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 TO THE 
 PEOPLE of ALABAMA 
 
 AN ADDRESS BY THE 
 ALABAMA EDUCATION COMMITTEE 
 
 Issued by the 
 
 Department of Education 
 
 Montgomery. Ala. 
 
 •7 
 
 

 To the People of Alabama: 
 
 This address, prepared by the Alabama 
 Education Committee, a voluntary organiza- 
 tion having for its objects the promotion of 
 public education in Alabama, is given to 
 you with the hope that, after a careful pe- 
 rusal, your interest and enthusiasm in this 
 great work will be heightened. 
 
 Supt. Isaac W. Hill, the able Chairman 
 of the Committee, has kindly offered to is- 
 sue the address as an official utterance of 
 the Department of Education, and as such, 
 in addition to the force given it by the per- 
 sonnel of the Committee, is commended to 
 you for a conscientious consideration. 
 
 Additional copies of the address, if de- 
 sired, may be procured by addressing the 
 Secretary. 
 
 Harry C. Gunnels, 
 
 « 
 
 Secretary. 
 Montgomery, Ala. 
 
 D. of D, 
 
 •? i. 1 •-. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 ISSUED BY THE 
 
 Alabama Education Committee 
 
 At Montgomeky, Dec. 6, 1904. 
 
 To the People of Alabama: 
 
 The Alabama Education Commi'tee. organ- 
 ized under the auspices of the State Depart- 
 ment of Education, with the co-operation o'i 
 the Southern Education Board, and having 
 for its objects the promotion of public in- 
 struction, takes this method of calling atten- 
 tion to some defects in the school system, 
 and of suggesting such remedies as will pro- 
 duce more satisfactory conditions. Even a 
 brief consideration makes plain the inade- 
 quacy of the system to meet the needs of a 
 great and growing people. 
 
 1. ORGANIZATION OF SYSTEM. 
 
 1. While the law looking to the establishment 
 of a system of public schools 
 FORMER was enacted half a century 
 
 CONDITIONS ago, the conditions which ex- 
 NOT FAV- isted prior to the year 1874. 
 ORABLE. rendered impossible rapid and 
 
 substantial growth. During 
 the last thirty years, considering defects in 
 the plan of organization, considerable pro- 
 gress has been made. It is generally con- 
 ceded, however, that Alabama is far behind 
 
many other States in making provision for 
 the preparation of an intelligent and patrio- 
 tic citizenship. Advancement has been re- 
 tarded by many adverse conditions, among 
 which may be mentioned lack of means, 
 sparseness of population, absence of passable 
 highways, presence in the body politic of a 
 large ignorant electorate, remembrance of 
 the abuses of taxation auring the period of 
 reconstruction, and the fixed necessity for 
 the maintenance of a dual system. 
 
 2. But the chief cause of lack of satisfactory 
 progress lies in that feature 
 CHIEF of the system which leads the 
 
 CAUSE OP people to rely upon the State 
 LACK OF government for maintenance 
 
 PROGRESS, and supervision, rather than 
 upon community interest and 
 effort. This mistake was made in the very 
 beginning, and constitutes the chief defect in 
 the system as it exists today. 
 
 Indeed, the State should do its part, but 
 the history of education elsewhere proves 
 conclusively that it is an unwise and hurt- 
 ful policy to look to that source for every- 
 thing needed. Wherever such a policy has 
 prevailed, the people have come gradually to 
 rely upon the general government for the 
 performance of duties that should be regard- 
 ed as individual or local. If we would meet 
 the obligation that presses upon us, we must 
 modify this policy. 
 
II. SUPERVISION OF SCHOOLS. 
 
 1. Without competent supervision the best re- 
 sults are impossible. This is 
 STATE as true in educational affairs 
 
 SUPER- as in business and industrial 
 VISION, matters. While there has been 
 great adA^ancement in the 
 work of supervision — State, county, and dis- 
 trict — there yet remains room for improve- 
 ment. 
 
 It is unreasonaole to expect efficient super- 
 vision from men who know nothing of super- 
 visory work. The Sta'es that are making 
 greatest educational progress are those that 
 fix qualifications for the office of Superin- 
 tendent. Continued competent State super- 
 vision w^ould be guaranteed if the Superin- 
 tendent of Education were required by law 
 to be a professional educator of experience, 
 of recognized ability, and of high character; 
 and what is true of State supervision is 
 equally true of county supervision. 
 
