resolution which may 
 well become one of the commanding interests of our religion 
 and one of the cardinal tenets of our social and political 
 progress. 
 
 ■r^.^ ^ . ./ -^.«. < « "But," exclaim those who know the 
 What IS the Difficulty? .^ i . i . , 
 
 sacnfaces which our people have 
 
 made for their schools, * 'Alabama gives more than half of 
 her general revenues for public education." It is true; and 
 the fact presents a noble and inspiring record. Where, then, 
 is the trouble ? If Alabama gives so large a share, a larger 
 portion than that given by almost any other State from 
 the general revenues, why is it that the actual amount of 
 her expenditure is so small, and that the expenditure of other 
 States is sometimes from two to seven times as large ? Is it 
 because she is poor and other States are rich ? That is but 
 a small part of the difficulty. Other States, too, are poor. 
 It is because in Alabama the schools have practically no 
 other revenues than those supplied by general state taxa- 
 tion. The separate counties have not been allowed to sup- 
 port their schools by a tax of their own — levied by their 
 own people for the education of their own children. In 
 other States this latter method, the method of local taxa- 
 tion, is the chief support of public education. The vast 
 expenditure for education in New England comes almost 
 wholly from this source. In Massachusetts, for example, less 
 than one dollar out of every hundred comes from the State 
 government. More than ninety-seven dollars come directly 
 from the people of the district or the locality affected. 
 
 Nor is this exclusively a "Northern plan." The plan is 
 working just as well in Mississippi, where there are more 
 negroes, both actually and proportionately, than in Alabama. 
 Almost half the public school funds of Mississippi come from 
 local taxation. And Mississippi spends nearly half again as 
 much for each child in average attendance as Alabama; and 
 the illiteracy of the native white people of Mississippi is 8 
 per the cent., while that of Alabama is nearly 15 per cent. 
 
The method of local taxation is also in effective use in 
 the States of Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisi- 
 ana. Just recently it has been introduced with great vigor 
 in North Carolina also, and more than 185 school districts 
 in that State have voluntarily voted an increased local tax 
 for better schools. Their people may do this because it is 
 permitted by the Constitution of the State. In Alabama our 
 people have not done this, because their State Constitution 
 has prohibited it. 
 
 The Beginning of a In our new Constitution, however, 
 
 Better Method. -j-jjig inhibition has been partially 
 
 removed. The people of each county — provided the general 
 tax limit has not been reached — may vote an additional tax 
 of one mill (ten cents on each one hundred dollars worth of 
 property) for public school purposes. This relief is wholly 
 inadequate. No such drastic limitation has been found nec- 
 essary in other Southern States. The people of Alabama have 
 as much right to be free to educate their children as the 
 people of South Carolina or Mississippi. And if a county in 
 one section of the State is — for any reason — unvvrilling to vote 
 a local tax, why should its unwillingness be placed as a 
 barrier in the way of other counties, presenting different con- 
 ditions and having a different disposition ? I would not 
 advocate compulsion in such a matter. It is against com- 
 pulsion that I write. Is it not obvious that our counties 
 should be free to do as they like with their own ? To pro- 
 hibit the people of a county from levying upon their ow^n 
 property — if they choose to do so — for the education of their 
 own children, seems to me both un-democratic and un-Amer- 
 ican. 
 
 Inadequate, how^ever, as is the relief 
 sing a e ave. afforded by our present Constitution, 
 our people may well be urged — vsrherever they may be dis- 
 posed to do so — to accept it and to act under it. Something 
 must be done. Educationally Alabama has made striking 
 and gratifying progress. In the twenty years since 1880, 
 she has reduced her negro illiteracy from 80.6 to 57.4 per 
 cent., and her native white illiteracy from 25 per cent, to 
 14.8 per cent. Yet, while this progress should be frequently 
 called to mind, we should be guilty of a false kindliness and 
 a mistaken pride if we failed to face the darker side of the 
 picture. The true service of Alabama lies not in the con- 
 
stant flattery of our people, but in a sympathetic, yet fear- 
 less revelation of the conditions which encompass them. 
 The course of true affection and of a wise loyalty is the 
 course which names the disease— not in order to point the 
 finger of reproach — but in order to find and apply the rem- 
 edy. If our State is burdened with a great mass of popular 
 ignorance, the facts concern us, concern our welfare and our 
 progress, more than they concern anybody else. 
 
 Alabama has reduced her illiteracy, 
 but in the scale of popular intelli- 
 gence — as tested by the illiteracy of the native white popu- 
 lation — our State stands 47th in the list! Only three other 
 States stand lower in the scale. (See U. S. Census for 1900, 
 Vol. 11. p., ciii; and Report of U. S. Commissioner of Educa- 
 tion, 1902, Vol. II, p. 2338.) 
 
 There are eight counties in Alabama in which 20 per 
 cent, and over of the white men of voting age are illiterate. 
 These counties are St. Clair, Winston, Franklin, Chilton, 
 Covington, Cherokee, Cleburne, and Coffee. 
 
 There are four counties in our State in which there are 
 (in each) more than three thousand white people ten years 
 of age and over who cannot read and write. These are 
 Jefferson, Henry, Jackson and Marshall. There are twenty- 
 two counties in which there are (in each) over tw^o thousand 
 w^hite people, ten years of age and over, who cannot read and 
 write. These are Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chilton, Cle- 
 burne, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Dekalb, Etowah, Franklin, 
 Geneva, Henry, Jackson, Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, Ran- 
 dolph, St. Clair, Talladega, Tuscaloosa, Walker. No negroes 
 are included in these figures. Nor are any foreigners included. 
 I have here had reference only to the native white popula- 
 tion. The exact figures for each county may be found on p. 
 470, table 84, of the second volume of the U. S. Census for 
 1900. 
 
 There was in the whole State of Alabama in 1900 a 
 native white population, ten years of age and over, number- 
 ing 700,823. Of this population 103,570— or nearly one- 
 sixth of the whole — could not read and write. That is a large 
 number of white people for Alabama. It is a number 
 greater than the number of the total white population (for 
 1900) of Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, Florence, Hunts- 
 ville, Anniston,New Decatur, Opelika,Phoenix,Selma, Troy,Tal- 
 
ladega, Tuscaloosa, Gadsden, Bessemer, and Eufaula. In 
 other words the number of the native white illiterates of the 
 State exceeded at the time of the last national census, the 
 number of the aggregate white population of our sixteen 
 largest cities. It is true that but a small proportion of the 
 population of Alabama is in our large cities. That fact 
 should be borne steadily in mind. And yet, after every con- 
 ceivable allowance has been made, the facts— facts laid bare 
 to the world, not by this or that individual, but by the 
 official public records of our government — are serious enough. 
 
 Reproach Will I<ie, Not Let no one suppose that I have 
 
 *" JU^*^^^''''' ^^* '^^ called attention to these things be- 
 Indifference to It. t ^ j -j. i ^ ^ i 
 
 cause 1 nnd it pleasant to do so, or 
 
 in order to bring reproach upon our people. I do it in order 
 to remove reproach ; I do it in order that by facing the facts 
 just as they are, our people may, everywhere, be roused from 
 indifference, and helped toward the finding and the applica- 
 tion of a remedy. What shall the remedy be ? Relief must 
 be found in better teachers, better school houses, better school 
 supervision, better country roads, and in a closer adaptation 
 of our public school instruction to the practical needs of our 
 people. 
 
 The Question of More But back of all these considerations 
 Money. there lies the problem of resources. 
 
 With an expenditure, per pupil in average attendance, of less 
 than five cents a day for only about one hundred days in 
 the year, how are these elements of progress to be secured ? 
 Ho^w — therefore — may we solve the problem of resources ? 
 
 There are but four possible directions in which we may 
 look: 
 
 (1) Larger State Appropriations. It is obvious, how- 
 ever, that the Legislature can give, for the general school 
 fund, little if any more than it gives to-day. With more 
 than half of all the revenues going to public education, 
 the State — as a State — has practically reached its limit. 
 
 (2) Possible National Appropriations. I personally 
 believe in the wisdom and the justice of such relief. But 
 — even if it should be secured — such a provision probably 
 could not be obtained in time to affect the life of any 
 living child of school age. And when secured it should 
 come in response to local taxation, and not as a substi- 
 tute for it. 
 
(3) Private Philanthropy. Three great organizations 
 — the Peabody Board, the Slater Board and the General 
 Education Board — have represented the policy of private 
 aid. The policy has been noble in its motive, wise in its 
 methods, and helpful in its results. But it is wholly, 
 conspicuously, permanently inadequate. The funds of 
 these organizations are insufficient for any but excep- 
 tional and occasional cases. There exist upon the files 
 of one of these organizations alone, enough applications 
 from the South — from institutions and localities worthy 
 of every confidence — to absorb ^thin a single year the 
 aggregate capital of all three of these Boards. Their 
 work is indispensable. It must go on, and will go on. 
 But it is inadequate and — in the very nature of the case 
 — must always be so. 
 
 (4) The Increasing Support of the Schools by Local 
 Taxation. It is a method almost universally adopted 
 throughout our country ; it represents the principle of 
 self-help; it deepens interest and responsibility by more 
 largely making the support of the schools a point of 
 local pride ; and, inasmuch as the people always closely 
 w^atch the use of money they themselves directly contrib- 
 ute, it is a method of support which insures the largest 
 measure of efficiency. 
 
 There are many other considerations 
 
 ppor uni y o e p. ^j^jch it would be well to urge, but 
 
 the limitations of space forbid. Local taxation seems so 
 
 seriously, so immediately important, because it is, apparently, 
 
 our only "way out." 
 
 I earnestly ask that you will kindly weigh the sugges- 
 tions here made, together with the argument of Dr. Phillips, 
 and I hope that you w^ill consent to send me a brief com- 
 ment for publication. Deeply concerned as you are in refer- 
 ence to the welfare of the masses of our people, I trust you 
 will not misunderstand the spirit in w^hich I have written. 
 My desire is not the ambition of the officious or the intru- 
 sive. Believing that the subject should receive the serious 
 consideration of our people, I have attempted so to present 
 it — in conjunction with the views of a number of my fellow 
 citizens — that it may most readily command the interest and 
 approval of the State. Asking that you will kindly address 
 me at P. 0. Box 347, Montgomery, Alabama, and earnestly 
 thanking you for such co-operation as you may be able to 
 accord us, I am. Very sincerely, 
 
 EDGAR GARDNER MURPHY. 
 Montgomery, Ala., February 15, 1904. 
 
LOCAL TAXATION FOR SCHOOLS, 
 
 By Dr. J. H. Phillips, 
 
 Superintendent of the Public Schools of the City of Birmingham, Alabama. 
 
 JUBLIC school progress and development in Alabama 
 must await the era of local initiative and commun- 
 ity responsibility. Neither increased State appro- 
 priations nor millions from the Federal treasury 
 will serve as a substitute for a local school tax in 
 awakening personal and community interest in the schools. 
 To be economically used, school funds must be distributed 
 in proportion to the conscious needs of the people, and those 
 needs will be measured by the willingness of the people to 
 help themselves by community effort. It is folly to waste 
 school funds upon communities that do not want public 
 schools, while others are sufiering. Yet this must be the 
 case so long as the bulk of our school moneys is obtained 
 from the State and distributed over its entire area upon the 
 basis of population regardless of local needs and local interest. 
 
 An Old Question Much Local taxation for school purposes 
 Discussed. jg g^jj qI^ question in Alabama. It 
 
 has been discussed for nearly twenty years. Resolutions in 
 favor of the measure have been passed time and again, not 
 only by the State Educational Association, but by many of 
 our county institutes. Since 1885, a large number of local 
 legislative acts were passed looking to the relief of various 
 communities that wanted to tax themselves for the education 
 of their children. The failure of these efforts induced the 
 friends of education to abandon legislative subterfuges, and 
 to try amendments to the constitution. Some of these were 
 successfully submitted, and although no apparent opposition 
 was encountered by them, they failed to receive the majority 
 of the whole number of votes cast for the legislative ticket. 
 Other expedients were tried from time to time, but all 
 proved abortive, — all succumbed to the blighting power of a 
 State constitution which inhibited educational progress and 
 
development by denying to the people of every community, 
 in their organized capacity, the right — by their own taxes — 
 to maintain a public school, the one essential of modern 
 government, the one condition of enlightened citizenship. 
 
