In 1919 Brunswick expended the following amounts for the maintenance of her several activities:

It will be of interest to learn how the schools of Brunswick fare in comparison with the police department, the fire department, the department of public works, and the other departments of Brunswick city government and in comparison also with expenditures for similar purposes among the smaller cities of the country. To make such comparison, however, an estimate of Brunswick's population must first be made. The board of trade of Brunswick places the population at 22,000; this is probably too high. For statistical purposes it would be fairer to come at a basis for an estimate in the following way: The school census in 1910 was 2,340; in 1919, 3,514, an increase of 50 per cent. Applying this rate of increase to the 1910 census enumeration of population of 10,182 would give 15,273 as Brunswick's present population. In the comparisons which follow it has seemed best to use 16,000 as the basis for determining the per capita expenditures.

In 1919 Brunswick expended $12.90 per capita of population (16,000 estimate population) on its several departments, including the schools. The following table shows how this amount was distributed. It also shows what the distribution was, on the average, among the 96 cities listed in "Group V," Financial Statistics of Cities, U. S. Census Bureau, 1918. While this group is made up of cities having between 30,000 and 50,000 population, nevertheless a comparison between what Brunswick expends and the average expenditures of these cities will be of significance. It should also be noted that figures for Brunswick are for 1919, while those for the other cities are for 1918, the 1919, statistics not yet having been published Distribution of Brunswick's expenditures (1919) compared with other cities (1918).

While this table shows how Brunswick compares with the average distribution of 96 cities nearest her in population, yet, because her total expenditure is considerably less per capita than the average, another table is needed to make her rank in these matters perfectly clear, and that is a table showing the proportion which each item bears to the entire expenditure. This table follows:

Percentage distribution compared with other cities.

From this table it is clear, that as compared with the 96 cities of the United States having a population ranging from 30,000 to

50,000, Brunswick's chief interest is in her police department, in her fire department, in health and sanitation, and in her department of public works, while her interest in her schools lags very far behind it, being, in fact, less than one-half that of the average city of the group of cities referred to. That is to say, if the proportion of Brunswick's expenditure for schools were doubled it would still fall short of the average proportionate expenditure for schools among the cities of the group with which Brunswick is compared. This serves to show in comparison how little Brunswick is doing for her schools. These comparisons are not made to suggest that Brunswick should cut down on the support of other departments, indeed, the commission was informed that more funds are needed by the various departments, but to suggest rather that Brunswick has reached a place in her development where it is obligatory that she raise more money for her needed activities and that she should expend a larger proportion of it on her schools.

THE TAX RATE OF BRUNSWICK.

The tax rate of Brunswick for 1919 was $18 per thousand of assessed valuation; $3.50 being set aside for the support of the schools. It will be of interest, here again, to compare this rate with the rates levied in the 96 cities of the group already referred to. Inasmuch, however, as the basis for assessing property varies so widely among cities, ranging anywhere from 20 per cent of the actual value to 100 per cent, before a comparison can properly be made, these rates must all be corrected on the basis of an assessment of full property value. In Table No. 30 of "Financial Statistics of Cities," issued by the U. S. Census Bureau, the corrected rates are given for the 96 cities just mentioned. Brunswick's rate for city purposes of $18 per thousand must likewise be corrected. The survey commission was informed that the assessment valuations of Brunswick property average about 60 per cent of the true value. If this is correct then the rate of $18 corrected for this difference would be $10.80 per thousand instead.

Of the 96 cities referred to, 24 only have a lower corrected rate for city purposes than Brunswick, 72 having a higher rate. Of the 72 having a higher rate, 6 have a rate that is more than twice as great. Brunswick's true tax rate, therefore, in comparison with rates corrected in the same manner for the 96 cities of the United States falling into that group of cities nearest Brunswick in population which the Census Bureau has studied in matters of finance, is seen to be low, very low indeed. It must be remembered too that the rates given for the 96 cities with which Brunswick is compared are for 1918, while that of Brunswick is for 1919, which, in the comparison, operates in Brunswick's favor.

