The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 18, 1917, Page 8

¢ Rural Schools “Short-Changed” State School Superintendent Elected by Farmers Tells What ORE money for rural schools, and better opportunities for the country children to get an education, an evening up of opportuni- ties between country and town, are the aims of a series of bills which Superin- tendent of Public Instruction N. C. Macdonald is sketching te be submit- ted to the committees on education of the house and senate of the North Da- kota legislature. For five years Mr. Macdonald has been engaged exclu- sively in a study of ‘the rural school problem of North Dakota, as inspector of consolidated, graded and _rural schovols, and the bills which he is now outlining embrace recommendations he made in his fifth annual report last June. Mr. Macdonald was elected as & candidate of the Nonpartisan League. A few years ago there was a county tax for school purposes of 8 mills and this gave to districts that had not enough taxable property to support a proper term of school, a little county aid that went far towards eking out existence for them. But under the gradual absorption of influence and power by the cities, this was cut down to 2 mills, with the result that many districts felt it keenly, and had to go the limit, 30 mills, of their power to tax for school support in order to keep their schools running. The cities, how- ever, were not hurt, for they had large property interests, railroads, branch establishments of wholesale concerns, large mercantile establishments from which to draw taxes, and their schools did not suffeér. WOULD RESTORE TAX AS IT WAS FORMERLY One of the bills being outlined by the new superintendent of public in- struction aims to restore the abondon- “ed 8 mill levy, which, when,distributed within county limits,. will .again be a great boon to many a struggling one- room dountry school if it is enacted into law. Another, and a most important mea- sure in the eyes of the rural school advocates, is a law to tax all state- Country Educational System Needs wide corporations as state assets, and distribute the money thus collected on a per capita basis to every district in the state. At present no district except those in which property is situated can derive any benefit from the taxes such property pays to the school funds. There are over 1200 districts in North Dakota that derive not a penny from the immense fund which the railroads contribute to school support. These are districts through which no rail- - roads run. But others are getting a double por- tion. The rich districts in thickly populated sections get all the money that comes from this source, as well as all that comes from the other wealthy business’ institutions that exist within. their limits. ALL SCHOOLS SHOULD HAVE RAILROAD TAXES “Why should some-poor little district out in the hills 20 miles from a rail- road get no benefit from railroad taxeg for school support, while the people who live in the eastern part of the. state have more than an abundance for school purposes, which they get just because they happened to be there first,” said Mr. Macdonald. “It is the farmers and grain raisers who live miles from the railroads who support the railroads. I know what it means. I was brought up on that kind of a farm. I have seen men take two days to haul a load of wheat from their farms to the railway and get back home again. They were supporting the railroad by giving it freight, but they were getting no support from the railroad taxes for their schools. “The law should be changed so that all state-wide corporations would con- tribute their school taxes to the schools of the entire state on the basis of the number of pupils in each district. At N. C. Macdonald, state superintendent of public instruction of North Da- kota, elected by the farmers, sitting at his desk at his offices at Bismarck. ~ that ra:te, the rural schools would get about. $350,000 more a year than they are getting now. “Take a big institution like the Ford branch in Fargo. It pays a large sum in taxes for school support, but who gets it? Not a pupil in the state out side of Fargo and vicinity is henefitted, but there are perhaps. 100 Ford cars used in the country to where there is one in the city. The farmers support the branch house, and the farther they, live from Fargo the greater the hard- ship they endure in doing so, that is the more it costs them, for they have freight to pay in addition to what all city purchasers pay. It is only fair that these things should be equalized, and that the country schools of North Dakota, which are now 20 years behind the North Dakota city schools, should be brought up to a point of equality - with them. NEED MORE MONEY FOR RURAL SCHOOLS “Another thing: There is but one inspector for rural schools in this state, but there are 40 times as many rural schools as city schools. There should be about $240,000 more annually for the development of the consolidated and rural schools than is now appropriat- €d, which is $60,000. The children of the farmers get state aid to that extent. But the city schools get: $85,000 a year state aid, and yet the farmers pay in taxes more than three times as much money as do city residents.. “I would not withdraw a particle from the efficiency or support of the city schools. I would be glad to see them better. But they have many ad- vantages, and they are able, it seems, to take pretty good care of themselves. For the good of North Dakota, and for the good of the thousands of boys and girls now attending one-room rural schools, and who deserve just as good facilities as the pupils living in the cities, our laws’ should be improv- ed to make this possible for them. The rural schools of North Dakota at pres- ent are short changed about $500,000.