 Local option — not as related to the liquor question, but 
 as applied to the question of school support — is based upon 
 two essential facts recognized as fundamental principles in a 
 democratic government. 
 
 The Importance of First — It springs from the right of 
 I^ocal Self- Government, jo^al self-government, not merely in 
 name, but in fact. That the people have an inherent right to 
 govern themselves, is the fundamental assumption of our 
 theory of government. This assumption involves the right 
 of the majority to control in purely local affairs, directly, 
 w^ithout the interposition of the representative system. 
 
 Second — Local option involves the further principle that 
 the diversity of conditions in the various localities of the 
 State may render a restriction that is desirable in one com- 
 munity, a positive injustice in another community, where 
 the conditions are difierent. 
 
 The application of local option to school maintenance 
 requires the consideration of these two principles. Local 
 self-government is admittedly a right, inhering in the people ; 
 it is fundamental to our entire fabric of government, and 
 antedates all constitutions. The recognized units of govern- 
 ment are the State, the county and the district, or the city. 
 The distribution of the functions of government should be 
 such as to leave the smaller units un trammeled, except as to 
 matters affecting the larger units. The theory that the State 
 has a right to interfere in the local affairs of the county, the 
 city and the district, because these minor divisions are the 
 creatures of the State, is calculated to suppress spontaneous 
 development, to check local initiative and to reduce all the 
 communities of the State to one dead level of uniformity. 
 
 The People's Right to It is natural that the people of Ala- 
 Tax Themselves. bama should have a wholesome 
 dread of taxation. We have here a practical illustration of the 
 adage, "The burnt child always dreads the fire." In despotic 
 governments, taxation has been used almost invariably as 
 an instrument of oppression and injustice. Those who were 
 taxed were not consulted as to the purpose or the amount 
 
of the taxes levied, and the revenues thus raised were to 
 gratify the ambitions of the strong and to oppress and en- 
 slave the weak. Under such conditions, taxation w^ill always 
 be feared. However reasonable the purpose, and however 
 small the amount, taxes levied by any but the people them- 
 selves -will be regarded with suspicion. This malady which 
 w^e may call " taxiphobia," is a survival of medieval despot- 
 ism. For the last twenty-five years, our constitutional in- 
 hibitions and legislative prerogatives in Alabama have kept 
 the people in an acute stage of this disease. The representa- 
 tive system has assumed despotic functions. The chief reason 
 for these conditions, it is true, is found in the need of suf- 
 frage reform. With this vital question settled, the next step 
 should be the restoration of sovereignty to the people, in the 
 right to levy their own school taxes, for their ow^n benefit 
 and development. Thus only will the people of our State be 
 relieved of this perpetual dread of taxation and distrust of 
 their representatives. 
 
 The Only Objection to The only objection that has ever been 
 I/ocal Taxation. urged against the local taxation for 
 
 schools is based upon the fear and distrust of the people. 
 The masses of the people, it is said, are not only ignorant 
 and unpatriotic, but are also non-taxpayers. They will 
 prove too ready to vote an excessive rate of taxation, and 
 thus jeopardize the rights of property by the heavy burdens 
 imposed upon it. The objection is pessimistic in the extreme. 
 It is founded upon a want of faith in the masses, and 
 strikes at the very root of democracy. It is a remarkably 
 strange dilemma we have in Alabama. The people are 
 afraid of the taxing power, and the taxing power is afraid 
 of the people. The most prosperous States are those that 
 have no constitutional limit to their local school tax. Are 
 the people of Alabama less intelligent, less patriotic, or less 
 worthy of the exercise of this right than those of other 
 States ? I believe the people of Alabama may be relied upon 
 to discharge this trust wisely and patriotically. 
 
 Method Successful in In Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana 
 the Sotith. g^jj(j Georgia, whose peculiar problems 
 
 are much like our own, there is a liberal limit to the local tax 
 the people themselves msiy levy for schools. In some of our 
 States it is practically the only unlimited tax. Yet there is no 
 
record of abuse of the privilege, either in these States or in the 
 older States, where the people have enjoyed this right for many- 
 years. I shall not discuss at length the question of tax limi- 
 tation. The tendency to-day, in the majority of the States of 
 the Union, is to limit the rate of school tax that may be levied 
 by the legislative bodies of the several taxing units, but to 
 provide for direct legislation by a vote of the people, where 
 a rate beyond the prescribed maximum is desired. It is 
 doubtless wise and necessary for the people, through the 
 fundamental law of the State, to limit their representatives 
 in the district, municipality, county or State, by prescribing 
 both the minimum and maximum rates of school tax that 
 may be levied by the legislative body of each unit, but it 
 does not follow that the people, by the same instrument, 
 should abrogate their sovereign right to reduce the tax be- 
 low the minimum rate, or to increase it beyond the max- 
 imum limit, prescribed by their servants. A democratic gov- 
 ernment pursues a suicidal policy when it declares the 
 people incompetent to decide for themselves what improve- 
 ments they need in their local schools, and what sacrifices 
 they are willing to make in order to secure those improve- 
 ments. 
 
 Very "Wide Difference in Another important argument for 
 Conditions. local option in taxation for schools, 
 
 is the diversity of conditions in different sections and com- 
 munities of the State. One community receives from the 
 State fund an amount amply sufficient to provide for such 
 school facilities as it needs for six or eight months in the 
 year. Another community, with radically different conditions, 
 can scarcely maintain such a school as the people want for 
 three months. The former community does not need local 
 taxation, the latter does. An increase in the State appro- 
 priation that would provide for the needs of the latter, would 
 give the former a needless surplus. The Legislature is now 
 doing all that it should in the line of direct appropriations. 
 Any further increase in this appropriation at this time, with- 
 out local taxation, w^ould, in my judgment, prove a serious 
 blunder. It would involve a practical waste of a large por- 
 tion of the State school fund, by placing it in communities 
 that do not need it or will not properly use it. There are 
 communities in Alabama that do not want public schools, 
 and the State should never occupy the anomalous position 
 
of forcing a public school upon a community that does not 
 want it, while it forbids another community to tax itself to 
 supply its own educational needs. 
 
 A Stimulus to l/ocal Another important consideration 
 
 I*'ide. should be kept in mind. So long as 
 
 the cities, towns and districts of the State must look to 
 the Legislature for the support of their schools, there is lit- 
 tle incentive to local effort. Do we encounter indifference to 
 school matters at home? Do we complain of popular apa- 
 thy with regard to school topics, and the want of educa- 
 tional interest throughout the State? These conditions are 
 not hard to explain. We may talk eloquently and convin- 
 cingly upon school matters to our people, but there is noth- 
 ing that they can do; they have no voice in the question of 
 school maintenance. Apathy and indifference to school 
 matters must continue so long as the State persists in try- 
 ing to educate the children from the capitol, and in fighting 
 illiteracy at long range, while the people must sit at home 
 with shackled wills and fettered hands, powerless to help 
 themselves. What we need is the incentive of self-help, the 
 stimulus of local power. Education is a local problem, and 
 that problem in Alabama will never be solved until the 
 power is brought nearer to the problem. 
 
 If the schools of Alabama are to be appreciably improved, 
 it must be through the power of local initiative and the 
 spur of local responsibility. 
 
 The People Must be It is important that the Legislature 
 
 Interested. gijall be interested, but it is far more 
 
 important that the people shall be interested. It is im- 
 portant that the Legislature shall be sympathetic and liberal, 
 but it is far more important that we have sympathetic and 
 liberal communities, with power to act up to their ideals of 
 right, and to their conviction of their needs. 
 
 Some one has said that a presidential election every four 
 years is a liberal university to the people of this country. 
 The discussion of platforms and measures affords a gen- 
 erous education. Local campaigns in which school policies 
 and measures are discussed, instead of mere personalities, 
 will serve to broaden and educate the people. Let the ques- 
 tion of a local school tax be submitted to the people; the 
 result will be local agitation, free discussion, competition 
 and progress. In many of the Southern States we find the 
 
school district rapidly developing as a unit of self-govern- 
 ment. Mr. Bryce states that the country public school in 
 the South is destined to accomplish for local self-govern- 
 ment w^hat the meeting house did for New England. The 
 school district must become the key to local self-government 
 in the rural communities of Alabama. This is the real bat- 
 tle ground of true democracy. 
 
 Money is Not All That Many people imagine that an efficient 
 is Needed. State school system is merely a ques- 
 
 tion of money, no matter how the money is obtained. This 
 is a grave mistake. Money is necessary, but it makes a great 
 deal of difference in the interest and sympathy of the patrons 
 of the schools, if they are individually responsible. In many 
 communities of the State, the public schools are still referred 
 to contemptuously as "free schools," and "charity schools," 
 and "pauper schools." How can it be otherwise w^hen the 
 State forces a public school of equal duration upon all com- 
 munities alike, whether they want it or not ? How can it be 
 otherwise when the people of the community contribute 
 nothing directly to the maintenance of their school and con- 
 sider their per capita school fund as a stipend graciously 
 bestowed by a liberal Legislature? It is not money alone 
 that our schools need, but with it they need local sympathy, 
 local responsibility and local pride. The result of the present 
 school fund in Alabama would be more than doubled, in my 
 judgment, if at least one fourth of it were raised by local 
 taxation, voted by the people themselves. School efficiency 
 demands that maintenance and responsibility shall not be 
 separated, but go hand in hand. 
 
 Instead of depending absolutely upon the paternal inter- 
 est of the State for increased appropriations and general 
 taxes for the maintenance of our schools, let us strike our 
 constitutional fetters from our limbs and, like freemen, exer- 
 cise the rights of freemen, in removing the burdens of illiter- 
 acy from our shoulders. This is the privilege of democracy, 
 the duty of patriotism. 
 
 13 
 
REPRESENTATIVE COMMENTS 
 
 HE preceding articles were sent during February and 
 March of 1904 to representative citizens of Ala- 
 bama in every quarter of the State. Among the 
 many interesting and forcible replies, the following 
 have been selected for publication. Of the answers 
 returned, six were non-committal and two were in the nega- 
 tive. All the other replies were in the affirmative. These let- 
 ters will prove a valuable contribution to the discussion of 
 what is destined to become the most important public question 
 in Alabama. The communications speak for themselves : 
 
 From the Hon. I. W. I have read virith much interest your 
 Hill, State Superin jitter of Feb. 15th, and, also, the 
 of^AlXma. statement of Dr. J. H. PhilHps on the 
 
 question of local taxation for school 
 purposes. The statistics furnished in your letter prove con- 
 clusively that something must be done in Alabama. You say 
 truly, "Ours are an agricultural people." The boys and girls 
 found among the 92 per cent, of the population found outside 
 of cities containing 8,000 population, or more, have the same 
 right to educational advantages that their cousins in the cities 
 possess. The cities and larger towns manage by the exercise of 
 their corporate rights to secure sufficient sums of money to 
 maintain efficient school systems. The rural school depends 
 entirely upon the per capita disbursement by the state and vol- 
 untary contributions from its patrons. Dr. Phillips has grasped 
 the situation in Alabama. Local taxation is the only solution 
 of the problem. Alabama, as a State, is doing, at this time, all 
 that she should be asked to do. Let the counties now come for- 
 ward and help themselves. Let us then provide the way by 
 which the districts may help themselves. Many of the districts 
 which reserved the right of local taxation for school purposes 
 under the new Constitution, have already voted the tax. I 
 believe many others would do the same thing had they the 
 constitutional right. 
 
 Count me a "full scholar" on the right of local taxation 
 for school purposes by both counties and districts. 
 
 From John "W. Aber- I heartily endorse the article of Supt. 
 crombie. President of philHps on "Local Taxation for 
 h'at^^^''^''^^^^ Schools." His arguments are clear 
 
 and, to my mind, unanswerable. 
 Alabama is coming to realize more and more her educa- 
 tional duty, and is making efforts to discharge that duty. 
 
