I? AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



transfer of the farmers' institutes from the control of the agricultural 

 college to the state agricultural commission, with special instructions to 

 deal with the marketing of farm products. 94 



Despite the failure of the League to obtain passage of house bill 44, it 

 was successful in fulfilling some of its campaign pledges. The newly 

 created office of state inspector of grains, weights, and measures was 

 empowered with authority to regulate the weighing and grading of grain. 

 Farm improvements were partially exempt from taxation by the enact- 

 ment of a law permitting such improvements to be assessed at 5 per cent 

 of their true valuation, while the property of banks, railroads, and "the 

 lesser agents of Big Business" was assessed at 30 per cent of its actual value. 

 Another act prevented railroads from discriminating against cooperative 

 elevators when supplying them with cars, while still another placed a 

 new cooperative corporation law in operation. Limited woman suffrage 

 was granted ; a public welfare commission was organized to look into the 

 conditions of female and child labor; evening schools were established for 

 adults; the inheritance tax on large fortunes was raised to 15 per cent; and 

 the compulsory school age was raised to seventeen. 95 



League claims in the field of education were particularly noteworthy. 

 When the League came into power in 1916, it was said that only one farm 

 child of every four finished the eighth grade and only one of every ten 

 enrolled in high school. The average attendance was 65 days, the average 

 rural school year being 150 days. City schools had a term of 180 days and 

 a 90 per cent attendance. 96 



Since the new superintendent of public instruction was a League man, 

 it was quite natural that changes were made. One complaint against the 

 old course of study was that nowhere was the word "dockage" used. Since 

 it was a common word in the grain business, the new superintendent 

 placed it in the new course of study along with such words as "music 

 and calisthenics." Studies of farm accounts and public ownership were 

 introduced in the seventh grade. The eighth-grade teacher, among other 

 things, had to have an appreciation of "the benefits of eliminating all 



94. Ibid., March 8, 1917, p. 8. 



95. Merz, in New Republic, XIII (November 10, 1917), p. 45; Gillette, in Survey, 

 XLI (March, 1919), p. 758. 



96. Merz, in New Republic, XIII (November 10, 1917), pp. 71-72. 



