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 ADDRESS 
 
 OF 
 
 Gov. Thos. E. Kilby 
 
 AT THE 
 
 CITIZENS EDUCATIONAL 
 CONFERENCE 
 
 HELD IN BIRMINGHAM 
 APRIL 13. 1922 
 
 BROWN PRINTING CO. MONTCOMERY. 
 
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 LIBRARY OF CONGAS 
 RECEIVED 
 
 JUL151922 
 
 DOCUMENTS G.V.Ji .... 
 

 Address of Governor Thos. E. Kilby at the 
 
 Citizens Educational Conference, Held 
 
 in Birmingham, April 13, 1922 
 
 x 
 
 SUPPOSE everyone understands that this is 
 not a meeting of educators, teachers and 
 school people generally, but that it is a con- 
 ference of citizens who are especially inter- 
 ested in the cause of education. It is for the 
 purpose of discussing and considering the educa- 
 tional situation and for the promotion of means and 
 measures calculated to improve it. As stated in the 
 call for the meeting, the improvement of schools and 
 other educational agencies is not alone or princi- 
 pally the concern of teachers and professional edu- 
 cators. It is primarily and principally the concern 
 of the people who have established the schools, who 
 pay for them and who use them for the education 
 of their children and for the development of their 
 state. The people as a whole must decide directly 
 or through their representatives how much and 
 what kind of education they want to give the boys 
 and girls of the* State, through what agencies such 
 education shall' be provided, how efficient these 
 agencies shall be and how much money shall be ap- 
 propriated for the. purpose a'nd how that money 
 shall be obtained. Of course, among- the~ citizens 
 called together for the consideration of these mat- 
 ters there are quite naturally many teachers, educa- 
 tors and school authorities, but their professional 
 status will for the time being be subordinated or 
 subjected to their broader status or capacity as citi- 
 zens of Alabama. 
 
 Now, the people of Alabama have, through their 
 chosen representatives, reached a decision on the 
 question of a school system, and it is for you to rat- 
 ify and support it if it meets with your approval. 
 One of the first things the Legislature of 1919 did, 
 following a recommendation in my first annual 
 message to that body, w T as to provide for a State 
 Education Commission charged with the duty of 
 making a scientific study of the public school sys- 
 tem of Alabama and reporting its findings with rec- 
 ommendations. A commission was appointed con- 
 sisting of men of intelligence, of vision, of high 
 character, of sound business judgment and of in- 
 3 
 
tense patriotism. They summoned to their aid thr ! 
 best professional talent in the nation, experts in th< 
 several departments of educational work, and place' 
 them under the supervision of the United State. 
 Bureau of Education. No pains or expense wen 
 spared in going to the bottom of things and wha 
 the investigators learned was embraced in a compre 
 hensive report containing the history of educatioi 
 in Alabama, the merits and demerits of the systen 
 in vogue, comparisons with the work in other states 
 together with recommendations for improvement o. 
 our methods. The Commission, using the report o 
 the expert investigators as a basis, submitted it:, 
 report with recommendations and bills were pre 
 pared embodying these recommendations and sub 
 mitted to the Legislature at the adjourned sessioi 
 in 1919. Those bills were enacted and now forn 
 what is known as the Alabama School Code, whicl 
 authorities in Alabama pronounce to be as nearly 
 perfect as is possible under the restrictions and inhi 
 bitions of our State Constitution. The estimate 
 placed upon it abroad is indicated by the fact that 
 it is taught as a text book in some of the great uni- 
 versities of the country. 
 
 It placed Alabama, in theory, in the front rank. 
 
 Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, I say that the 
 main question has been answered by the people act- 
 ing through their representatives. 
 
 To the citizens who possess technical and profes- 
 sional knowledge I leave the discussion of the pro- 
 fessional and pedagogical aspects of the subject, but 
 there is one phase of the matter that I wish to say 
 just a word about, the money side. It is money that 
 makes the wheels go around. You may erect the 
 most perfectly designed and the most carefully 
 constructed piece of machinery ever conceived of 
 and if you do not provide fuel to propel it and oil to 
 keep its bearings lubricated the wheels will not go 
 around very long and soon the beautiful machine 
 will be fit only for the scrap pile. 
 
 Now while the Legislature was building this edu- 
 cational machinery it did not overlook the means of 
 propelling it and keeping it oiled. A companion 
 machine was built, a machine designed to equal- 
 ize the assessment of property for taxation as a 
 means of securing the fuel and the oil. A trial of 
 two years has demonstrated that it is workable and 
 efficient. A good start toward equalization has 
 been made. In 1918 the average of assessment of 
 property of the State was about 26% of its reason- 
 able cash value. The assessment for 1920 and 1921 
 
was about 35%. The assessment for 1922 will be 
 about the same, or perhaps a little more, owing to 
 decreased values. Only a good beginning has been 
 made, but something approaching equalization is 
 possible under the present law, and if it is made by 
 raising the assessment of property now notoriously 
 under-assessed to a point equal to the higher as- 
 sessments there will be an abundance of funds to 
 support the school system in all its parts and no 
 property owner will be made to suffer an injustice. 
 
