Tf*  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
903 
The  School  Bill  and  Its  Discussion 
Part  VI. 
X  this  discussion  of  the  school  law  we  have 
thought  it  best  to  get  the  opinion  of  Our  country 
people  as  far  as  possible.  The  people  who  live  in  the 
rural  districts  have  the  greatest  interest  in  the  rural 
schools  and  should  be  consulted  first  of  all  before 
any  radical  change  is  made.  Our  plan  of  estimating 
rural  sentiment  is  not  to  go  to  the  leaders,  or  to  the 
people  with  whom  we  are  personally  acquainted. 
That  will  generally  lead  to  more  or  less  prejudiced 
opinion,  and  so  we  take  a  very  large  number  of 
names  from  our  list  at  random,  and  send  our  ques¬ 
tions  to  them.  As  a  rule  we  do  not  know  the  people 
whose  names  are  selected  in  this  way.  They  evi¬ 
dently  live  in  country  districts,  and  we  assume  that 
they  are  interested  in  school  work.  Most  of  them 
reply,  and  tell  us  candidly  just  what  they  think 
about  the  matter,  and  in  that  way  we  can  obtain  a 
far  better  idea  of  the  real  sentiment  of  the  country 
than  if  we  went  to  the  leaders,  or  to  a  selected  few, 
or  personal  friends.  We  have  never  known  this 
plan  to  fail  in  giving  us  a  thorough  and  accurate 
knowledge  of  what  farmers  desire,  and  their  thought 
on  public  questions.  This  plan  is  being  followed  in 
the  discussion  of  the  school  bill,  and  we  shall  have 
thousands  of  letters,  candid,  unbiased  and  true  to 
farm  sentiment. 
We  find  that  one  of  the  most  important  features 
of  the  school  law  is  the  matter  which  applies  to  the 
condemnation  of  old  school  houses.  This  comes  up 
in  many  of  our  letters,  and  country  people  are  evi¬ 
dently  quite  concerned  regarding  some  of  the  school- 
houses  now  standing. 
Here,  for  instance,  is  a  typical  letter  from  Clinton 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  which  we  print  just  as  it  comes  to  us:. 
.  In  regard  to  the  school  law,  we  know  nothing  about 
it.  only  what  we  read  in  your  paper.  We  have  a  small 
school  here,  about  20  scholars.  The  building  is  used  for 
religious  purposes  as  well  as  for  school.  No  one  in  this 
district  would  ever  consent  to  have  it  closed  ;  it  is  our 
church.  r.  l.  II. 
Section  1307  of  the  proposed  new  school  lqw  deals 
with  the  condemnation  of  school  buildings.  It  pro¬ 
vides  that  a  “District  superintendent  may,  by  order, 
condemn  a  schoolhouse  in  a  school  district,  in  a  com¬ 
munity  district,  whenever  in  his  opinion  such  school- 
house  is  wholly  unfit  for  use,  and  not  worth  repair¬ 
ing.” 
We  do  not  see  that  the  voters  or  residents  of  the 
district  have  anything  to  do  with  this  condemnation. 
The  order  comes  from  the  district  superintendent, 
and  it  is  directed  to  the  community  board.  Such 
order  states  the  date  when  it  is  to  take  effect,  and 
names  a  sum  which  should  be  necessary  to  erect  a 
suitable  school  building.  It  also  gives  the  facts 
upon  which  the  superintendent  has  based  his  opin¬ 
ion.  This  order  is  presented  to  the  intermediate 
board,  which  as  we  remember  is  a  higher  board  than 
the  community  'board.  If  this  intermediate  board 
approves  the  order  it  shall  be  effective  on  and  after 
the  specified  date,  but  this  intermediate  board  “may, 
at  its  discretion,”  disapprove,  modify  or  postpone  the 
effect  of  such  an  order,  and  it  is  subject  to  reversal 
or  modification  on  appeal  to  the  Commissioner  of 
Education.  The  community  board  then  proceeds  to 
consider  the  question  of  building  a  new  schoolhouse. 
This  board  may  determine  the  size  of  the  school- 
house,  the  material  to  be  used  in  building  it,  and 
may  reduce  the  superintendent's  estimate  by  not 
more  than  25  per  cent.  If  the  amount  required  to  be 
raised  by  tax  for  the  erection  of  the  new  building  is 
less  than  $7,000  the  community  board  may  cause  the 
amount  thereof  to  be  included  in  the  next  annual 
tax  budget.  In  this  event,  of  course,  the  home  dis¬ 
trict  will  have  nothing  to  say  about  it.  If  this 
amount  is  more  than  $7,000  the  board  shall  cause  a 
proposition  for  the  appropriation  to  be  submitted  to 
a  vote  of  the  qualified  electors  of  the  community 
district,  at  either  an  annual  or  special  school  meet¬ 
ing.  called  for  the  purpose. 
