The greatest enemy of mankind is ignorance; hence the work that the Corporation is doing along educational lines may justly be regarded as the most important of its operations for ameliorating the workers’ lot. It is not always possible for the Corporation to take direct charge of the education of the young, the children of its employees, nor does it wish to do this directly. But in those localities where municipal, county, or state educational facilities are poor, it has gladly assumed the burden. The most striking instance is the work conducted along these lines by its southern subsidiary, the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co.
In fact, the work of the Tennessee Co. along all lines of welfare is particularly worthy of description. This does not imply any invidious comparison; it simply means that the southern company had a more virgin field to work on and therefore has been able to lay out a more comprehensive and definite programme.
But to return to the question of education of the workers’ children. When the Steel Corporation, in 1907, purchased control of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co., it found conditions decidedly unfavorable, especially in two respects: education, and the treatment of the colored worker who constituted the major part of the common labor supply of that section.
The schools in Jefferson County, Alabama, where the mines and mills of the Tennessee Company are located, were in an exceedingly poor condition in every respect. The buildings in many instances were dilapidated and the inadequate pay offered teachers failed to attract men and women competent to train the youthful mind.
After a thorough study of the situation, President George G. Crawford, of the Tennessee Company, took up the question with the county authorities and an arrangement was finally arrived at by which the company was to build and equip a sufficient number of schoolhouses in the neighborhood of its plants and mines. The county agreed to turn over to the company the annual appropriations for teachers’ salaries in the neighborhoods affected, these sums to be supplemented by the company with an amount sufficient to pay the type of teacher which the company’s officials desired to obtain.
As a result of this agreement there are to-day, in every place where the Tennessee Company operates, well-constructed, thoroughly ventilated, modern, and attractive schoolhouses for white and colored children, combined with the most modern equipment for teaching. The instructors in charge are of a high average type and the schools are recognized as having no equals in the South.
How successful the Tennessee Company’s management of these schools has been is evidenced by the fact that when the Steel Corporation, through the southern company, began the erection of its big shipbuilding plant at Chickasaw on Mobile Bay, in the neighboring county of Mobile, the authorities of that county proposed to the company’s officials that they enter into a similar agreement in respect to education in that section and a plan, in all essential respects the same, was drawn up and agreed to.
The educational work in the South is not confined only to children, whom it takes from kindergarten to the end of the grammar school period.
The schoolhouses are made centres for general community activities, or in some cases special buildings are erected for this purpose. The community work includes cooking, sewing, housekeeping, and similar classes for the wives of employees, club and social activities, athletics, etc. An important function is the maintenance of libraries for workers and their families. The popularity of these libraries is growing rapidly and the type of literature demanded by those who use them indicates not only a desire on their part for self-instruction but an unexpectedly broad and intelligent interest in the problems and events of the period.
Before passing on from the South, let us take a brief glance at what is being done for the colored people of that section by the Corporation.