 But, I am sorry to say, the taxing machinery has 
 its enemies. A temporary disturbance of business 
 has thrown many men off their feet. Of course we 
 all know that there has been financial distress 
 among the people, but it has not been caused by 
 high state tax bills. Federal taxes have been high 
 and burdensome, but state taxes are the least of our 
 burdens. If it were not so there would have been a 
 stop to the voting of three-mill county and district 
 levies. They have been adopted practically in all 
 the counties and in many districts, many elections 
 being held since the depression set in and more are 
 proposed. Now mark this prediction. If wise coun- 
 sels do not prevail in the next Legislature the whole 
 structure so wisely prepared by the last Legislature 
 will crumble and fall or be so impaired that it will 
 fail of its object. And mark further! — The man 
 who destroys the means of raising funds for educa- 
 tion is an enemy to education, prate he ever so 
 loudly of his love for the barefoot boys and girls 
 and of his reverence for the little red school house 
 on the hill! The cry of the demagogue is a familiar 
 sound in Alabama, "Reduction of taxation," when 
 taxes are far below the amount required by law — 
 "economy" — false economy, the kind that saves at 
 the spigot and wastes at the bung. "Stop waste 
 and extravagance" — which do not exist — "abolish 
 useless offices" — when there are none such — these 
 have ever been the stock in trade of the demagogue 
 and they perhaps always will be, but, my friends, it 
 is a cry that contains a positive and serious menace 
 to the welfare of Alabama and particularly to her 
 educational interests and to the unfortunate and 
 helpless wards of the State. 
 
 The assault upon the tax system will be directed 
 toward the method of assessing property. In my 
 judgment, those charged with the administration of 
 the laws of the State will, when the responsibility 
 rests upon their shoulders, realize the danger to the 
 treasury involved in the proposal to destroy the 
 assessment machinery and do their best to stay the 
 5 
 
hand of the destroyer, but it may be too late. To, 
 go back to the old system of assessment by local' 
 assessors would mean the destruction of all progress 
 in education for the fuel and the lubricant for your 
 machinery would be found wanting. Local assess- 
 ment of property means government by voluntary 
 contribution! Government by voluntary contribu- 
 tion means precious little public education. Will 
 you stand for it? Whether the effort is successful 
 or not depends largely upon the friends of education. 
 If the friends of education sit idly by and allow the 
 propaganda against adequate taxation to take hold 
 of the minds of the senators and representatives in 
 the next Legislature it will be a sad and solemn day 
 for education in Alabama. 
 
 Not only for education, but for the development 
 of our agricultural and industrial interests. Ala- 
 bama is a wonderful state — potentially. Providence 
 has been kind to us. Nature was lavish in her leg- 
 acy of resources. We are rich in fertile lands, in an 
 unsurpassed climate, in minerals, in timber, in navi- 
 gable streams and water powers, in everything 
 necessary to the making of a great state. On no 
 spot of this earth are the raw materials for manu- 
 facture so well assorted, so set apart, side by side, 
 ready for immediate and convenient use as they are 
 in this district of Alabama. It is as though the Cre- 
 ator had chosen this section of His universe for a 
 test or demonstration of what the brain and the 
 hand of man might accomplish in the working of 
 His materials, selected by Him and set apart by Him 
 for the purpose. 
 
 But what avails this rich and rare array of re- 
 sources if they are not to be fully developed? And 
 fully developed they never will be except through 
 the scientific knowledge and technical skill of our 
 own people — our own boys and girls of today who 
 will be the men and the women and the builders of 
 tomorrow. The agricultural and industrial progress 
 of the State depends upon how we educate these 
 boys and girls. The costliest possession of any state 
 is its ignorance; we learn this from our own expe- 
 rience. The best paying investment of any state is 
 education and knowledge; we learn that from the 
 experience of others. The states that invested in 
 education have reaped rich returns from the invest- 
 ment and they are continuing and multiplying the 
 investment. 
 
 Compared with what other states have done Ala- 
 bama makes a pitiful showing, but we are improv- 
 ing on cur own record. Our system and methods 
 6 
 
have been wonderfully improved as the result of the 
 work of the Education Commission to which I have 
 referred. Measured in dollars, we have made prog- 
 ress, as this memorandum indicates. 
 
 Expended by the State for all educational pur- 
 poses from 1903 to 1921, by quadrenniums: 
 
 1903-1906 $ 5,254,000 
 
 19°7-1910 9,309,000 
 
 1911-1914 11,798,000 
 
 1915-1918 13,287,000 
 
 1919-1922* 19,000,000 
 
 ^'Expenditures for 1922 estimated. 
 
 You will observe that during the present quad- 
 rennium we are spending 19 million against 5*/4 
 million in 1903 to 1906, nearly 4 times as much. 
 More than double what we spent in the four years 
 1907-1910 and over 50 '£ more than in each of the 
 last two 4-year periods. And that is not half 
 enough! 
 
 Now, the question is, shall we maintain the pres- 
 ent progress, increase it cr decrease it? The an- 
 swer lies in what you are going to do with your 
 system of taxation. There is no standing still. We 
 will go forward or backward. If you follow those 
 who preach "government by voluntary contribution" 
 you will go backward with a rush. The alternative 
 is to see that your legislators stand by the schools, 
 stand by all that makes for the agricultural and 
 industrial progress and give to Alabama her right- 
 ful place among the sisterhood of states — and let the 
 demagogues go hang! 
 
 I hope this conference will not be satisfied with 
 making and hearing speeches and passing mild, 
 sugar-coated resolutions. I hope you will send forth 
 a clarion call to all friends of education, to all pa- 
 triotic citizens of the State, such a call as will 
 arouse them to a sense of the danger that lies ahead 
 and to a full realization of their duty to education 
 in Alabama, from the University and Auburn down 
 to the smallest unit of the rural school system. If 
 you do so, and follow it up, this conference will 
 mark a red letter day in our history and start a new 
 era for education, for progress and for prosperity 
 of the State and its people. 
 
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