 14 
 
This is a matter of gratification to those who have labored 
 so long and so assiduously to that end. And she is striving 
 to do this duty without regard to race or color or previous 
 condition. A sum amounting to over a million dollars, 
 nearly fifty per cent, of the State's revenues, is expended 
 annually for public education. From a State standpoint, 
 considering population and wealth, no State is doing more. 
 Indeed the State, in a State capacity, is doing approxi- 
 mately all that could be expected. 
 
 Yet, the revenues are altogether inadequate. The school 
 houses, are, in many instances, but miserable makeshifts; the 
 annual sessions are lamentably short, ranging from ninety- 
 three days in the colored schools to one hundred and six in 
 the white; the teachers, as a rule, are poorly prepared and 
 more poorly paid, the majority being without special train- 
 ing and holding low grade certificates, and the average of 
 salaries ranging from twenty-three dollars per month in the 
 colored to thirty-three dollars per month in the white schools. 
 When compared with the necessities of the situation, it is 
 clear that the funds are entirely inadequate. 
 
 Then what shall we do? Shall we wait until Alabama 
 increases in wealth ? If so, is she not likely to also increase 
 in population? Shall we look to others for help, and while 
 looking suffer our children to grow up in ignorance? No, in 
 the absence of federal aid which now seems to be remote, 
 there is but one hope for us, and that hope lies in giving, 
 not only to counties, but also to townships, districts and 
 municipalities the constitutional and statutory power of tax- 
 ation for educational purposes. If the people of a commu- 
 nity desire to levy a tax upon their property to build a school 
 house, or to supplement the State fund, for the purpose of 
 providing better education for their children, why should they 
 not be permitted to do so? 
 
 The right of local self-government is a principle for which 
 the people of Alabama have always contended. Yet, in the 
 matter of providing education for their children, it is a right 
 which the fundamental law of the State denies to them. 
 This constitutional inhibition is not in accord with the Dem- 
 ocratic idea of free government, and is a standing barrier to 
 complete and permanent educational development. 
 
 Without the power of local taxation, no State has been 
 able to establish and maintain an adequate public school 
 system, and in the delegation of such power to the people 
 lies the only means by which Alabama can meet her suprem- 
 est obligation. There should be no Hmit, constitutional or 
 statutory, general or local, to the power of people who own 
 property to tax themselves for the purpose of fitting their 
 children for intelligent and patriotic citizenship, and for suc- 
 cess in the performance of life's everyday duties. 
 
 Universal education of the right sort would be cheap at 
 any cost. Without local taxation it is impossible in Alabama. 
 
 15 
 
From C. C. Thach, Pres- I have read with the greatest inter- 
 ident of the Alabama est the lucid articles of Mr. Edgar 
 ^^nrt^JSLT'^' Gardner Murphy and Dr. J. H. P^il- 
 
 lips concerning the state of the Free 
 Public Schools of Alabama. Their ringing, convincing words 
 have my hearty concurrence, and I rejoice to see them w^aging 
 a campaign, a crusade for the welfare of the rising genera- 
 tion of the children of Alabama. 
 
 To my mind, the most vital concern to the State of Ala- 
 bama to-day is this same question of education, and the only 
 " way out " of the wilderness we are in is, as stated, by " local 
 taxation." 
 
 The limited space necessarily assigned me forbids any 
 formal discussion, but the sad situation itself as depicted is 
 eloquent enough to stir the heart of any man who loves his 
 State ; and how long, we ask, shall we suffer the melancholy 
 condition to continue? Are we satisfied that Alabama shall 
 remain practically the low^est State in all the Union in school 
 expenditures, and practically the highest State in all the 
 Union in illiteracy ? Is this not, indeed, a condition w^hich, 
 however distasteful to record, should come home to the heart 
 and bosom of every true citizen, and serve as a goad to sting 
 him to action? 
 
 (1) The State as a political organization needs a better 
 Common School system. In any form of government the 
 masses are the rulers, and water cannot rise above its level. 
 To any community, be it country neighborhood, village, city, 
 or county, a mass of inert brutish citizenship is absolutely 
 fatal to all that makes for higher civilization, refinement, 
 culture, and the peace and dignity of* life. 
 
 (2) Our higher educational institutions, colleges and uni- 
 versities, are in the greatest need of better common schools. 
 The colleges take as grist what is turned over to them by 
 the schools below^, and to-day every educator in the higher 
 institutions of learning in Alabama is painfully aware of the 
 most imperfect preparatory training of a large per cent, of 
 the students who apply to enter college. 
 
 (3) The commercial, industrial, if you please materialistic 
 interests of Alabama need better schools throughout the 
 length and breadth of the State. 
 
 No community can afford to neglect the methods w^here- 
 by w^ealth and prosperity have been produced by other com- 
 munities. The highest daily wages are paid where the most 
 is paid for education. Inventiveness, mental alertness, the 
 spirit of progress, thrift, the capacity to do something, to 
 build cozy homes, savings banks, — these are all direct products 
 of good schools. 
 
 The universal verdict in regard to the decline of England 
 as an industrial country is that the fundamental defect lies 
 in the lack of elementary popular education. On the other 
 hand, the phenomenal industrial prosperity of America is 
 
 i6 
 
regarded by innumerable committees of investigation from 
 abroad as directly attributable to our superb American sys- 
 tem of free common schools. 
 
 And if common schools are indispensable for producing 
 wealth in Iowa or Indiana, are they not equally indispensa- 
 ble in Alabama ? There can be but one reply. 
 
 Truly the children of a State are its best assets, and 
 money converted into brain power is the wisest and most 
 profitable investment possible for a community to make. Of 
 what avail, pray, are the boasted splendid material endow- 
 ments of Alabama in field, mine, and river, if we have not the 
 brain power, the science and the skill to convert them from 
 the crude conditions that prevailed under the reign of the 
 Indian? Nor should we be content to import this brain 
 power from other States. 
 
 Now, there can be no successful system of schools for the 
 people without money. The mill will not grind without 
 water. And no State Treasury can possibly meet the demands 
 of the situation. Alabama as a State has done all that she 
 can and all that she sho;uld do for common schools. A grave 
 defect of the new Constitution is its failure to grant a larger 
 right of local taxation for schools. Without representation 
 taxation is tyranny ; but a representative government that is 
 parsimonious, is an ignorant, unprogressive government, des- 
 tined to stagnation and rot. 
 
 A propaganda of agitation should be conducted until 
 this unwise prohibition is removed. Private ownership turns 
 sand into gold, and local ownership in schools is indispensa- 
 ble for keen personal interest in their welfare, and the great- 
 est benefit to the community. 
 
 I am confident that the people if properly approached can 
 be brought to see the paramount importance of better com- 
 mon schools; can be brought to see the pressing, insistent 
 necessity of better common schools; better teachers, rather 
 than many who seek the profession of teaching as a haven 
 of refuge ; better school buildings, affording both better com- 
 fort and health and a touch of inspiration to the stunted 
 aesthetic nature of our children; better pay; better school 
 furniture; longer terms. These are a few of the long cata- 
 logue of our needs in education, unless we in Alabama are 
 content to remain in the rear guard of education and progress. 
 
 A tremendous evangelistic campaign for this religion of 
 education should be waged in every hamlet in our State. 
 
 From :Bx-Gov. W. C. I have carefully read your very able 
 
 Al'abama''^"*'^^^^^'^' address upon the subject of "Local 
 
 Support for Local Schools." Your 
 presentation of the needs and suggestion of the ways and 
 means to remedy the great evil of illiteracy is clear, cogent 
 and convincing and meets my hearty approval. In Alabama 
 the people have been led to believe that it is unnecessary for 
 
 17 
 
the parent to do anything towards the education of his 
 child — that the State will attend to that. Demagogic poli- 
 ticians have largely contributed to this state of public opin- 
 ion. It is paternalism gone to seed. The people should learn 
 the philosophy of Franklin— " That God helps those who 
 help themselves;" that the State will help those who help 
 themselves. 
 
 Local taxation is the only light I see at present for in- 
 creased educational advantages. The first paragraph in the 
 article by Dr. J. H. Phillips on "Local Taxation for Schools" 
 so fully expresses my views that I adopt it entire without 
 qualification. Go on with your good work, Mr. Murphy. 
 Your learning and great ability could not be employed in 
 jany other field to greater advantage to the public. 
 
 From l^hottias_ G. Jones, I have carefully read Dr. Phillips's 
 f^* ?ii "^^^^^^^^ Judge article on local taxation for educa- 
 Middle Districts ^*of tional purposes. In the main, I heart- 
 Alabama; l^x-Gover- ily concur in his views, and think the 
 nor of Alabama. granting of such power is demanded 
 
 by many cogent reasons. I shall, 
 how^ever, mention only one consideration which, it seems to 
 me, has not been given the prominence which it deserves, in 
 w^eighing the advantages of local taxation. 
 
 The real value of our institutions depends more upon the 
 character of individual communities, than upon the aggregate 
 worth of the people of the State as a whole. Under our system, 
 each community in practice, whatever it may be in theory, is a 
 sovereign for many purposes. If we could dismiss, as we can 
 not, all thought of duty to the youth, the State, especially 
 under present conditions, should confer such power on the 
 plainest principles of political self-preservation. The value of 
 Constitutional safeguards for the protection of life, liberty and 
 property, and the pursuit of happiness, are worth in any com- 
 munity, only the value which the inteUigence and civic virtues 
 of the people place upon them. If the local constituency, which 
 select the judges and juries, to whom these rights are com- 
 mitted, is ignorant or corrupt, the prejudices, or selfishness, or 
 ignorance of that community will set aside the law, or will 
 enforce it only as an instrument of its own narrowness or pre- 
 judice. The State, having left the law in their keeping, thus 
 enthrones local tyranny; since it can not interfere, without 
 peaceable or violent revolution, against its own law The 
 cure for such evil in local government, presents a grave problem 
 for statesmanship. Surely, its wisest solution lies in curing the 
 evil where it starts, by improving and strengthening the local 
 constituency, rather than by promoting centralization, and 
 bringing force to bear from the outside. Men who do not stop 
 to reflect, seldom realize how absolutely their most sacred 
 rights of life, liberty and property are held at the mercy of the 
 
localities in which they reside, and that they will be measurably 
 recognized and protected, or trampled dow^n, just in propor- 
 tion as the majority in that community is intelligent and 
 conscientious, or ignorant and low, in its standard of civic 
 duty. 
 
 The extent to which a majority may vote local taxation, 
 should, of course, be carefully limited. One prime reason is, 
 that without such limitations the people will not confer it, lest 
 the evils it may entail, ^whether real or fancied, ^vill out-weigh 
 the good which may be accomplished. To get the power at all, 
 its advocates must make at least this much concession. For 
 instance, the people of a city, town or community, who pay 
 their share of taxation for general educational purposes, and 
 in addition put extra taxation on themselves to educate the 
 children within their borders, should not be compelled to sub- 
 mit to extra local taxation to help outside schools in the 
 county, because a majority in the county may be so minded. 
 
 From the Hon. George I have read with much pleasure and 
 
 C^t^tll''''' froS^^ the ^°^^ P^°^* ^^^ article by Dr. J. H. 
 Fi?s?'^llabam? Dist^- PhiHips on " Local Taxation for 
 rict. Schools." It is a budget of words 
 
 fitly spoken, on the right subject, at 
 the right time, and in the right place. Self-help for self- 
 improvement of the people, by the people, is the subject; the 
 all-important present, the only time which w^e can claim 
 as our own, now, is the time ; and the place is Alabama — at 
 hand. 
 
 The suggestion, in its last analysis, is simply how to secure 
 co-operation in each community in the great problem of the 
 20th century, a higher education common to all the people. 
 The two great needs for the result are mutual willingness and 
 ability to help each other, supplemented and perhaps controlled 
 by mutual sympathy in the end to be attained. 
 
 "Man cannot live by bread alone," neither can the school; 
 nor can education live and grow by money alone. 
 
 The State has done all that it can do, possibly all that it 
 ought to do. It divides its income into two parts and one is 
 devoted to education. 
 
 The people must do something for themselves, each com- 
 munity must do something for itself, and each individual must 
 do something for himself or herself— and then all must help 
 each other. 
 
 Education is backward in Alabama. No one who will in- 
 form himself can deny it. But it is not the fault of the State, 
 it is not the fault of Alabama. 
 
