This movement started in Kentucky, and Kentucky is the State which should take the initiative and form a commission to advance this important work. I earnestly request that you will include in your message to the Legislature the suggestion that such a commission be formed.
Hoping that you will see the expediency of this matter, and believing that you will stand for the enlightenment of the 208,084 benighted Kentuckians who cannot read or write, I am,
Yours most respectfully,
By return mail came Governor McCreary’s answer:
Your letter, dated December 16, 1913, was received this morning.
I thoroughly endorse all you say on the subject of an “Illiteracy Commission” “formed by legislative act to study the condition of adult illiteracy in our State and to give men and women their freedom from this bondage.”
I congratulate you on the strong points presented in your letter, and I will be glad to assist you and to encourage any movement which has for its object the elimination of illiteracy from our State and the education of all our people.
I will refer in my message to an “Illiteracy Commission” and the good work that can be performed by such a commission.
After some further exchange of letters with the Governor on the subject, on February 19, 1914, he wrote:
I congratulate you heartily, on the unanimous vote of both branches of the General Assembly in favor of the bill providing for the Kentucky Illiteracy Commission. Your address and the strong arguments in favor of this much-needed legislation caused its passage without opposition.