over the number reported by the manufacturers themselves of slightly less than 3,000, or in other words a variation of approximately ten per cent.

Assuming therefore the correctness of this estimate of the census, and assuming the usual proportion over and under thirteen years of age to exist, it would appear that two-thirds of the 31,085, or approximately 20,000, were fourteen years of age and over, and only approximately 10,000 were thirteen years of age or under. Our friend again has exaggerated six to one.

That the tendency is toward the employment of more mature persons and not toward the employment of children in at least the South Carolina mills, is fully shown in a summary of the South Carolina textile industry appearing in the "Handbook of South Carolina," issued by Hon. E. J. Watson, State Commissioner of Agriculture, Commerce and Immigration. On page 467 of this handbook it is shown that in 1900, the total number of employees of the South Carolina mills was 30,201, of which 8,110 were children under sixteen; in 1905 the total number of employees was 37,271, of which 8,835 were children under sixteen; and in 1907, the total number of employees was 54,887, of which 8,121 were under sixteen years of age. In other words, although from 1900 to 1907, inclusive, the number of employees in South Carolina mills had almost doubled, there was an increase of but eleven children in the number under sixteen years of age. This certainly should be a gratifying exhibit, and should be a proof of the desire and willingness of the manufacturers of South Carolina to conform to the law of the state with reference to the employment of children, and furthermore, a proof of the fact that they appreciate that the employment of children is not to their advantage, either economically or otherwise.

The census of 1905 further discloses that in South Carolina in 1900, the population of mill villages was 61,468, the number of employees 30,201, or a percentage of employees to population of 49 per cent. The census of 1905 shows a population in mill villages of 86,966, with employees of 37,271, or a percentage of employees to population of 42.8 per cent. Do not these figures show therefore a perceptible decrease of employees in occupation, and a deduction that the cause of this is the less necessity on the part of the male head of the family to seek the assistance of his children and wife in the efforts for support? An estimate of the population of mill

villages in 1907, with the number of employees, still further shows this tendency and reduces the percentage of employees to population to 40 per cent, illustrating and proving the same tendency.

As is well known, the cotton manufacturing industry in South Carolina, as indeed in nearly all the Southern states, is concentrated in what is known as the Piedmont region. The number of spindles in the cotton mills of South Carolina in 1907 was 3,688,761, as against approximately 9,000,000 in the whole South; or, in other words, 40 per cent of the spindleage of the South is in South Carolina. Of the South Carolina spindleage, 1,962,064, or more than one-half of the whole, are to be found in the counties of Greenville, Spartanburg, Union and Anderson, adjacent counties, and all in what is known as the Piedmont section of the state. If, as contended by Dr. McKelway, there has been a large increase in the employment of children, then certainly the school statistics of these four counties should prove such a fact. Whereas, these school statistics, with the compilation of which the cotton manufacturers had nothing to do, distinctly prove otherwise. These school statistics are prepared by the state superintendent of education, and cover the whole state, and have no reference whatever to manufacturing conditions.

The report of the state superintendent of education for the scholastic year 1906, shows that the population of South Carolina in that year, based upon an estimate of increase over the census of 1900, was 1,467,391, and that the school enrollment for the state during that year was 314,399, or the percentage heretofore referred to of 21.61 per cent of the population enrolled in schools. The estimated white population of the state in 1906 was 601,631; the enrollment of white school children for the year was 24 per cent of the white population. The enrollment in the negro schools was 19.6 per cent of the negro population. In Spartanburg County the estimated population was 71,662 and the school enrollment was 25.2 per cent of the population. In Greenville County the estimated population was 58,998 and the school enrollment was 23.9 per cent. In Anderson County the estimated population was 62,940 and the school enrollment was 23.5 per cent. In Union County the population was 25,579 and the school enrollment was 30.3 per cent of the population. In other words, the average of the four cotton mill counties was 25.7 per cent, as against the average for the whole state of

21.6 per cent. It shows, therefore, at least that a full percentage of children, as contrasted with the remainder of the State, are attending schools in the four counties referred to. When it is remembered that those living in the cotton mill villages of South Carolina number approximately one-fifth of the entire white population of the state and nearly one-third of the entire population, white and colored, of the four counties referred to, it would seem that if there were the enormous number of children supposed by Dr. McKelway to be in the mills, the proportion of children attending the schools could not be greater than the average throughout the remainder of the state.