 There is a need for more money. Alabama cannot provide 
 it, she has done her part. Who is to furnish it, and how? 
 Each community must take up the question and decide for it- 
 self, and above all provide for itself. The first, last and only 
 
 19 
 
answer is systematic contribution, and general co-operation, 
 which means voluntary assessments by local taxation. 
 
 The problem of education is a broad one, it is general, it is 
 universal, but practically it must be worked out locally, it can 
 only be worked out by each community, acting for itself and 
 within itself. 
 
 The State can furnish, does furnish, will furnish only a por- 
 tion of the necessary money. It can do no more. Each com- 
 munity must do the rest. Mutual contribution and co-opera- 
 tion must begin at home. It is the common lot, a law of life 
 and " God helps only those who help themselves." 
 
 I heartily approve "local taxation for local schools." 
 
 From the Hon. A. A. I am in receipt of your letter of re- 
 
 ^.^^I^^^^i^^'i^^TA cent date, asking me to send you a 
 gress from the Second r • r . ° tt^ m -n- > 
 
 Alabama District. ^rief comment upon Dr. Phillips's 
 
 article, entitled "Local Taxation for 
 Schools;" and in reply, I beg to say that I am an enthusi- 
 astic advocate of the education of the boys and girls of 
 Alabama, and, therefore favor any "ways and means" which 
 will make the public school system more progressive and 
 efficient. 
 
 There is nothing which renders the body of so much 
 esteem in the eye of the great Being who formed it, as the 
 fact that there is included vsrithin it an immortal spirit, 
 whose flames can never be quenched but by an Almighty 
 act. The mind is God's master-piece — His crowning work. 
 Mental improvement, therefore, stands in the front rank of 
 every other interest. It is the philosopher's stone that con- 
 verts the base metal into pure gold. The prejudices which 
 debase, the superstitions which enslave, vanish before an ed- 
 ucated mind. Knowledge, when disciplined and directed in 
 patriotic channels, curbs the tyrant's power and stays the 
 despot's arm. Nobility is nothing without it, while liberty 
 finds her best bulwark in its protection. Education, then, 
 being of the highest governmental necessity, I am impressed 
 favorably with the plan suggested by Dr. Phillips as being 
 the most efficacious method, not only to improve our public 
 school system, but also to lift the load of ignorance from 
 the shoulders of the State, and to remove the appalling cloud 
 of illiteracy w^hich hangs over us. 
 
 Carlyle somewhere has said: "Government is man's 
 highest work well done." Property in Alabama has greatly 
 increased in value within the past few years. Mines are be- 
 ing opened and furnaces kindled everywhere. Our State is 
 rapidly developing her many wonderful resources. This en- 
 courages us to take no foreboding view of the future ; and 
 so also it behooves us to bid God-speed to any movement 
 looking to better educational facilities for the youthful gen- 
 eration, in whose hands will be lodged the destiny, the weal 
 or woe, of our glorious Commonwealth. 
 
By the Hon. Sydney J. I favor local taxation in addition to 
 
 Bowie Metnber of Con- the State fund, for the benefit of our 
 
 gress from the Fourth , ,. i. i r ^ £: ^ 
 
 Alabama District. public schools, tor two reasons, first, 
 
 in this way only can the proper local 
 pride and interest, which is essential to the best results, be 
 aroused, and secondly the State fund, which has reached its 
 maximum, is notoriously inadequate. The right of a com- 
 munity to tax itself for public purposes, it seems to me, is 
 indisputable, and the denial of that right is contrary to the 
 spirit and genius of our institutions. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, the founder of Democracy and in many 
 particulars the greatest statesman this country ever produced, 
 said: "Preach a crusade against ignorance! Establish and 
 improve the law for educating the common people! Let our 
 countrymen know that the people alone can protect us from 
 the evils of misgovernment." And in discussing his famous bill 
 for the education of the people of Virginia he said : 
 
 " The expense of the elementary schools for every county is 
 proposed to be levied on the wealth of the county and all the 
 children, rich and poor, to be educated at these three years free. 
 
 " The truth is, that the want of good education with us is 
 not from our poverty but from the want of a system. More 
 money is now paid for the education of a part (referring to 
 their private school systems) than would be paid for the whole 
 if systematically arranged. 
 
 " What will be the retribution of the wealthy individual 
 (for his support of general education) ? First, the peopling of 
 his neighborhood with honest, useful, enlightened citizens, 
 understanding their own rights and firm in their perpetuation. 
 Second, when his own descendants become poor, which they 
 generally do within three generations (no law of primogeniture 
 now perpetuating wealth in the same families) their children 
 will be educated by the then rich, and the little advance he now 
 makes to po verty himself while rich, will be repaid by the then 
 rich to his descendants when they become poor, and thus give 
 them a chance to rise again. This is a solid consideration and 
 should go home to the bosom of every parent. It will be seed 
 sown in fertile ground. It is a provision for his family looking 
 to distant times and far in duration beyond what he now has 
 in hand for them." 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was one of those statesmen ^vho saw far 
 in advance of the people of his o-wn day. His plan involved 
 first, primary schools in every neighborhood for every child 
 free of all tuition for three years, not for three months each, 
 but of nine months each; second, a high school in every 
 county, and third, a university in each state, showing that 
 while he believed in free primary education for everybody, he 
 also believed that the opportunity for higher education for 
 those who wanted it should be placed within their reach. 
 
 The State of Alabama now contributes about one-half of 
 jts total revenue to the public schools of our State. This is 
 
all the State can do at present and probably all it will ever 
 be able to do, because the necessary expenses of the govern- 
 ment are keeping pace with the revenues. What are the 
 counties doing? Absolutely nothing. Not a county in 
 Alabama pays a penny for this purpose. The towns are 
 doing something, but fully ninety per cent, of our population 
 is rural and town schools cannot reach them. We have 
 therefore practically nine-tenths of our school children with- 
 out a particle of help in the matter of education, except from 
 the State treasury. 
 
 Can we succeed in removing the blight of illiteracy from 
 our children on that system? The best answer to that 
 question is the extent of illiteracy itself among the white 
 population in the State of Alabama, which is to-day practic- 
 ally the same as it was fifty years ago. That the present sum 
 raised for public school purposes is entirely inadequate is estab- 
 lished by evidence without dispute. That it cannot be in- 
 creased by State aid is equally true. 
 
 Indeed the natural increase in our children of school age is 
 greater than the increase in the school fund, to the extent that, 
 whereas, the State raised a sum last year sufficient to allow 
 $1.37 for every child of school age, the alarming fact is dis- 
 closed this year that this small and inadequate amount was 
 actually reduced to $1.31, so that we are really traveling 
 backw^ards. What then are we to do ? Are we to sit idly by 
 and see one-sixth of our white population uneducated and one- 
 third more so imperfectly educated as to be of very slight bene- 
 fit to them, or shall we face the issue like men and settle it ? 
 It seems to me that the issue ought to be met and solved. We 
 must do away with the idea that we are too poor to educate 
 our own children. If there is anything that can be said on the 
 subject it is to repeat the words of Dr. Curry, "Not too poor 
 to educate them, but too poor not to educate them," 
 
 I do not claim that the illiterate white man is any worse 
 than the educated white man. I do not think it is a question 
 of morals at all. However, generally speaking, being able to 
 read, especially the word of God, would seem to conduce to 
 better morals ; but the point does not lie there. The fact is, 
 that an uneducated man, however honorable, however indus- 
 trious, or patriotic, has the door of opportunity shut forever 
 in his face. What public preferment can come to the man w^ho 
 can neither read or write? What real opportunity can come 
 to him in business ? Absolutely none. Of course, with great 
 energy along with courage he may triumph in part over his 
 condition and accumulate a small stock of this world's goods, 
 but how small it must be in comparison with what he could 
 accomplish with the same amount of energy and courage if he 
 had an education. And just here is also the case of those who 
 have but a smattering of education. .They are better off, of 
 course, than those who have none at all, but how slight are 
 their advantages! Is it true patriotism to leave them and 
 
their children in this practically hopeless condition ? Is it for 
 the welfare of our State or is it for the welfare of even the pros- 
 perous people in our State ? If we place it upon the lowest 
 basis, the money side of it alone, is it not our duty and to our 
 interest to provide adequate means for at least the primary 
 education of all our people in the State ? The only way this 
 has been or ever can be done is through local effort and the 
 only way that local effort has ever been obtained is through 
 local taxation. 
 
 Alabama enjoys the distinction of being the only State in 
 the Union which denies to the people the right, under their 
 minor civil divisions, to tax themselves for the education of 
 their own children. The rural population of the State of Iowa 
 is nearly the same as the rural population of Alabama. In 
 Iowa they have, and have had for many years, a splendid 
 school system based upon local taxation. Alabama's expend- 
 iture per pupil in average attendance is only $4.41 per year for 
 education, while Iowa expends for the same purpose $24.63 
 per pupil per year. Both States are principally farming States. 
 The manufacturing industries are nearly the same in both 
 states with the advantage slightly in favor of Iowa because of 
 its larger cities. Now note the difference. While the number 
 of people, chiefly farmers in both States is practically the same, 
 the total value of farms in Alabama in 1900, as shown by the 
 census, was $179,399,882, and in Iowa, $1,834,345,546, or 
 more than one thousand per cent, of value in excess of Ala- 
 bama. In net yield per farm per annum, Alabama is below 
 every State in the Union except North Carolina, and enjoys the 
 unenviable distinction of having a larger per centage of white 
 illiteracy than any State in the Union with the exception of 
 Louisiana and North Carolina. The native white illiteracy of 
 Alabama is 14.8 per cent.; of Iowa is 1.2 per cent. 
 
 I do not bring out these figures to reflect upon Ala- 
 bama at all, because I am intensely loyal to the State. I 
 believe it has the finest climate, the finest variety of soil 
 and has as good citizenship as any in the Union, but I 
 know of no way of reaching this question except by stating 
 the facts about it. If self-praise is a weakness, self-decep- 
 tion is a crime! 
 
 Let us continue the comparison between Iowa and Ala- 
 bama a little further. Alabama's large number of negroes 
 may account for some of the difference, but by no means for 
 all of it. The amount of wheat produced in Iowa per acre 
 in 1902, as shown by official records, v\ras 12 7-10 iDUshels; 
 in Alabama, 6 bushels. The amount of corn in Iowa per 
 acre, 32 bushels; in Alabama, 8 4-10 bushels; the amount of 
 oats per acre in Iowa, 30 7-10 bushels ; in Alabama, 10 9-10 
 bushels. Alabama was the smallest State in the Union in 
 1900 in the production of wheat and oats per acre, the 
 forty-seventh in corn, and the lowest in the yield of cotton 
 per acre except Oklahoma and Florida which are not prop- 
 erly classed as cotton States at all. 
 
 23 
 
Will our people submit to these conditions or will they 
 take hold of it and conquer it ? We have the best variety of 
 land, as splendid a citizenship, and as good a climate as 
 there is in the world- Then where is the trouble? Between 
 eighty and ninety per cent of our people live on the farms 
 and they have no schools except such as are provided by the 
 State. These schools are notoriously inadequate. What 
 then is the remedy ? I know of but one answer which other 
 States have made to this question, and that is, to let the people 
 of each community settle the question of the education of their 
 own people in their own way. If we may not guide our feet by 
 the lamp of experience, by what light shall they be guided ? 
 
 I do not think the present system of school maintenance 
 in Alabama is logical or can ever be made effective. It takes 
 no account of the difference of conditions in localities. 
 
 For example, in the great County of Dallas there were only 
 266 illiterate whites over ten years of age when the last census 
 was taken, in Greene, only 123; in Lowndes, 209; in Mason 
 160. In Montgomery, the Capital county of the State, only 
 478; Sumter 172; Wilcox 307; Bullock 358. Now, contrast 
 these figures with Blount 2,657; Calhoun 2,747; Cherokee 
 2,499; Coffee, 2,982; Marshall 3,055; Henry 3,266; Jackson 
 3,715; Jefferson 4,532. The difficulty of the situation is, we 
 provide the same law, the same revenues and same conditions 
 for the first eight counties that we do for the last eight. Is it 
 reasonable? 
 