 When we wish to have performed any 
 work not educational, we employ a man es- 
 pecially trained for that service; for the 
 bench, expert lawyers: for the pulpit, ordain- 
 ed ministers; for the bank, trained account- 
 ants; for the factory, skilled workmen; for 
 the school room, licensed teachers; then 
 when a man is wanted to administer a sys- 
 tem of schools, why not choose an experienc- 
 ed educator? If the people will not perform 
 this duty voluntarily, why not require 'hem 
 by law to do it? Without such legal require- 
 ment, the people, under the excitement of 
 political contests, overlook frequently the 
 mat'er of qualification. The constitutional 
 provision that limits the State Superintend- 
 ent of Education to one term is unwise. The 
 office of Superintendent should be removed 
 
as far as possible from the influences of 
 partisan politics. 
 
 2. For the first time in the history of the 
 
 State, the county has been 
 COUNTY made the unit of school ru- 
 
 BOARD OF pevvision, and a Coiiutv 
 EDUCATION. Board of Education placed in 
 
 charge. This Board has almost 
 plenary power, and should be composed 
 of intelligent, patriotic men — men who 
 have deeply at heart the interests of 
 the public schools. Too much import- 
 ance can not be placed on this propo- 
 sition. Under authority of this Board the 
 County Superintendent largely acts, and the 
 success of his work will be handicapped un- 
 less the ri:ht kind of a Board is behind him. 
 
 3. Some of the county superintendents of edu- 
 
 cation are men of consider- 
 COUNTY able practical experience In 
 
 SUPER school management; some of 
 
 VISION, them are not. Heretofore, 
 many of them have been but 
 little more than disbursing agents, altogether 
 unnecessary officers, since the county treas- 
 urers could have disbursed the funds equally 
 as well. 
 
 So long as we continue to elect to this po- 
 sition men who know nothing of school man- 
 agement, who have not made of education a 
 study, and who could not obtain a teacher's 
 certificate of the lowest grade, even, just so 
 long will we have inefficient supervision. A 
 qualified county superintendency is one of 
 our greatest educational needs, and under 
 the new Constitution, it is possible. The 
 next Legislature should be asked to enact a 
 law establishing it. 
 
 Yet, when the paltry compensation is con- 
 sidered. County Superintendents are not en- 
 
tirely blamable for devoting so little time to 
 the performance of their duties. In most 
 cases they receive mere pittances. With few 
 exceptions, their salaries should be doubled^ 
 and more than doubled. The County Super- 
 intendent should not only be qualified for his 
 position, but he should also be required to 
 devote his entire time to the work; and he 
 should be paid a salary sufficiently large to 
 enable him to do this. 
 
 The minimum term of office for County 
 Superintendents should be four or six years, 
 and they should be kept in service so long as 
 they perform their duties in a satisfactory 
 manner. The custom of forcing them to 
 quit office about the time they have learned 
 to perform their duties well, has greatly re- 
 tarded the cause of education. 
 
 4. There is no more important office in the 
 system than that of District 
 DISTRICT Trustee. Upon the District 
 SUPER- Trustee devolves many re- 
 
 VISION. sponsible duties. How neces- 
 sary, then, that he be intelli- 
 gent, honest, sober, energetic, and patriotic. 
 He should be chosen with special reference 
 to the duties to be performed. 
 
 III. MATERIAL EQUIPMENT. 
 
 1. In selecting a location for the school, great 
 care should be exercised. 
 LOCATION The question of accessibility 
 AND should not be overlooked. The 
 
 GROUNDS, greatest convenience to the 
 greatest number should be the 
 chief consideration. Personal or local in- 
 fluences too frequently govern. The result 
 is, the establishment of unnecessary schools, 
 or small, short-term, rather than large long- 
 term schools. 
 
The grounds should be made attractive, 
 and, in rural commun.-ies especially should 
 be sufficiently extensive to make possible ex- 
 periments in elementary agriculture. The 
 school-garden properly conducted will go far 
 toward bringing about love for country life 
 and its elevating influences. The tendency 
 of population to drift from the country to 
 the city is one of the most alarming signs 
 of the times. If children were taught the 
 beauties, pleasures and possibilities of rural 
 occupations, this tendency would be checked. 
 This instruction can be given, in a measure, 
 by the wise use of school grounds. 
 
 2. School houses should not only be conven- 
 iently located, but they should 
 BUILDINGS also be planned and construct- 
 AND ed with special reference to 
 
 APPARATUS, comfort, attractiveness, ani 
 health. In many communi- 
 ties the school buildings are nothing more 
 than miserable makeshifts. Any old out- 
 house is considered sufficiently good. The 
 importance of heat, light, comfort, and ven- 
 tilation is ignored. The laws of health are 
 often violated. 
 
 But however good^and costly and attract- 
 ive the building may be, the best of work by 
 pupil and teacher cannot be accomplished 
 without the necessary apparatus. Too little 
 attention has been given to this subject, not 
 only in country, but also in city schools. 
 Such apparatus as is used is generally pur- 
 chased by the teacher, and is paid for out of 
 her meagre salary. As a rule, especially in 
 buildings like those described, there is no 
 such equipment, no maps, no pictures, no 
 globes, no desks, no blackboards, nothing. 
 