Paragraph  3  of  this  section  is  as  follows : 
If  the  meeting  at  which  such  proposition  is  submit¬ 
ted  shall  fail  to  make  the  necessary  appropriation  for 
the  erection  of  a  new  building  in  place  of  the  building 
condemned,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  community  board 
to  levy  a  tax  to  pay  for  the  cost  of  such  new  building, 
which  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  estimated  by  the  district 
superintendent  as  necessary  for  such  erection,  and 
which  shall  not  be  less  than  such  estimated  sum  by 
more  than  25  per  centum  thereof. 
The  farmers  should  fully  understand  just  ex¬ 
actly  what  this  means.  They  have  nothing  to  say 
about  the  original  condemnation  of  a  building.  That 
is  suggested  by  the  district  superintendent  and 
passed  on  by  the  intermediate  board,  which  has  little 
if  any  direct  responsibility  to  the  farmers.  In  case 
the  amount  needed  for  the  building  is  placed  at  less 
than  $7,000  the  people  have  nothing  whatever  to  say 
about  it,  and  one  can  readily  see  how  a  board,  dis¬ 
posed  to  do  such  things,  could  call  for  an  appropria¬ 
tion  of  $6.S00  and  “get  away  with  it.” 
The  calling  of  a  meeting  for  a  vote  on  the  subject 
is  very  largely  a  perfunctory  proceeding.  The  vote 
of  the  home  district  would  not  settle  the  matter.  It 
will  be  decided  by  the  voters  of  the  community  dis¬ 
trict.  and  that  will  usually  include  a  town  of  4,500 
population,  or  under,  so  that  the  town  vote  might 
decide  what  is  to  be  done  in  the  building  of  this  new 
schoolhouse.  And  even  if  the  vote  should  be  against 
the  proposition,  we  see  from  the  paragraph  printed 
above  that  the  community  board  is  to  go  right  ahead 
and  levy  the  tax,  regardless  of  what  the  voters  of  the 
district  had  to  say  about  it.  There  may  be  good 
reasons  for  taking  the  responsibility  and  power  over 
such  things  away  from  the  home  district,  but  we 
think  our  farmers  will  have  to  be  shown  why  this 
should  be  done.  One  can  readily  see  that  a  com¬ 
munity  board  or  an  intermediate  board  might  easily 
be  so  made  up  that  it  would  use  the  condemnation 
of  the  old  schoolhouse  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
about  consolidation.  We  think  it  would  be  com¬ 
paratively  easy  for  this  board,  under  this  law.  to 
see  that  the  old  house  was  condemned,  and  thus 
bring  about  a  ruling  which  would  close  the  school, 
and  cause  the  children  to  be  carried  to  another  dis¬ 
trict.  We  find  that  this  part  of  the  law  is  of  special 
interest  to  our  country  people,  and  they  should  fully 
understand  what  they  are  doing,  before  they  agree 
to  it.  It  seems  to  us,  as  we  have  stated  before,  that 
the  chief  object  of  this  law  is  to  take  away  the 
power  from  the  home  district  and  centralize  it  in 
one  of  the  numerous  boards  or  commissions  which 
are  to  control  the  system.  We  want  to  be  exactly 
right  in  this  matter,  and  if  this  interpretation  of  the 
law  is  not  fair,  we  shall  be  glad  to  have  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Twenty-one  tell  us  wherein  we  are  wrong. 
Next  week  we  shall  take  up  the  question  of  appro¬ 
priating  money  from  the  State  and  apportioning  it 
to  the  rural  districts. 
Henry  Ford  and  the  Presidency 
Why  don’t  you  put  at  your  masthead  the  real  ticket 
for  farmers : 
For  President.  Henry  Ford. 
For  Vice-President,  ,Grey  Silver. 
It  would  be  a  sure  winner.  g.  m. 
HAT  note,  \yhich  comes  from  New  Jersey,  is  a 
fair  sample  of  many.  They  come  to  us  from  all 
over  the  country,  but  chiefly  from  the  Central  West. 
There  are  so  many  of  them  that  it  has  seemed  worth 
while  to  make  something  of  an  investigation.  When¬ 
ever  we  want  a  fair  statement  of  public  opinion  we 
go  to  our  readers  for  it,  and  we  have  never  yet  been 
disappointed  or  put  off  on  the  wrong  track. 