 It seems to me it is just as unreasonable as the tyrant 
 Procrustes, who demanded that all of the men in his army 
 should be exactly six feet tall. When told that it would be im- 
 possible to comply with his request and get any considerable 
 number of men, he said " Not so, just lay the men dow^n upon 
 a bed six feet in length, and those who are less than six feet 
 tall can be stretched to the limit and those who are more than 
 six feet can be cut off to that extent." In that way he secured 
 the blessings of uniformity! 
 
 I would not impose a local tax upon any community that 
 did not want it or did not need it, but those that do want it 
 and do need it should not be compelled to wait upon others 
 who do not. I believe in a limit upon taxation, but I do think, 
 considering the necessity and importance of education, without 
 which, as Mr. Jefferson said, a republic cannot live, the people 
 should have the right to tax themselves something ! I do not 
 contend that it should be left to them to levy an unreasonable 
 amount, but I do say that, under proper restrictions, they 
 ought to have a right to levy some amount. Why not? It seems 
 to me the denial of this right is a denial of the principle of home 
 rule, upon which not democracy alone, but our very institu- 
 tions depend. There may be some facts which we do not care 
 to talk to the world about, but only the foolish ostrich hides 
 its head in the sand. Is it the part of wisdom to shut our eyes 
 to conditions staring us in the face? I do not believe the State 
 
 24 
 
as such can, or ought to, do more than it has for our public 
 schools, but when a community in our State having the will, 
 and necessity, wants to relieve itself of the burden of illiteracy 
 by placing a reasonable tax upon its own property, I think the 
 denial of that privilege is a blow at self-government and an un- 
 questionable injury to our people. 
 
 From the late Hon. Replying to yours of the 15th inst., I 
 Chas, W. Thompson, heartilv endorse the valuable sugges- 
 S'lL^Vfr^^^ifa! tions made by Dr. J. H. PhiUjI-s on 
 bama District. Local Taxation for Schools, which, 1 
 
 believe, will do more to stimulate our 
 people along educational lines than larger appropriations by 
 the State. This question, however, should be left to each com- 
 munity to determine for itself the amount of tax to be levied 
 and the manner in which it shall be applied. The people in 
 Alabama who need education most are those who, unfortu- 
 nately, care the least for it. If a tax were levied upon them for 
 the support and maintenance of our public schools, it would at 
 once enlist their earnest consideration, and would soon have 
 their cordial support and patronage. 
 
 It would also guarantee better teachers, and a more effici- 
 ent and thorough training of our children. 
 
 From Mr. T, Q. Bush, I agree entirely with you and Prof. 
 President of the Mo- phiHips as to the State of Alabama 
 Raifrf adTomlan" contributing as much as possible from 
 etc., Birmingham, Ala- its general fund to school purposes, 
 bama. and that any further provision for 
 
 this cause can only be made through 
 local assessment, as authorized by the new constitution. I 
 believe that this ought to be done where there is a demand 
 for better school facilities, and I am quite sure that your letter 
 will serve a good purpose to this end. I think it entirely 
 proper that the attention of the people should be called, to 
 this important subject. I wish you success in your efforts. 
 
 From M. C.Wilson, Pres- The arguments set forth by Dr. Phil- 
 ident of the State Nor- ijpg for local option applied to public 
 Ill^aSi!^''^''''"''' education, are n^onclurve. Th{ sup- 
 
 port of the public schools wholly by 
 legislative appropriation is not only wasteful, uncertain, and 
 inefficient, but it is even baneful, in that it helps to deprive 
 the people of their liberties, by making them dependent upon 
 the bounty of the State for the education which should be 
 free as the air to all w^ho w^ant it. 
 
 There is no corporation on the face of the earth that 
 would expend a million of dollars a year in such an unbusi- 
 ness-like way as that in which, every year, the State of Ala- 
 
 25 
 
bama expends a million of dollars on education. Too often the 
 people feel a deadly apathy toward the school deriving its 
 support, its system, and its inspiration from Montgomery. 
 The children do not attend, and are not made to attend this 
 school regularly. Any teacher in a rural school can attest 
 the fact that there is a great difference between the total 
 enrollment and the average attendance in school. The annual 
 report of the State Superintendent shows that a large per- 
 centage of the children do not even enroll. Can any one 
 doubt that this indifference to education would be dispelled if 
 the citizens in each community paid the tax to support the 
 public school ? Is it possible to doubt that public opinion 
 would compel attendance at school if the community pro- 
 vided for its support ? We may see in hundreds of communi- 
 ties, the wasteful extravagance of paying a teacher to keep 
 school with an average attendance of ten or twelve pupils in 
 a district having a school population of fifty or sixty ! 
 
 When the truth of a proposition has been demonstrated 
 in forty different States in every section of the Union, and 
 demonstrated continuously for fifty years in some of them, it 
 is folly to say that this proposition would not prove true in 
 Alabama. If local taxation for school purposes has proved 
 the best possible means of promoting education in almost 
 every State, then it must be the best possible means of build- 
 ing up the public schools of Alabama. 
 
 Real growth has never come, and can never come to 
 individual, community, or state, by living under the patron- 
 age of some stronger influence. If the youth is to make a 
 strong, useful, independent citizen, he must be throven upon 
 his own resources, and learn to think and act for himself. 
 Failures and mistakes he probably will make, but these will 
 only serve to strengthen his fibres for a firmer grip in future 
 struggles. If a community is to learn to exercise its higher 
 possible function, self-government, it must be permitted to 
 act for itself in all matters that concern only itself. As long 
 as our schools are completely tied to the State's apron- 
 strings, they will remain weak and inefficient. 
 
 In my judgment, almost as great benefits from the inaug- 
 uration of a system of local taxation, would accrue to the 
 parents, the mature citizens, as to the children. It would 
 transform these citizens from apathetic, half-hearted, selfish 
 beings into alert, enthusiastic, patriotic men and w^omen, 
 who finding scope for the employment of their individual 
 powers, would begin to work under the best possible con- 
 ditions for growth. Not only would good schools, locally 
 supported, train the children to become good citizens, but 
 they would make better citizens of those who, beyond the 
 school age, must make the exertion to support them. The 
 present generation of taxpayers in blessing the coming gen- 
 eration with good schools, would itself be blessed with a 
 larger growth, a higher mind. 
 
 26 
 
From C. W. Daugette, Please allow me to endorse fully the 
 President of the State sentiments contained in your paper 
 f^^^^iX^^^mt' ^°d in that of Dr. PhilKps, and to 
 
 subscribe to the correctness oi the 
 facts presented and the conclusions drawn. 
 
 In a school, the most prominent factor around which all 
 work centers, is the pupil. The other essential one is the 
 teacher. There are minor ones which affect the school, to wit : 
 the parent, the school-house and grounds, the pay of the 
 teacher, and the community. 
 
 If our schools are not what they should be we must look to 
 these factors to find the trouble. 
 
 What are the objections to be urged against the public 
 schools of Alabama now? They are, 1. Too short terms; 
 2. Inefficient teachers; 3. Lack of interest on the part of par- 
 ents and communities. 
 
 The terms are five months, when they should be nine. 
 Why ? Nothing to pay teachers for a longer term. 
 
 While the great progress in a professional way has been 
 made by the teachers of Alabama in recent years, the propor- 
 tion of those who have studied especially for their work, to 
 those who have not done so, is still deplorably small, and as a 
 rule the best men and women of our State, the best intellects, 
 those who can become moving forces for good, do not enter 
 the schools as teachers. Why do these two conditions exist ? 
 Because the average salaries of teachers in Alabama is about 
 $300 per year. Here is no inducement to people to enter the 
 work of teaching, so if one does so, it is from philanthropic 
 motives, or it is because he finds it more convenient than any- 
 thing else, and as he does not expect to follow it permanently, 
 he does not prepare for it. He feels that he cannot afford to 
 spend money to prepare to do a work that will pay him only 
 $300 per year. 
 
 Considering lack of interest on the part of parents and 
 communities, we find that not one man in a hundred has 
 been in a school-house for any purpose since he himself was 
 a school boy. The mothers are not so interested as should 
 be expected. Those of the community who have no children 
 to send to school are not even bound by that tie. 
 
 While the percentage of illiteracy in the State is about 
 forty, only about fifty per cent, of the school population are 
 enrolled in the public schools, and a good proportion of them 
 lose a considerable part of the five months' term, as is shown 
 by the average attendance of only about thirty-three per 
 cent. Why this lack of interest on the part of parents and 
 communities in the public school, the most important activ- 
 ity of the State ? 
 
 Ah, here we find the answer, activity of the State and 
 not of the community and of the individual. The whole 
 thing is too remote. As long as the State is running it, it 
 must be all right. If the State says five months is enough, 
 
 27 
 
that must be enough, let the State attend to that! How 
 can we change this? Make the people pay for what they 
 get. "Yes," you say, ''but they pay it now." Indeed they 
 do pay it now, but when one pays his taxes he loses sight 
 of his money and leaves the entire management and dis- 
 bursement of it with the State ; but if he is told to keep his 
 school tax and use it himself for the best interest of his chil- 
 dren and the community, his interest is secured and retained. 
 If he pays for a teacher, he wants the best ; if he pays for 
 the school, his children must attend. His attention is drawn 
 to the school-house; if the house he lives in is a good one, 
 he wants the school-house the same. If his interest is 
 aroused this far, he will realize the advantages of a nine 
 months' school over a five months' one, and insist on hav- 
 ing it. 
 
 If we can find one thing that will accomplish so much 
 for our schools, that will serve to correct all the known 
 weaknesses in the system, shall we not have it? Local tax- 
 ation will give us longer terms, more efficient teachers, more 
 interest on the part of parents and communities, better school- 
 houses, better average attendance, and greater progress. 
 
 I thank you for the great work you are doing for educa- 
 tion in the South, especially in Alabama. 
 
 Prom E. M. Shackelford, The article by Dr Phillips gives the 
 President of the State gig^ of the subject of local taxation 
 Normal College, Troy, 9 i, i j xi. r 
 
 Alabama. ^°^ school purposes, and thereiore, 
 
 needs but little supplementing. 
 The principle of local self-government has been a cardinal 
 doctrine of the Anglo-Saxon race since it inhabited the forests 
 of Germany. In his article Dr. Phillips intimates why this 
 principle, as far as it relates to the subject of taxation, was 
 surrendered in the South, and argues ably for its restoration, 
 now that the conditions which made' the surrender advisable 
 have passed, probably never to return. It may be laid dow^n 
 as an axiom of democratic government that higher units 
 should never interfere with lower units except to promote 
 their development. They should never interfere so as to hin- 
 der their growth; and this is what the State does when it 
 obstructs local taxation for school purposes. In asking for 
 local taxation the people simply ask the right to do what 
 they please with their own property. And who should object 
 so long as they do not use it to harm others but to promote 
 the welfare of all ? 
 
 Dr. Phillips's expression, "local initiative and community 
 responsibility," gives the key-note to the entire argument for 
 local taxation. The further from home the less the personal 
 interest felt. "What is everybody's business, is nobody's 
 business," and this applies strictly to the management of 
 school affairs. Local taxation gives personal interest. It is 
 
 28 
 
a peculiarity of human nature that one values niost what 
 costs him most. Evidently, then, we are not paying enough 
 for our education. It is admitted that the State is doing all 
 that could reasonably be expected of it, and that it should 
 do all that it is doing. What, then, is left for us to do ? At 
 present we must avail ourselves of the constitutional privi- 
 lege of levying the one mill by counties and so agitate the 
 right of local levies that the next Legislature will authorize 
 a vote upon an amendment giving that power. 
 
 Suppose our education does cost us a great deal. Would 
 it not be better to spend more money that way and benefit 
 all the people than to spend so much upon the punishment 
 of the jfew, w^hom ignorance leads to the violation of la^w ? 
 Of course, crime will be committed as long as sin remains in 
 the human heart ; but history abundantly proves that edu- 
 cation reduces crime to the minimum. 
 