 Notwithstanding this lack of necessary 
 equipment of grounds, buildings and appa- 
 ratus, the children are expected to advance 
 
rapidly, and to take great delight in attend- 
 ing school. Is it a matter of wonder that 
 they frequently become inattentive, indiffer- 
 ent, disgusted, and that, as a consequence, 
 they quit school and grope through life in 
 ignorance and superstition? Is it a matter 
 of surprise that the best qualified teachers 
 decline to accept service amid such surround- 
 ings? 
 
 School houses should be made as comfort- 
 able and attractive as possible. Indeed, of 
 all public buildings, they should be the most 
 comfortable and attractive. Where they are 
 made healthful, cheerful and beautiful, chil- 
 dren will delight in attendance and study. In 
 behalf of the children, your children, we ap- 
 peal to you to see that the school houses are 
 properly constructed and furnished. 
 
 3. In loca'ing schools and building houses, 
 the matter of consolidation of 
 CONSOLIDA- schools should not be over- 
 TION AND looked. Wherever tried, and 
 TRANSPOR- the experiment has been made 
 TATION. in several States, it has often 
 been found to be more econ- 
 omical and otherwise more satisfactory to 
 consolidate all the schools of the district in- 
 to one school. Where this is done, pupils liv- 
 ing beyond a fixed reasonable distance are 
 transporied to ana from the schools at public 
 expense. In other words, it has been found 
 to be less expensive to convey the children 
 to the schools than to carry the schools to 
 the children. Wagons prepared for the pur- 
 pose are used for transportation. 
 
 Such consolidation and transportation 
 make possible more commodious and better 
 furnished buildings, higher and better 
 graded courses of study, larger and better 
 qualified teaching forces, and longer school 
 terms. That five teachers can render more 
 
efficient service in a school of two hundred 
 and fifty than one teacher can render in a 
 school of fifty children, is manifest without 
 argument 
 
 Wherever the condition of the public roads 
 makes it possible, we urge the consolidation 
 of schools. The Legislature may, by a two- 
 thirds vote of each House, authorize the use 
 of school funds for transportation purposes. 
 In the absence of legislative action, there is 
 nothing to prevent the raising of personal 
 subscriptions for such purposes. 
 
 IV. TEACHING FORCE. 
 
 1. Special preparation for business, for law, 
 for medicine, for journalism, 
 QUALIFI- for the ministry, and for almost 
 CATIONS, every other calling is recog- 
 nized as a necessity. Since 
 teaching has to do with the body, the 
 mind, the soul, the life, special preparation 
 for that service is of paramount importance . 
 For that reason Normal schools and colleges 
 are maintained, and for that reason examin- 
 ation laws are enacted and enforced. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the precautions taken, 
 teachers frequently are poorly prepared. 
 While there has been in the past decade 
 marked advancement in the qualifications of 
 teachers, there is room for further improve- 
 ment. 
 
 The children are entitled to U:e best of 
 teaching. All things else being equal, tho 
 professionally trained teacher is most likely 
 to render efficient service. School officials 
 should give preference to those teachers who 
 have made the best preparation for their 
 work. 
 
2. Lack of adequate preparation among teach- 
 ers may be accounted 
 COMPENSATION, for in many ways, but 
 the chief cause lies in 
 the lamentably short sessions, ranging from 
 ninety-three days in the colored to one hun- 
 dred and six days in the white schools; and 
 in the ridiculously low average of salaries 
 paid, ranging from $23 in the colored to $37 
 a month in the white schools. Think of se- 
 curing high qualifications and efficient work 
 for such terms of service, and for such rates 
 of compensation. The average day laborer is 
 better paid for he has employment through- 
 out the year. If teachers were not of all peo- 
 ple the least exacting, most of the schools 
 would have to close. 
 
 Is it possible tliat the people care less for 
 the proper education of their children, than 
 for the cultivation of tneir lands, the work- 
 ing of their mines, or the keeping of their 
 live stock? We believe not, but the figures 
 quoted should be seriously pondered. When 
 we consider the small salaries received, it is 
 little wonder that teachers soon tire of their 
 labors and go to other states, or drift into 
 other and more lucrative callings. 
 
 Teachers in the rural schools, even, should 
 be paid salaries sufficiently large to enable 
 them to live comfortably, to accumulate a 
 reasonable competency, and to spend their 
 vacation in making better preparation for 
 the performance of their duties. 
 