* I.eague Schedules More New Meetings Announcements by the Organization and Speakers’ Bureau IMPORTANT CHANGES Owing to requests from members of the League from towns on the routes of our speakers that had not been in- cluded in the lists of meetings, some changes cancellations and additions have been made to the list as pub- lished in the last issue of the Leader. ‘Where cancellations have occurred, we shall hold meetings later and shall announce the dates as soon as they can be arranged. Note these changes and cancellations carefully: South Dakota—The Bowdle meet- ing has been changed from Janu- ary 18 to January 17. The Hosmer meeting has been changed from January 17 to January 20...— Minnesota—The meetings at the following places have been can- celled: Clitherall, Villard, Terrace, Sedan and ‘Alexandria. The meet- ing at Cyrus has been changed from January 16 to January 18. The meeting at Starbuck has been changed from January 17 to Jan- uary 19. NORTH DAKOTA MEETINGS Important business meetings of the Nonpartisan League in‘North Dakota are scheduled for the following places, German as well as English being spoken at metings indicated by a star (*). These meetings are of great importance and League members should not fail to be in attendance: *Beaver Creek, Thursday, Jan. 18, 1:30 p. m. *Lehr, Friday, Jan. 19, 1:30 p. m. McKenzie, Friday, Jan. 19, 1:30 p. m. Menoken, Saturday, Jan. 20, 1:30 p. m. Sterling, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 1:30 p. m. Driscoll, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 1:30 p. m. 7 Dawson, Thursday, Jan. 25, 1:30 p. m. Crystal Springs, Friday, Jan. 26, 1:3# p. Nt - _*Arena, Saturday, Jan. 27, 1:30 p. m. *Tuttle, Monday, Jan. 29, 1:30 p. m. Wing, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 1:30 p. m. Still, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1:30 p. m Robinson, Monday, Feb. 5, 1:30 p. m. Pettibone, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 1:30 p. m. Lake Williams, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 1:30 P. m. ¢ IN TWO STATES Following is a list of Nonpartisan League meetings to be held in Minne- sota and South Dakota: South Dakota Inland south of Bowdle and Ortley, Jan. 18. Loyalton at 1 p. m., Summit at 2 p. m., Jan. 19. Hosmer and Sisseton, Jan. 20. Stratford and Peever, Jan. 22. Huffton, Jan. 23. Amherst and Bradley, Jan. 24. Columbia and Garden City, Jan. 25. Clark and Houghton, Jan. 26. Doland and Hecla, Jan. 27. Newark, Jan. 29, 2 p. m. Turton, Jan. 29, 2 p. m. Britton, Jan. 30, 2 p. m. Frankfort, Jan. 30, 2 p. m. Langford, Jan. 31, 2 p. Raymond, Jan. 31, 2 p. Mansfield, Feb. 1, 2 “Florence, Feb. 1, 2 Cresbard, Feb. 2, 2 ‘Wallace, Feb. 2, 2 p. m. Crandall, Feb. 3, 2 p. m, Minnesota Perham, Cyrus and Dugdale, Jan. 18. Frazee, Starbuck and Erskine, Jan. 19. Audubon, Glenwood and Fosston, Jan. 20. Angus and Hawley at 2 p. m,, Swan- " - ville at-1 p. m.,, Jan. 22. Glyndon and Argyle, 2 p. m.; Grey -Eagle at 1 pb. m., Jan. 23. Kennedy, Felton and Ashby, Jan. 24. Hallock, Ada and Evansville, Jan. 25.° Stephen, Beltrami and Alexandria, Jan. 26. Fertile, Jan. 27, 2 p. m. ‘Warren and Osakis, Jan. 27. The above meetings to occur at 2 p. m., unless otherwise indicated. Gary, Jan. 29, 1 p. m. — Key West Jan. 29, 1 p. m. Twin Valley, Jan. 30, 1 p. m. Eagle Bend, Jan. 30, 2 p. m. St. Hillaire, Jan. 30, 2 p. m. Hitterdal, Jan. 31, 2 p. m. Browerville, Jan. 31, 2 p. m. Red Lake Falls Jan. 31, 2 p. m. Terrebonne Jan. 31, 7:30 p. m. |, Lake Park, Feb. 1, 2 p. m. prises an the part of the state 3 { It takes no supreme court to determine that a law providing for these undertakingg under existing conditions would be clearly .unconstitutional, And tne new supreme court, which the Herald is so studiously showing its contempt for, could not do otherwise than so rule.” 3 ABOUT THE HERALD (Editorial in the Bottineau (N. D.) Courant) . / The Grand Forks Herald becomes extremely facetious over the pro- posed constitutional convention and wants to know the necessity for such a procedure. According to the Herald, the new supreme court could uphold as constitutional any and all measures passed by the leglslative assembly, thus making a revision of the constitution wholly unnecessary. Of course the Herald knows better. Its editor is a man of intelligence, although not. always permitted by his employer to use this intelligence. The Herald knows of all the trials and vicissitudes of the terminal elevator amendment before it was finally adopted as a part of the consti- tution. It knows that if the state is to establish flour mills, packing plants, cold storages, etc., it will be necessary to pass through the same tedious process, unless the constitution is revised so as to provide for such enter: Long Prairie, Feb. 1, 2 p. m. Thief River Falls, Feb. 1, 2. p. m. Vergas Feb. 2, 2 p. m. Little Sauk Feb. 2, 2 p. m. Plummer Feb. 2, 2 p. m. Dent, Feb. 8, 2 p. m. Alvarado, Feb. 3, 2 p. m. NOTICE ‘We occasionally hear of members not receiving their certificates of member=- ship or the Leader. ° If, when you read this notice, you know of - any member joining the League who did not get his certificate or is not getting the Leader, please notify us. Organization Department, Box 919, Fargo, N. Dak. WILLING TO HELP ; Danvers, Minn., Dec. 30, 1916. Editor, Nonpartisan Leader: I am only too glad at any time to give my assistance for the farmers’ cause, and it is the farmers’ duty to do so and, furthermore, after they have read your wonderful paper, the Non- partisan Leader, they surely ought to put the shoulder against the wheel and keep # agoing. 3 CHAS. ERICKSON. "THE HOLD-OVER SENATORS (Editorial in New Rockford (N. D.) - - Center.) It is not likely that serious OPpPOSi= tion will be offered by hold-over sena- tors on the ground that they were elected before the Nonpartisan League was organized and hence are not bound to support its program. True they are not; but they nevertheless know the- temper of the vast majority of the voters, and for them to-block the pro- gram voted for will only defer as well . as intensify the ~ ge- termination of the farmers to com- Plete their program even if it requires — another campaign in order to retire all opponents to private life. Even without opposition the consti- 'tul:im.l will have to be amended liberal- 1y or wholly revised before Half the program can be made effective, which is sumt:j_ent warrant for a continuance of the organization until its object is fully realized. ; e