 Taxation does not frighten people when the power to 
 make the levy is in their own hands, and they are nearly 
 always willing to vote the levy w^hen convinced that the 
 amount raised will be Avisely used. Let the people know 
 that money spent in the education of their children is a 
 profitable investment from a financial as w^ell as a moral 
 point of view, that the productive power of the citizen is in 
 proportion to the amount spent on his education, and they 
 will make the outlay. I have great faith in the people of 
 Alabama, and I believe that when they are brought face to 
 face with these facts, they will cheerfully vote not only for 
 the mill tax already authorized, but also for a constitutional 
 amendment allowing a liberal local tax for school purposes. 
 This latter power is all the more essential now that the 
 State is to be redistricted with regard to centres of popula- 
 tion and natural barriers. 
 
 From Dr. A. P. Mon- Mr. Murphy's article upon the Public 
 tagtie, President of Schools of Alabama, should receive 
 ^akeTAlabaml!' the attention and evoke the interest 
 
 of every thinking citizen of our State. 
 Amid agricultural development and the success that has 
 attended the w^orking of coal and iron mines, there is a strong 
 tendency to slight, if not to ignore, the education of the young. 
 With the struggle to reach pecuniary independence, to make 
 money, in short, there comes indifference to the mental and 
 moral training of our children, unless the necessity of educa- 
 tion as the force that must in all higher civilization direct and 
 elevate material progress is kept constantly before the people. 
 Your plan of local taxation is, in my judgment, the method 
 which must work out this problem. Community interest and 
 local pride — of the proper kind — will accomplish more than we 
 could hope to gain from State aid, although I believe that this 
 should be larger than the sums now given. 
 
 29 
 
Before we can put into activity a general plan of local tax- 
 ation, it might be well by private work and through commit- 
 tees to obtain assistance from all who can spare something for 
 education. 
 
 Your efforts in behalf of the young of Alabama merit the 
 gratitude of our entire people. 
 
 From Major W. W. Every good citizen must feel an inter- 
 Screws, i^ditor in Chief gg^ jn the increase of educational facil- 
 goSlt^f AlailSf °*"- ities. In most of the cities and.towns 
 
 of 2500 population and over m Ala- 
 bama, provision is made for school terms lasting eight to ten 
 months. In these places good, and, in most cases, comfortable, 
 school-houses have been erected, which in themselves are equiva- 
 lent to a measurable extension of school time, because of the 
 better work that can be done by teacher and pupil. 
 
 These conditions are due solely to the voluntary tax borne 
 by the citizens, which amounts in most cases to more than the 
 sum derived from the State. Our State Constitution, with well 
 defined regulations and restrictions, permits local taxation for 
 school purposes, and it is the only means of securing for the 
 country districts the school advantages which large communi- 
 ties tax themselves for. With a State tax limit of only 6 1-2 
 mills, and very nearly half of that dedicated to school purposes, 
 no more can be expected from that source for many years to 
 come. Local taxation is feasible, and those most deeply inter- 
 ested ought to take patriotic pride in voting for it. 
 
 Dr. Phillips is to be greatly commended for his splendid 
 article. It ought to be placed in the hands of all our people. 
 
 From Br win Craighead, I have been absent from home and 
 Editor of the Register, j^gt now got down to your letter 
 Mobile, Alabama. ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ February 15th. 
 
 Your brief and Mr. Phillips's argument offer convincing 
 argument in favor of local taxation for support of public 
 education. Owing to the general and constant criticism of 
 legislatures because of the size of the sum of legislative 
 appropriations, we can never expect the State, even when it 
 has ample funds, to do its full duty in support of public 
 education. The educational fund must be supplemented by 
 local contributions in shape of local taxes assessed and paid 
 exclusively for school purposes. 
 
 It is my opinion that the people will be more ready to 
 vote adequate sums for educational purposes when they are 
 satisfied that the money is to be employed in a manner to 
 produce the most extended and best results. Where a State 
 is as poor as ours, and people as well, "fancy schooling" is an 
 extravagance, and is provided at the expense of the thous- 
 ands of children, who w^ould be considered lucky if they 
 could get thorough training in the fundamentals, the three 
 
 30 
 
R's, in fact. I would see to it first that every child had at 
 least some months' instruction in reading, writing and arith- 
 metic before I would spend a dollar of the people's money 
 for instruction of children in history, geography, languages, 
 drawing, music and calisthenics. It is possibly the State's 
 duty to educate all its children even in the arts, but it is a 
 duty that should be placed at one side until that other duty 
 of teaching all its children to read and write is fulfilled. 
 If all the State's appropriation were devoted to support of 
 primary schools, the counties w^ould find some encourage- 
 ment to tax themselves to provide higher forms of education ; 
 and the educational system as a whole would be productive 
 of better results than we now observe. 
 
 From the Rev. Jolin A. Absence from the city prevented an 
 ^**^^'a?'?'' ^°^^^°^' earlier reply to your papers. 
 ery, Ala ama. j^ gives me real pleasure to endorse 
 
 in toto the position of Dr. Phillips. Local taxation should 
 be agitated throughout our State till public sentiment in 
 every community rises to the height of supporting a school 
 nine months every year. The rural districts should be care- 
 fully mapped out, consolidating the schools as far as possi- 
 ble, with a view to building up strong centres at regular 
 intervals. There could be no better way of conducting a 
 campaign of education along these lines than to arrange a 
 series of "educational pic-nics" in rural districts, at which 
 your strongest speakers would discuss at length the whole 
 question of schools. There must be local pride and respon- 
 sibility or there can never be successful schools. Even if the 
 State or national government should supply all the money 
 needed, it could not really educate. Even if every boy and 
 girl in the land could be found to submit to being taught, 
 it would pauperize our people and produce a helpless gener- 
 ation. Let the whole State be reached by intelligent agita- 
 tion till it is as disgraceful to starve the minds of our child- 
 ren as it now is to withhold food from their bodies. Make 
 every community feel its own responsibility for the growing 
 souls in its midst, and provide ample means for the educa- 
 tion of all alike. Of the whole people, for the whole people, 
 by the whole people, should be the school motto of every 
 district. 
 
 From J.D. Barron, Mont- I have read with no little interest 
 gomery, Alabama. ^j^g arguments of Dr. Phillips in favor 
 
 of local taxation for schools, and am 
 free to say that in the main I agree with him. As you know, 
 I am opposed to national aid for public schools in the South, 
 but that is neither here nor there. The important point is, 
 What can we now do to better the public schools of Alabama ? 
 It was my fortune to obtain the little education I have 
 in the country schools of the ante-bellum days, and I still re- 
 tain a vivid recollection of the crowded, uncomfortable house, 
 
 31 
 
the scarcity and inadequacy of books, and, in many cases, 
 the incompetency of teachers, as well as the crudeness and 
 inefficiency of the methods used. I am thankful that my 
 children and grandchildren are spared some of my own edu- 
 cational experiences. 
 
 It should be plain to all that our State is not financially 
 able to do all that is needed, nor can we rely on voluntary 
 contributions. It is evident that more money is required, 
 and I believe that the people should have the right to tax 
 themselves. In the rural sections of the State, especially, bet- 
 ter houses are needed, longer terms are demanded, and in 
 some cases better salaries for teachers should be provided. 
 If the State cannot supply these real needs then give the 
 people the right to levy a tax on themselves to supply the 
 deficiency. There should doubtless be some limitation, but 
 the Constitution of Alabama now fixes that, and within that 
 limit the people of any county should be given the right to 
 tax themselves for the education of their children. I believe 
 they would vote for such tax and would never regret it. 
 
 From Dr. B. J. Baldwin. Your circular letter on local support 
 
 orSaS?*a?U>t' MZ't* {'°';1°^?' schools-accompamed by a 
 gomery, Alabama. letter from Prof. J. H. Phillips, of 
 
 Birmingham, Alabama — has just been 
 received. I heartily endorse what you have written on the 
 subject. 
 
 The urgent necessity for a large increase in the public 
 school fund of Alabama can not be denied. We are lament- 
 ably behind the times ! It is not to be expected that the 
 State of Alabama will increase the appropriation for school 
 purposes, as the present expenditures for public education are 
 about one-half of the State's total income. 
 
 How, then, are we to bring our State to compare even 
 moderately with our neighbors ? Evidently, relief can be had 
 only through local taxation. We must permit communities 
 to levy such special taxes for public schools as they deem nec- 
 essary. I can not conceive of a reasonable objection to the 
 plan of allowing the people to determine upon what they 
 need and what they want. The frantic nightmare of some 
 politicians over the spectre of reckless and extravagant tax- 
 ation on the part of communities, given the power to tax 
 themselves — is absurd. 
 
 I am most sincerely and anxiously in favor of amending 
 that part of our State Constitution which forbids the voters 
 of any township, city or county to levy a special school tax 
 — above the totally inadequate ten cents on each one hundred 
 dollars. 
 
 The housing of our rural public schools is a disgrace to 
 the State, and special taxation is sorely needed — not only for 
 the purpose of increasing the number and elevating the stand- 
 ard of these schools — but of erecting and equipping decent 
 school-houses. 
 
 32 
 
T'rom John H. Disque, Your esteemed letter dated March 14, 
 Judge of the City Court 1904, requesting an expression of ap- 
 01 Gadsdeu, Alabama. 1.1 -• ri ij_ 
 
 « vr ixo c , ^ u proval on the question of local taxa- 
 
 tion for educational purposes is received. My labors on the 
 bench are so exacting that I find but little time in which to pre- 
 pare such a paper as the importance of the subject demands and 
 therefore will have to deny myself this great privilege. I am 
 heartily and unequivocally in favor of local taxation because I 
 believe it will bring the people in closer touch with the schools 
 and excite greater interest in their management and success, 
 Avhich unfortunately is lacking at this time. Since I have been 
 Chairman of the Board of Education of this City it has been my 
 constant aim and purpose to have the people of this City tax 
 themselves to maintain our system of education, and after 
 years of agitation, last year, by an almost unanimous vote, our 
 City voted to levy a tax of 1-4 of one per cent for the mainten- 
 ance and support of the public schools for the City. What has 
 been accomplished here can be accomplished elsewhere. What 
 we need more than anything else is intelligent agitation, for I 
 am of the opinion that when this matter is intelligently placed 
 before the people there will be no trouble to get the people to 
 rally to the support of education. 
 
 Permit me, my dear Mr. Murphy, although a stranger to 
 you, to express my appreciation of the interest you are taking 
 in this noble w^ork which means so much in the moral, material 
 and intellectual growth of our citizenship. 
 
 I write this letter for fear that my silence might be attrib- 
 uted to indifference. 
 
 From G. W. Brock, ^sq. The admirable paper of Dr. Phillips so 
 Opelika, Alabama. thoroughly comprehends the subject 
 
 of Local Taxation, and his arguments 
 are so convincing, that it seems unnecessary to add anything 
 to what he has said. I think, however, that the first need of 
 our rural population, at present, is an educational awakening, 
 a proper appreciation of the school facilities already at hand, 
 a stronger and more persistent determination to educate, a 
 fuller realization of the curse of illiteracy, and a genuine discon- 
 tent w^ith present conditions. 
 
 Many parents are not properly using, for the education of 
 their children, the means already furnished by the State ; for it 
 is a lamentable fact that thousands of children in Alabama at- 
 tend school only a month or two in each year while there is, 
 within their reach, a fairly good school of several months' du- 
 ration. 
 
 It is true that the most rapid way of creating a permanent 
 interest in public education is to induce every citizen to contrib- 
 ute of his means for the establishment of a school in his com- 
 munity. That peculiar quality of human nature — that element 
 of selfishness — that desire to get the most for what he gives, is 
 
 33 
 
thus appealed to, and the interest of the whole community is 
 focused into a common center; and that which sprang only 
 from a motive of personal interest will grow and develop 
 into the broadest spirit of patriotism. 
 
 I believe that such would be the effect of local taxation, 
 without which, in my judgment, many years will pass before 
 an adequate public school system will be maintained in 
 Alabama. 
 
 Now, there are two main causes for opposition to local 
 taxation which must be overcome, one is the "taxiphobia" 
 so well discussed by Dr. Phillips— a kind of involuntary shud- 
 dering at the thought of increased taxation — such an aversion 
 to the whole subject, that many persons oppose taxation for 
 school purposes without investigating the benefits to be de- 
 rived from it. The second cause is a constant dread and a 
 combatting of every movement that might be construed as a 
 benefit to the negro— a kind of fear that the property of white 
 people will be taxed to advance negro education. From the 
 very nature of the case, this result is avoided by local taxation: 
 for the community wherein such taxation is undesirable, need 
 not institute it ; but, on account of a needless fear, other com- 
 munities, desiring local taxation, should not be deprived of its 
 benefits. 
 