It  appears  evident  from  our  canvass  that  there  is 
a  strong  feeling  among  farmers  that  Henry  Ford 
would  make  a  good  President.  In  some  localities  at 
least  25  per  cent  of  country  people  talk  that  way, 
while  in  others  there  will  be  little  interest.  As  a 
rule  the  people  who  call  for  Ford  are  of  the  emo¬ 
tional,  radical  type,  without  strong  party  ties — the 
people  who  are  usually  ready  to  try  political  experi¬ 
ments.  The  men  who  are  “sore”  in  a  general  way 
at  the  failure  of  both  the  old  parties  to  “do  some¬ 
thing”  are  leaning  toward  Ford.  We  do  not  find 
many  of  the  old  Progressives  in  the  line-up:  in  fact, 
this  seems  to  be  an  entirely  new  departure  in  poli¬ 
tics.  It  has  not  crystallized  yet,  but  there  is  evi¬ 
dence  that  some  strong  propaganda  is  being  de¬ 
veloped  by  somebody  back  in  the  shadow. 
But.  why  Ford?  What  has  he  ever  done  to  justify 
his  election  as  President?  That  is  the  question  we 
put  up  to  the  men  and  women  who  are  shouting  for 
him — and  there  is  no  definite  answer.  Some  .of 
them  say  Ford  will  enforce  the  Prohibition  law  to 
the  limit.  Others  say  that  he  is  a  great  organizer 
and  will  run  the  country  as  he  runs  his  factory.  If 
he  did  that  these  people  would  probably  be  first  of 
all  to  find  fault.  Others  say  that  Ford  would  take 
Mussel  Shoals  and  give  us  all  cheap  fertilizer, 
though  he  could  hardly  do  that  if  he  were  elected 
President!  Still  others  say  Ford  is  an  honest  man 
of  great  ability,  who  would  give  the  common  people 
what  is  known  as  “a  square  deal.”  He  is  opposed 
to  Wall  Street  and  the  money-lenders,  has  no  friends 
among  the  politicians,  and  would  go  into  the  White 
House  free  to  serve  the  plain  people.  In  a  general 
way,  and  briefly  stated,  that  is  what  the  Ford  men 
tell  us.  On  the  other  hand,  the  people  who  oppose 
Ford  tell  another  story. 
They  say  that  Ford  is  one  of  the  richest  men  in 
the  world,  but  in  proportion  to  his  wealth  has  done 
less  of  actual  benevolence  to  the  plain  people  than 
most  other  rich  men.  What  is  there  in  his  record  to 
show  that  he  would  be  superior  to  other  rich  men  as 
a  friend  of  the  people?  While  a  great  organizer  and 
business  man,  he  knows  practically  nothing  else. 
He  has  little  or  no  knowledge  of  history,  little  of 
what  we  call  “education,”  and  has  never  said  any¬ 
thing  or  given  any  evidence  that  he  knows  enough 
about  the  science  of  government  to  work  with  Con¬ 
gress  or  other  nations  harmoniously.  He  is  nearly 
70  years  old.  No  man  in  the  country  has  made  so 
much  profit  out  of  direct  dealing  with  farmers. 
What  of  direct  benefit  has  he  ever  given  them  in  re¬ 
turn.  and  what  evidence  can  be  shown  to  prove  that 
he  would  be  their  special  friend?  Therefore,  why. 
Ford? 
That  is  the  way  they  seem  to  line  up.  There  is  no 
use  denying  the  fact  that  there  i»  a  strong  under¬ 
current  working  for  Ford.  There  is  evidently  an 
organization  with  money  and  power  back  somewhere 
in  reserve.  An  effort  will  be  made  to  nominate 
Ford  on  the  Democratic  ticket  in  the  belief  that 
Southern  and  Western  farmers  will  support  him. 
At  this  time  it  does  not  seem  possible  that  such  a 
movement  can  succeed,  though  it  is  admitted  that  in 
a  primary  Ford  would  carry  several  Western  States. 
Failing  in  securing  a  regular  party  nomination,  the 
Ford  boomers  will  propose  a  third  party,  and  there 
is  a  good  chance  that  such  a  plan  will  be  carried  out. 
There  are  even  those  who  say  that  this  would  so 
complicate  the  election  that  it  would  be  thrown 
into  Congress,  as  happened  in  1801  when  Burr  and 
Jefferson  were  candidates.  There  seems  to  be  no 
question  about  the  fact  that  thousands  of  voters  are 
fully  disgusted  with  present  political  conditions. 