This comparison is made even more interesting when contrast is had with other counties of the state in which there are no cotton mills, or in which, if there be any, they are so small in number and size as to be no important factor in population. I have contrasted, therefore, the four Piedmont counties referred to with the four counties of Orangeburg, Colleton, Horry and Sumter, two of which -Orangeburg and Sumter-are among the leading agricultural counties of the state. Colleton and Horry, while not so important. in their population or wealth as the other two, are nevertheless good counties, and Horry has one of the largest proportions of whites to blacks to be found in any county in South Carolina. These four counties show a proportion of school enrollment to population as follows: Orangeburg, 23.9 per cent; Colleton, 18.4 per cent; Horry, 23.2 per cent; Sumter 21.9 per cent; or an average for the four counties of 21.9 per cent.

To summarize, the four leading cotton mill counties show a proportion of school enrollment to population of 25.7 per cent. Four equally representative agricultural and non-cotton mill counties show a school enrollment in relation to population of 21.9 per cent. Does this not speak volumes in itself, and do these figures not clearly prove that the cotton mill population of South Carolina is securing the advantages of schooling in full proportion to other sections of the state? Do these figures not prove that the policy of the cotton mill corporations in the encouragement of education is having its effect and that the cotton mill employees are reciprocating this policy and are evidencing a desire to secure to their children advantages which they themselves were not able to have before their advent to the mills? Do not these figures prove that the policy of the mill

corporations to install a school at each mill village is having its natural result in the education and cultivation of the employees, and that it is a wise policy of the corporation not to be limited by the public school fund, and schools of from three to five months in duration, but to establish schools in large part paid for out of the funds of the corporation and maintained for from seven to ten months in the year?

In conclusion, do not these school statistics clearly show that the cotton mill corporations and the employees of these corporations have nothing to fear from a compulsory education law, but have everything to gain, inasmuch as such a law will be applicable to all classes of people and would force the same degree of school attendance upon other classes as is sought for and desired in behalf of the cotton mill employees?

COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH

BY GEORGE F. MILTON,

Editor of Knoxville Sentinel, Knoxville, Tenn.

The Germans were the earliest to institute a system of general education, and the wonderful progress of Germany in every respect. is now largely attributed to the thoroughness of such national education. The fact that in Germany elementary education has been generally compulsory and to a large extent also gratuitous, for more than one hundred and fifty years, is recognized to be an essential element. in recent political, industrial and commercial successes of the nation. France offers a good illustration of the rapidity with which illiteracy may be reduced as a result of good attendance laws. In 1854, no less than 42.5 per cent. of the French people were illiterate. In 1870, at the end of the Empire, 31 per cent. were illiterate, and in 1880 the condition was very little improved. In 1882, the compulsory education act went into effect and as a result, in 1900, the illiteracy had been reduced to 6 per cent.-only one-fifth of what it was eighteen years before.

As showing the relation of the compulsory school system in Germany and other European states to illiteracy, the following statistics of adults are suggestive: German Empire, .05 per cent. are illiterate; Denmark, .02; Finland, .49; Switzerland, .13; Scotland, 2.46; Netherlands, 2.30; England, 3.00; France, 4.70; Belgium (not compulsory), 10.10; Austria, 35.60; Ireland, 7.90; Hungary, 47.80; Greece, 30.00; Italy, 32.99; Portugal, 79.20; Spain, 68.10; Russia, 61.70; Servia, 79.30; Roumania, 88.40.

The right of state authorities to require the attendance of all children at school was asserted early in the American colonies. Connecticut may claim to have been one of the first states in the world that established the principle. Its code of laws adopted in 1650 contained stringent provisions for compulsory attendance upon schools. In 1810, with the changed conditions resulting from immigration, it was found impossible to enforce the law without important additions, amounting in reality to a set of factory laws, forbidding the