 V. SOURCES OP REVENUE. 
 
 1. As has been suggested, the error of relying 
 entirely upon the State for 
 
 THE NATION, revenue with which to con- 
 duct the schools, was made 
 
 in the organization of the system. In the 
 
 view of many an ideal plan for raising reve- 
 
10 
 
 nue would be that in which the Nation, the 
 State, the county, and the district would con- 
 tribute in the proper proportion. It should 
 he as much the concern of the Nation to have 
 an educated citizenship in the State, as of 
 the State to have such a citizenship in the 
 county or district, for every citizen, educated 
 or ignorant, has a part, directly or indirectly, 
 in making and executing the laws, local, 
 State, and National. 
 
 But increased National aid. while many 
 regard it as just and wise, seems to be re- 
 mote. For the present, if not for all time, 
 we must look for maintenance to the State, 
 the coun'y, and the district. 
 
 2. Considering wealth and population, the 
 State is doing its full duty in the 
 THE matter of appropriations. A sum 
 
 STATE, equal approximately to 50 per cent, 
 of all taxes levied upon real and 
 personal property, is expended annually for 
 education. The amount is more than a mil- 
 lion dollars. The Sta'e could not reasonably 
 "be expected to increase materially its appro- 
 priation. 
 
 Yet, the funds are altogether inadequate. 
 The per capita apportionment amounts to 
 only $1.45, and from this must be taken the 
 commission of the County Superin'endents. 
 The average for each pupil in attendance is 
 only $4.41. Think of maintaining an ade- 
 quate system with that sum! The idea is 
 absurd! It is little wonder that the build- 
 ings are make-shifts, that the terms are 
 short, that the teachers are poorly prepared 
 and more poorly paid, that the percentage of 
 illiteracy is high, and that expenditures for 
 the support of pauperism and the punish- 
 ment of crime are great. 
 
 It would be unfair to make the comparison 
 "between Alabama and some of the other 
 
11 
 
 states, but there is no injustice in the com- 
 parison which follows. Taking annual aver- 
 age attendance as the basis, Iowa spends per 
 pupil $24.63; Nebraska, $23.08; Kansas, 
 $17.59; Maryland, $18.81; Oklahoma, $13.44; 
 Florida, $10.41; Virginia, $8.91; Louisiana, 
 $8.82; Texas, $9.95; Mississippi, $6.48; Ala- 
 bama, $4.41. Only two States show a greater 
 percentage of illiteracy than Alabama. What 
 a sad contrast! What a stupendous appeal 
 to duty! 
 
 Then, if the Sta^e is doing all that can be 
 expected in the matter of appropriations 
 from the general treasury, wherein lies the 
 difficulty? A reference to the history of edu- 
 cation in other States reveals the answer. 
 In the absence of the exercise of the power 
 of local taxation, no State has been able to 
 maintain an efficient system. Those States 
 that have made the greatest progress have 
 relied most on this policy, some of them 
 raising over 90 per cent, of their funds in 
 this way. 
 
 After giving to the subject a most careful 
 consideration, we are of the opinion that the 
 only way by which Alabama can meet her 
 supremest obligation lies in giving, not only 
 to counties, but also to districts, the power 
 of taxation for educational purposes. If tTie 
 people of a community desire to levy a tax 
 upon their property for the purpose of build- 
 ing a school house, or for the purpose of sup- 
 plementing the State and county fund, in 
 order that their children may enjoy better 
 advantages, should they not have the power 
 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 supplying education for their children, it 
 is a right which the lundamental law largely 
 denies to them. 
 
12 
 
 To prepare the way for further progress, 
 each county should, before the meeting of the 
 next Legislature, levy the one mill tax now 
 authorized. Such action by counties would 
 prove to the Legislature that the people are 
 ready to support the schools when empow- 
 ered to do so. That eighteen counties of 
 the State have already taken this important 
 action is a most gratifying record. 
 
 In behalf of the children, and for the fu- 
 ture peace, happiness, and prosperity of the 
 commonwealth, we advise that counties pro- 
 ceed at once to the performance of this im- 
 portant duty. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The history of the world teaches unmis- 
 takably that intelligence and productivity 
 accompany each other; that ignorance and 
 criminality go hand in hand; that education 
 and civilization march side by side. Exist- 
 ing conditions prove our State to be no ex- 
 ception to this rule. 
 
 Now that the electorate has been entrusted 
 to the more intelligent elements of our popu- 
 lation, we appeal to the people to pursue such 
 a course as will place Alabama at the head 
 of the list of States educationally, as she 
 stands first alphabetically, and in so many 
 natural advantages. 
 
 Isaac W. Hill, Edgar Gardner Murphy 
 
 T. G. Bush, W. W. Screws, 
 
 H. S. D. Mallory, S. J. Bowie, 
 
 J. H. Phillips, B. J. Baldwin, 
 
 Rufus N. Rhodes, H. C. Gunnels, 
 
 J. W. Abercrombie, Erwin Craighead, 
 
 John T. Ashcraft, J. A. Moore, 
 
 R. E. Pettus. C. C. Thach. 
 
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