 From the Hon. E. P. I have just read with interest the 
 SabaSa ^^^P^^*"®' remarks of Dr. Phillips on the sub- 
 ject of " Local Taxation for Schools." 
 The Doctor presents his subject in a concise and clear manner, 
 and clearly shows the fallacy of depending exclusively on 
 State taxation for maintenance of public schools. So vividly 
 does the Doctor present this phase of his subject that the 
 suggestion of the reservation-fed Indians presents itself to me 
 as I think of the community that depends whollj^ upon State 
 taxation for public schools, I think the true difficulty is loca- 
 ted under the heads, "A stimulus to local pride," "The 
 people must be interested," and, "Money is not all that is 
 needed." A united interest must be had before local taxa- 
 tion can be thought of as a practical plan. Why does not 
 this united interest exist ? In my judgment, one class of our 
 people, referred to by the Doctor under the head of "Money 
 is not all that is needed," have for generations felt a con- 
 tempt for public schools, and that it was degrading to any 
 child to attend one. This has been the dominant or ruling 
 class, who have shaped the policy of the State in all public 
 affairs ; while another class of our people have been at all 
 times indifferent to education in any form, whether obtained 
 from public or private schools. 
 
 The governing classes have been opposed to taxation for 
 public schools as a useless tax, the poorer classes, and the 
 Dnes most needing education, have been indifferent to educa- 
 
 34 
 
tion as a useless thing. Between the two, we have what 
 may be fairly termed a united opposition to public schools, 
 instead of a united effort in favor of them. 
 
 While it is a fact that the people guard jealously the 
 right of taxation, yet I think this is a minor matter in com- 
 parison to the difficulties above mentioned. 
 
 Northern capitalists who have largely invested in lands 
 of this, Washington County, say to us, "Your tax is nothing 
 in this State," showing that the people who pay the greater 
 portion of the taxes are not burdened and do not complain 
 at the rate. 
 
 From Chas. A. Olivet, The State, seeing that she could not 
 
 County Superintendent j-each the needs of the schools by 
 
 of Education, Winston ox j. • x- j j • x- x 
 
 County. State appropriation and do justice to 
 
 her taxpayers, made a constitutional 
 provision, or limitation, with the county as a unit for taxa- 
 tion, which comes nearer reaching each school, than the State 
 could, but it carries with it the same objections — it will give 
 the large schools more than they really need and not be suffi- 
 cient for the weak ones. 
 
 Another important objection to this one-mill-tax is, it, in 
 the majority of cases, will be too small to help much. We 
 think the people will have interest enough in their own pocket- 
 books to know when to stop taxing themselves. Thus there 
 should not be such a fine limitation, if any at all. 
 
 From the Hon. Wm, H. I have your favor requesting my 
 
 Samford, Troy, Ala- views on a question that has long 
 
 ^^^' been considered by thinking men in 
 
 this State and elsewhere, as being of the greatest importance 
 
 to our civilization. 
 
 I consider the education of the "masses" of prime im- 
 portance to any State believing in freedom and having a 
 republican form of government. And w^here the government 
 is of the people its greatness, its power and its glory depends 
 on the education of its citizenship. Accomplish this and all 
 things else come w^ith little effort. 
 
 The government that is benefited most by education is 
 the government closest to the citizen. Therefore, the first to 
 be benefited hj an intelligent citizen is the district or county 
 in which he lives; then the State and then the nation. As 
 each receives a benefit it would seem the part of wisdom for 
 each to contribute to a system that would give an oppor- 
 tunity to every boy and girl in the State to receive an edu- 
 cation sufficient to fit him or her for the duties of citizenship. 
 
 It is well enough for the State government to appro- 
 priate money for the maintenance of the public school system, 
 and I see no good reason why the Federal government should 
 
 35 
 
not be called on to assist in this great work, but in order 
 to get the best results the people in whose midst these schools 
 are established must become interested in them or the whole 
 scheme will fail. They and their children are the ones who 
 are receiving the direct benefit, and they should be called on 
 to do their part in the work. 
 
 This can hardly be done by voluntary subscription, because 
 in that event a few men in each community will refuse to go 
 into the undertaking, and if they should agree, on account of 
 the exemption laws, it would only be a moral obligation, the 
 burden of which would fall on two or three men in the commu- 
 nity. Therefore it would seem that local taxation for school 
 purposes is the only hope for substantial results. 
 
 There is another idea here that ought not to be lost sight 
 of. Our people ought to be impressed with the desire to do for 
 themselves and not to rely too much on the aid of the govern- 
 ment or the gifts of philanthropists. We all realize that our 
 people have passed through an era of poverty and depression, 
 and during that time they were excusable in a measure, for 
 relying on the State to establish schools and to educate their 
 children. But that time is passed and there are indeed very 
 few counties in this State where the small additional tax of one 
 mill could not be levied and collected without the least bit of 
 oppression, and in my opinion it should be done. 
 
 The amount of illiteracy in Alabama, as shown by the 
 census report, is alarming. And whatever may be said in 
 extenuation of the conditions heretofore existing, there is no 
 excuse for a continuation of these conditions. We have a State 
 rich in material resources; our people are as capable and as 
 industrious as those of any other section, and there is no 
 reason why every community in Alabama should not provide 
 itself with a school sufficient to give to every boy and girl the 
 opportunity to get a common-school education. The State is 
 doing its part, the philanthropist is doing his part, and it 
 becomes the duty of the citizen to do his part in the advance- 
 ment of the race. 
 
 I trust, sir, you will continue in your effort to build up the 
 educational interests in our beloved State. 
 
 FromR. :^. Pettus.Pres- I have been actively engaged for the 
 ident of the Clminber p^gt ten years in the industrial and 
 villerASblmk. educational development of our 
 
 State, and as my Avork along various 
 lines has brought me in contact with all classes of people, of 
 every degree of v^orth and refinement, to the destitute and 
 most ignorant in the mills and mountain districts, I have 
 come to the conclusion that the foundation of all true progress 
 is based upon the intellectual development of the people. Dr. 
 Dabney, a few days ago, in a public address, most aptly em- 
 phasized this fact when he said, "Everything in the South 
 waits on the education of the people. The natural resources 
 
 36 
 
of the Southern States are great and varied; capital in 
 abundance is ready for investment; only men are wanted 
 who can plan, organize and direct." 
 
 Prom the Hon. i^arle The most vital question before the 
 
 Pettus, Athens. Ala- people of Alabama to-day is that of 
 
 °^^^' education. It is more important 
 
 than other issues because it furnishes the solution to so 
 
 many of the problems that vex our people. 
 
 The State has reached forth a Hberal hand and appropri- 
 ated one-half its revenue to the common schools. There is 
 no question but that in theory the people of any community 
 should have the right to supplement what they receive from 
 the State by local taxation. This would be democratic; it 
 would be local self-government. 
 
 The people can be trusted. That which is correct in the- 
 ory cannot fail in practice. Authority makes men conserva- 
 tive; and its exercise develops citizenship. 
 
 Every community may not be ready for local taxation 
 for school purposes to-day, but each community should have 
 the right to decide the question for itself on the merits. 
 
 From Judge W. R. The paper of Dr. J.H.Phillips on ''Lo- 
 SSblS'a. ^^'**®''^"^' cal Taxation of Schools," may be ac- 
 cepted as proving one proposition, 
 and that is, that in Alabama some additional freedom should 
 be accorded to localities to tax themselves for the better sup- 
 port of their own schools. It may not be accepted as showing 
 satisfactorily the extent to which existing restrictions should 
 be relaxed. 
 
 Those restrictions are evidence of one of the lessons 
 taught by the bitterest experience through which the people 
 of Alabama have passed. One of the great objects of the 
 Constitutional Convention of 1875, was to provide means 
 to protect the property owning classes of the State against 
 practical spoliation by burdensome taxation imposed by 
 representatives chosen by an electorate composed very 
 largely of non-taxpayers. The pledges on this subject which 
 the dominant political party in the State felt itself impelled 
 to make to the people as conditions on which they were 
 asked to intrust to their representatives the task of framing a 
 new Constitution in 1901, go to show that up to that time 
 those restrictions retained a strong hold on the classes of 
 voters who were expected to exert a controlling influence in 
 determining the question of calling a Constitutional Convention. 
 It is believed that the limitations on State, county and munici- 
 pal taxation retained in the present Constitution of the State, 
 represent a settled public policy. Enough money for general 
 state and county purposes is obtained by taxation within the 
 limits imposed. The disposition of municipal authorities to go 
 to the limit, whatever it may be, both in taxation and the cre- 
 
 37 
 
ation of debt, may well suggest tlie -wisdom of retaining the ex- 
 isting limitations on municipal taxation. It does not seem 
 that it is so much the cities and towns that need larger pow- 
 ers of taxation for school purposes. 
 
 But it must be admitted that the existing tax limita- 
 tions constitute a serious obstacle to the working out of 
 the problem of bettering the conditions of country life in 
 Alabama. There is no reason in the nature of things why 
 Alabama should not be dotted over with rural communi- 
 ties possessing all the social advantages which characterize 
 such communities in other sections of our country. Our 
 soil and climate possess unsurpassed attractions. But soil 
 and climate, without good schools, will not attract to the 
 country-districts the intelligent and progressive population 
 they so much need. To get and keep in the country the class of 
 people who will properly develop our preponderating agricul- 
 tural interests, and at the same time furnish a constant stream 
 of desirable recruits for the work of the cities and towns, the 
 means of securing by community effort the advantages which 
 surround country life in other sections must not be withheld. 
 To turn the tide towards, instead of from the country, the op- 
 portunities of securing good schools in the country districts 
 must be improved. 
 
 In some parts of the State, for instance the county in 
 w^hich the writer lives, — a good many representatives of 
 the best class of the farming population of some of the mid- 
 dle and northwestern States have already bought lands and 
 made homes in the country districts, and there are evidences 
 that many others of the same class are looking in this direc- 
 tion with a view to settlement. The inevitable inquiry of 
 nearly every prospector of this desirable class is, "what are the 
 chances in Alabama for having good schools in the farming 
 districts?" The unsatisfactory answ^er w^hich, under existing 
 conditions, must be given to this question, deprives the State 
 of many a desirable immigrant. These people are accustomed 
 to laws under which the residents within a very limited terri- 
 tory in a large measure determine for themselves the extent of 
 the tax burden which they bear for the support of their own 
 schools. The benefits resulting from the operation of that sys- 
 tem in the States in which it prevails, may well suggest the 
 w^isdom of its adoption in some measure by this State. But in 
 devising any scheme looking to this end, provision should be 
 made against its possible inequitable operation under the con- 
 ditions of land ownership now prevailing in many portions of 
 Alabama. The object should be to provide a method of self- 
 help by rural communities, composed in large part of resident 
 landowners. Many country districts in Alabama are now 
 peopled mostly by tenants living on the lands of non-resident 
 
 38 
 
proprietors. In such districts it would not be fair to put it in 
 the power of the majority made up of landless voters to tax 
 the property of others for their own special benefit. To avoid 
 such consequences, it is suggested that any scheme proposed 
 for the taxation of themselves by rural communities, for the 
 better support of their own schools, should embody some such 
 provision as that such special tax shall not be imposed except 
 when authorized by popular vote, and that the vote in its fav- 
 or shall include those owning a majority in value of the taxa- 
 ble property which will bear the burden of the additional levy. 
 
 From Mr. H. O. Murfee, The able article of Dr. Phillips leaves 
 Marion, Alabama. j-^^j^ ^^ ^^ ^^-^ -^^ ^^j^^jf ^f ^^^^1 t^^. 
 
 ation. Local taxation for schools is the doctrine of democracy 
 in education. This doctrine teaches that the people who pos- 
 sess the most immediate knowledge of public affairs and who 
 have the most intimate interest in their well-being, should be 
 entrusted with the power of support and the responsibility of 
 control. Denied this power and responsibility, the people cease 
 to consider public affairs as their affairs, which demand their 
 vigilant supervision and loyal support. The new Constitution 
 of Alabama recognizes the importance of this principle by 
 granting at least some power of local taxation to school dis- 
 tricts. The government, by whatever name it is called, which 
 prevents a people from improving their condition, savors more 
 of despotism than of democracy. 
 