Several  Southern  States  would  gladly  break  away 
from  present  party  ties  if  they  felt  that  their  pecu¬ 
liar  institutions  would  not  be  interfered  with.  There 
is  no  question  that  Gov.  Smith's  action  on  the  Pro¬ 
hibition  enforcement  law'  has  forced  that  question 
into  politics.  The  fearful  injustice  of  taxation  and 
the  economic  crime  of  distribution,  inflated  wages 
and  lowr  purchasing  power  of  the  farmer's  dollar 
have  driven  voters  to  desperation.  It  will  not  be  at 
all  surprising  if  they  turn  to  Ford.  We  cannot  re¬ 
gard  him  as  any  Moses,  but  there  is  no  use  denying 
the  fact  that  he  looks  that  way  to  many. 
The  Pennsylvania  Old-age  Pension  Law 
E  recently  made  a  brief  announcement  of  the 
old  age  pension  law  now  enacted  in  Pennsyl¬ 
vania.  Many  readers  have  asked  about  it,  and  wre 
have  obtained  the  following  statement  from  the  Sec¬ 
retary  of  State  of  Pennsylvania.  As  will  be  seen, 
there  is'such  a  law,  but  no  money  has  been  provided 
for  paying  pensions : 
The  law  provides  that  the  Governor  shall  appoint  an 
Old  Age  Assistance  Commission  of  three  citizens  of  the 
commonwealth,  each  to  serve  for  a  term  of  four  years, 
the  commission  is  to  appoint  an  Old  Age  Assistance 
Superintendent  with  a  salary  not  in  excess  of  $1,800 
per  year.  There  shall  be  in  each  county  a  County  Old 
Age  Assistance  Board,  composed  of  three  persons,  ap¬ 
pointed  by  the  County  Commissioners.  The  board  may 
appoint  one  or  more  local  investigators  with  a  salary 
not  to  exceed  $900  per  year. 
The  amount  of  assistance  given  under  the  law  must 
be  fixed  with  due  regard  to  the  condition  in  each  case, 
but  in  no  instance  to  exceed  a  total  of  $1  per  day.  This 
assistance  may  be  granted  only  to  applicants  who  have 
attained  the  age  of  70  years  or  more,  who  lyive  been  15 
years  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  for  practically 
the  same  term  of  years  citizens  of  the  commonwealth. 
Many  safeguards  are  drawn  around  the  granting  of 
money. 
Money  is  appropriated  only  for  the  payment  of  the 
expenses  of  the  commission  for  the  next  two  years.  No 
money  will  be  available  in  the  next  bienniuni  for  bene¬ 
ficiaries  under  the  law. 
Milk  Drinking  in  California 
On  page  832  you  mention  a  milk  stand  in  New  York 
City,  which  prompts  hie  to  mention  a  few  facts  regard¬ 
ing  milk  consumption  here  in  Los  Angeles.  My  wife 
and  I  came  out  here  three  years  ago,  and  am  sure  we 
have  seen  customers  in  restaurants  and  cafeterias  here 
consume  more  milk  during  those  three  years  than  we 
saw  consumed  in  eating  places  in  Western  New  York 
during  a  period  of  30  years.  Workmen  in  all  trades, 
especially  those  in  all  building  lines,  drink  milk  at  noon 
with  their  lunches.  Every  housewife  who  moves  into 
a  new  house  finds  plenty  of  empty  milk  bottles  (mostly 
pints)  in  and  around  the  house.  Milk  is  now  retailing 
here  for  9  cents  per  pint  and  15  cents  per  quart.  My 
wife  mentioned  before  leaving  the  East  that  she  dreaded 
the  thought  of  having  to  use  canned  milk  in  California, 
not  knowing  that  the  real  article  was  so  plentiful,  and 
it  was  surely  a  pleasant  surprise  not  only  to  find  plenty 
of  good  milk,  but  to  see  it  so  freely  used. 
We  are  a  long  way  from  New  York,  and  are  not  now 
engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits,  but  surely  enjoy  Tfie 
R.  N.-Y.  It,  with  plenty  of  milk,  keeps  us  healthy  and 
happy.  ■  h.  G.  M. 
R.  N.-Y. — We  have  had  the  same  report  from  others. 
One  man  says  that  one  reason  whv  the  Californians 
are  such  remarkable  “boosters”  is  because  they  drink- 
milk  freely.  Many  a  bitter  “grouch”  has  been  dissolved 
in  milk.  The  milk  drinking  habit  is  gaining  in  the 
Eastern  cities.  There  cannot  be  too  much  of  it.  both 
for  the  public  health  and  for  the  general  good  of  the 
dairy  business.  And  there  are  too  many  country  homes 
where  milk  is  all  sold,  and  coffee  bought  as  a  drink  for 
young  and  old. 