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THE PER CAPITA VALUE OF BRUNSWICK PROPERTY.

One other comparison will be of interest and that relates to the per capita value of the property of Brunswick subject to a general property tax. The 1919 report of the tax assessor and collector of Brunswick shows a gross property valuation of $13,069,837. Certain exemptions, however, have been allowed, also the tax on certain public-service corporations is handled by the State comptroller direct, so that this gross valuation is reduced to a net assessed valuation of $10,589,182. If this represents 60 per cent of actual valuation then the true tax value of Brunswick's property is approximately $17,648,636. Assuming as has previously been done that the population of the city is 16,000, then the per capita true value for taxation purposes is $1,103 which is $66 less than the average per capita value of the taxable property of the 96 cities already referred to.

In short, while Brunswick has a much lower tax rate than the great majority of the 96 cities mentioned, she has a taxation property value which approaches very nearly the average of the group.

It must therefore be very clear that, in comparison with other small cities of the United States, Brunswick can well afford to increase her tax rate to provide a more generous income for city activities and that in the distribution of such increased returns Brunswick should give a very much larger proportion to the maintenance of her schools.

THE EXPENDITURE ON THE EDUCATION OF NEGRO CHILDREN.

In the apportionment of the State school fund the distribution among the counties is based on the number of children between the ages of 6 and 18 living in each. Negro children count the same as white children in this distribution. In 1919, each census child entitled the county in which the child lived to a little more than $4. In 1918, the census shows the following facts about the proportion of white and Negro children between the ages of 6 and 18 living in Brunswick and in the county outside.

Of the total number of colored school children (2,606) in Brunswick and Glynn County, as shown by the school census, fewer than one-half are enrolled in the schools supported by public funds. The

others are either attending schools which are privately supported or else are not in school at all. In Brunswick there is but one Negro school. This is a school of 11 teachers and enrolling about 650 children. In the county outside of Brunswick there are 10 one-teacher and 1 two-teacher colored schools enrolling in the agregate fewer than 500 children.

In 1919, most of the rural colored schools were maintained only five months. The board hopes, however, to keep them open for six months during the present school year. In Brunswick the school for colored children is maintained for the full term of nine months. Nowhere in the county is there now opportunity in the public schools for a Negro child to obtain schooling beyond the eighth grade. Even an eighth grade is maintained only in Brunswick. It should be added, however, that in the recent bond call provision was made for the erection of a manual training school for the colored children of the county, to be located at Brunswick, the school to cost approximately $37,500.

The amount expended on colored schools in 1919 was about $8,000 or about $7 per child for the year based on the number actually enrolled in the public schools. Based on the census enumeration of colored children, the amount expended per child for the year was about $3.07.

Present facilities, then, accommodate approximately only 1,150 colored children, and many of these, it should be added, are given but a half-day session. The census shows that there are 2,606 colored children in the county between the ages of 6 and 18. In other words, the board of education has made provision for only about one-half the children of the Negro race who ought to be in school.

THE BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT PROVIDED FOR NEGRO CHILDREN.

The buildings in all cases are old, tumbled-down, decaying, dilapidated, disreputable buildings. The equipment is limited to benches and old-time desks and seats on which generations of white children have cut and carved their names. There are no books, maps, charts, or supplies of modern character. The efforts which the teachers in the schools have made to keep the rooms clean and to make them attractive are pathetic. These efforts, however, show what could be done and would be done were the teachers installed in attractive buildings with new equipment of modern type as they, indeed, should be.

This very meager allotment of funds to the support of Negro schools accounts for the conditions under which these schools are operatingteachers in the country receiving $30 a month for six months or less; dilapidated buildings equipped with desks and benches discarded by the white schools; no maps, charts, books or materials of modern