 The chief virtue of local taxation for schools is the virtue of 
 democratic government; it develops the people through their 
 efforts to govern themselves. Not the greatest happiness of 
 the greatest number, but the most complete development of ev- 
 ery citizen, is the blessing of self-government. This blessing is 
 most beneficent in the conduct of education. The administra- 
 tion of their schools, through local support and local control, 
 is itself a source of enlightenment to the people. The amount 
 of revenue which will accrue from local taxation is a secondary 
 consideration ; the increase of interest and the community of 
 effort on the part of the people in the elevation of their schools, 
 is the vital effect of this mode of raising revenue. The amount 
 of revenue raised is a matter of the moment; the active inter- 
 est of the people in the education of their own children, is a 
 matter of all time. Such interest is a source of life unto life, 
 and is itself a mighty means of enduring revenue. Local tax- 
 ation for schools yields its richest fruits, not in an increased 
 revenue, but in the personal interest each citizen requires for 
 the betterment of the schools: In the belief which thus comes 
 to prevail that the schools are of the people, for the people, 
 and by the people, and that the people are the repositories 
 of their children's welfare. The people are the keepers of 
 their children. 
 
 39 
 
^m*^i?'' ■'^^^A** ^^®®^y' I have carefully read your letter and 
 Tuskegee, Alabama. the argument made by Dr. Phillips. 
 The subject under consideration has, for some time, given me 
 grave concern. We cannot, as Alabamians, be indifferent to 
 the educational conditions of our State. The fact that we are 
 so low in the roll of States in regard to illiteracy and at the 
 same time are contributing less per average pupil to public 
 education than any other State, should quicken the energies of 
 every teacher and awaken a consciousness of dereliction in 
 the mind of every thoughtful citizen. These facts appeal to 
 our religion, our philanthropy, our patriotism, our State 
 pride, our material interests — in fact, to every motive that 
 characterizes good citizenship. I fully endorse the plan you 
 suggest. 
 
 Without repeating what you have already so well said, I 
 would emphasize two thoughts : 
 
 1. — We cannot keep our State abreast with the progress of 
 the age without the higher education of our own people. While 
 it is true that education works from above downward, it is 
 also true that the material must go from below upward. Our 
 colleges are suffering more from lack of well prepared students 
 than from all other causes. The remedy for this will be found 
 in better common schools. 
 
 There is a tendency among us to turn the whole business of 
 education over to the State, since it has undertaken to provide 
 for this, without thinking how inadequate even more than 
 half of the public revenues is to meet the demands of the case, 
 and without considering that personal interest in the work is 
 an essential condition of success. Formerly every intelligent 
 community had a good school which the citizens built by pri- 
 vate subscription and maintained by tuition fees. The best 
 thing in it was the community interest which it called forth 
 and cemented. Its weak point was that it did not reach all 
 the people. We must now look to the public schools for 
 general preparatory education. We must seek to bring to the 
 public school the old-time community interest. Local taxation 
 will more effectually do this than reliance upon appropriations 
 from the State treasury or any other source remote from the 
 communities concerned. 
 
 2. — We cannot have a sound and healthy civilization with- 
 out the vitalizing energy of strong moral elements. These 
 moral forces cannot have full play while we have so much 
 popular ignorance. Intelligence is one essential condition of 
 moral growth. If we would build up a safe and permanent 
 civilization, we must see to it, that not only the well-to-do 
 have good educational facilities, but that evei-y child of the 
 State shall have the door of Knowledge opened to him with all 
 reasonable encouragement to enter in and become an intelli- 
 gent moral citizen. 
 
 Local taxation is the next step in the solution of our edu- 
 cational problem. 
 
 40 
 
Prom tlie Hon. John B. I have read with much interest your 
 
 S.^o ' ^^r%''*'V^^^; article and that of Dr. PhiUips touch- 
 bama; President of • ,, . . r j.i i i 
 
 the Recent Constitu- ^^S ^^^ . improvement of the school 
 tional Convention. system in this State, and I heartily 
 
 favor local taxation, under reason- 
 able safeguards, whereby the people in the several counties 
 may raise additional funds with which to enlarge and extend 
 their public schools. 
 
 In the course of some remarks delivered in the constitu- 
 tional convention of New York, the late George William Curtis 
 said : 
 
 " There is one point that we can not properly forget ; it is, 
 that all that we have and all that we are in this country de- 
 pends upon general education and general intelligence. When 
 this country is ignorant, then this country ceases to be — I 
 mean in its true and best sense ; and it seems to be the duty of 
 every man who thoroughly understands the true principles of 
 popular government at least to put himself fairly upon the his- 
 torical record as in favor of everything which shall educate the 
 people." 
 
 I recall, too, the sentiment of Mr. Canning, the great Eng- 
 lish statesman, referring to the public school system of our 
 mother-country, he said : 
 
 '•It is in her public schools and universities that the youth 
 of England are, by a discipline which shallow judgments have 
 sometimes attempted to undervalue, prepared for the duties of 
 public life. There are rare and splendid exceptions, to be sure, 
 but in my conscience I believe that England would not be 
 what she is without her system of public education, and that 
 no other country can become what England is without the 
 advantage of such a system." 
 
 From the Hon. Alex. T. A sense of pubHc duty makes it a 
 AlJbama^"^^**^^^"^' pleasure to reply to your letter con- 
 taining a copy of Dr. Phillips's plea 
 for Local Taxation for the Support of the Public Schools, for 
 I feel that you are entitled to encouragement and aid from all 
 upon whom you may call, and, if my aid be small, you can 
 rest assured of my hearty good wishes and good will. Such 
 service as I can give, I will give gladly. 
 
 You say very truly " The true service of Alabama lies not 
 in the constant flattery of our people, but in a sympathetic, 
 yet fearless revelation of the conditions which encompass 
 them," and you and Dr. Phillips have each done a service to 
 the State by your papers. 
 
 If the ends you both seek were now^ accomplished facts, 
 existing abuses could not exist. Publicity, for which the 
 guarantee of the freedom of the press was devised and so 
 rigidly insisted upon in our fundamental law, would be the 
 rule and not the exception in Alabama, and the exposure of 
 our unhappy condition would not be received, as it may be, 
 with heat and unreasoning rancor as a reproach upon the 
 
 41 
 
State, but an intelligent people would realize that the fact 
 not the exposure, was the cause of reproach, if reproach there 
 be. 
 
 "Give me liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely 
 according to conscience, above all liberties," said John Mil- 
 ton, and this has been the corner stone of our liberties. Let 
 the light of intelligence be spread among the people and we 
 may safely trust them to cure abuses. 
 
 It seems to me the real question presented in Dr. Phillips's 
 paper is. Are we willing to trust the people to correct the 
 confessed evils which exist? 
 
 You have made it pitifully plain how deplorable our con- 
 dition is, and a simple and practical remedy within our reach 
 is suggested, which has the great advantage of being tried 
 and tested. The natural protest against experimental legis- 
 lation finds no basis upon which to rest. 
 
 My confidence and trust in the honesty and capacity of 
 the people to administer government steadily increases as the 
 years go by, and even the large percentage of illiteracy in 
 Alabama, which the census figures disclose, does not weaken 
 my confidence. I am convinced that much of the illiteracy 
 and ignorance, and their accompaniments of prejudice and 
 passion, are directly traceable to the want of confidence in 
 the masses we have for years displayed. 
 
 The proposition to have local taxation for local schools 
 appeals to my judgment as worthy of the best efforts of our 
 people to secure, in whatever aspect it may be viewed. It 
 would procure the necessary school funds; it woulci secure 
 the much needed school-houses and schools in the rural dis- 
 tricts; it would put the burdens and responsibilities of cre- 
 ating, maintaining and managing these schools upon the 
 people whose children are to receive the direct benefits of 
 them, and, while affording the means of education to the 
 children, it would of itself be an education in practical citi- 
 zenship to the adults. Each school-house would be a center 
 from which not only book-learning would come, but from 
 which that higher and more exacting intelligence of how gov- 
 ernment should be conducted would radiate not only to the 
 limits of the particular district, but all over the State. 
 
 I am perfectly willing for the people to tax themselves 
 without limit for their own direct benefit, and when they 
 once realize that they alone receive the benefits and bear the 
 burdens of their own creation, and that the school is their 
 own, and its success or failure is dependent solely upon their 
 wisdom and judgment, the fear I have is, not that they will 
 levy too much taxes, but that over-prudence will restrain 
 them from levying enough. And this I think has been the 
 result of experience wherever the system prevails. 
 
 Experience has demonstrated that constitutional restraints 
 upon representative bodies is essential — the burdens of their 
 creation do not fall on the creators. 
 
 42 
 
The virtues of the proposition seem manifest, but what es- 
 pecially appeal to me are (1) the dual education which the 
 system affords to both adult and child, (2) the elevation and 
 enlightment of our citizenship by the trust we repose in the 
 people, (3) the light of hope which it holds out to the most be- 
 nighted sections, and (4) the self-contained restraint against 
 abuse. 
 
 The discussion of the issue by Dr. Phillips and yourself and 
 the agitation of it by you will educate the people in right lines, 
 and must in the end arouse a public sentiment which will assert 
 itself for the public good. 
 
 God speed you and all the other good men and women who 
 are so patiently and zealously laboring at the great task you 
 have set before yourselves. 
 
 JOSEPH B, GRAHAM AT RICHMOND. 
 
 AT the Sixth Session of the Conference for Education 
 in the South at Richmond, Virginia, April 23, 1903, 
 the late Joseph B. Graham of Talladega, Alabama, 
 spoke as follows. His words — words of one of 
 Alabama's noblest educational leaders — are here reprinted 
 because of their incidental reference to the subject of this 
 symposium. Said Mr. Graham : 
 
 "For the first time in the history of our commonwealth, 
 the principle and privilege of local taxation for public school 
 purposes are recognized in the organic law. It is true that 
 the unit is the county and one mill the limit, while the ideal 
 unit is the district and the will of the people the limit, still 
 all must agree that ours is better than no unit and no rate 
 at all. (Applause.) If I mistake not the sentiment of the 
 people in the counties which I have visited, they will vote 
 to levy the one mill tax at the first opportunity. 
 
 " My future work will be largely in assisting the educa- 
 tional forces in several counties in campaigns for the levying 
 of the one mill tax. 
 
 "The doctrine of local taxation is becoming popu- 
 lar and is going to win in Alabama, although our public 
 school system has been in existence only about fifty years 
 and has had but small financial support until the past fif- 
 teen years. Our rural white schools averaged one hundred 
 and five days and our rural colored schools averaged nine- 
 ty-three days, free terms, during the last scholastic year. 
 
 43 
 
"Be it said to the credit of Alabama, that, although 
 her people are comparatively poor, though she has in com- 
 mon with other Southern States suffered the disasters of 
 war and borne the burdens and sacrifices of reconstruction, 
 and though forty-four per cent of her population belongs to 
 a race which pays but little more than five per cent of the 
 taxes, still our new organic law^ forbids that discrimination 
 inspired by prejudice which would restrict the educational 
 privileges and rights of a particular class or race according 
 to its contribution in taxes for the support of the Govern- 
 ment. This equality of benefits did not arise from any cring- 
 ing fear of Federal amendments, but from a spontaneous 
 philanthropy too generous to take advantage of the poor, 
 and a sense of right and humanity too proud to stoop to 
 wrong an inferior race. (Applause.) 
 
 **In my opinion, the highest and sincerest expression of 
 the principle of fraternity and the most splendid prophecy 
 of the permanence and high standard of our future civilization 
 are to be found at one and the same time in the willingness 
 of the people, through honest government, to make liberal 
 contribution for free public schools for the education of all 
 the people. (Applause.) 
 
 "This ideal condition has not alw^ays obtained in Ala- 
 bama, but I stand here to pledge the enlightened sentiment 
 and property-holding citizenship of my beloved State, as far 
 as in their ability lies, to this platform, and only this, for 
 our future public education." (Applause.) 
 
 LofC.i 
 
 44