Vol.  LXXXII. 
I’uli  islied  Weekl.i  by  The  Rural  Publishing  Co., 
V.  noth  St..  New  York.  Price  One  Dollar  a  Year. 
NEW  YORK,  SEPTEMBER  22,  1923 
Entered  as  Seccm'fo  .  Matter,  June  26,  1879.  at  the  Post 
Office  at  New  York,  )  i.,  under  th$  Act  of  March  .1,  1879. 
On  Rural  Schools  and  the  Proposed  Bill 
FARM  MOTHER. — When  requested 
from  several  different  sources  to 
send  an  article  to  The  R.  N.-Y.  in 
regard  to  rural  schools,  I  felt  at 
first  that  I  could  not.  I  felt  that 
I  had  neither  the  position  nor  the 
criticize  those  who  had  spent  so 
much  time  and  study  on  the  subject.  On  the 
other  hand,  from  my  10  years  of ’ teaching  in  the 
New  York  schools,  most  of  that  time  in  districts 
of  any  library  endowment  coming  from  those  hill¬ 
side  farms  of  New  York  .State, 
STUDYING  CONDITIONS.— Being  so  interested 
in  school  problems,  I  read  all  I  could  find  about  the 
survey  made  by  the  Committee  of  Twenty-one.  I  at¬ 
tended  several  meetings.  I  read  their  recommenda¬ 
tions  carefully.  I  was  very  sorry  to  see  their  re¬ 
port  put  in  book  form.  I  would  hate  to  have  a 
single  copy  go  out  of  the  State  to  let  others  know 
how  bad  we  rural  people  are.  I  understand  that 
and  some  of  their  recommendations  were  ignored. 
This  bill  failed  to  pass  both  houses  of  the  Legisla¬ 
ture  last  year,  but  will  undoubtedly  come  up  again 
this  year,  and  it  is  for  our  representatives  there  to 
vote  for  or  against  it.  Possibly  I  can  express  my 
opinion  on  the  bill  by  answering  definitely  five  ques¬ 
tions  that  have  frequently  been  asked  me. 
DO  YOU  BELIEVE  IN  CONSOLIDATION?—! 
live  in  a  consolidated  district.  You  will  immediately 
conclude  that  we  have  a  fine  new  building  with  a 
This  shows  the  contents  of  a  farm  produce  basket  sent  bp  mail 
or  express  direct  from  the  farm  to  the  consumer.  This  is  what  is  known  as  “hamper  trade ” 
which  is  being  developed  by  a  number  of  small  farmers  who  lire  near  the  city.  See  next  page 
which  are  classed  as  rural,  I  realize  that  there  is 
much  in  the  system  and  much  in  the  custom  that 
needs  change  and  improvement.  Being  a  farmer’s 
wife,  living  on  a  farm  and  paying  taxes  on  two 
farms,  I  realize  that  we  cannot  have  a  much  greater 
burden  of  taxation  or  we  shall  have  to  do  as  some 
have  suggested,  “give  them  the  farm.”  But  I  have 
four  children.  Three  are  of  school  age.  The  fourth 
will  be  there  later.  Above  everything  else,  I  desire 
that  any  change  in  the  school  laws  will  grant  to  my 
children  an  education  equal  to  any  other  children 
of  their  age  in  this  State.  In  fact  we  feel  that  their 
education  and  training  is  our  main  business  in  life, 
and  will  be  our  only  monuments,  for  we  never  knew 
they  had  a  large  sum  of  money  to  use.  Since  it 
was  not  from  taxes,  but  a  free  gift  to  that  com¬ 
mittee,  I  do  not  feel  that  it  is  any  of  my  business 
how  it  was  spent.  But  I  wish  that  a  like  sum 
could  take  some  of  the  farmers  from  these  poor  .in¬ 
efficient  districts  and  show  them  the  kind  of  schools 
that  they  could  have  without  breaking  them  finan¬ 
cially. 
THE  COMMITTEE  AND  ITS  WORK.— As  I  un¬ 
derstand  the  situation  now,  the  work  for  which  the 
Committee  of  Twenty-one  was  appointed  is  finished. 
They  reported  to  a  committee  at  Albany.  This  com¬ 
mittee  has  framed  a  bill.  'Some  of  it  follows  the 
recommendations  of  the  Committee  of  Twenty-one, 
lunch  room,  a  gymnasium,  an  auditorium,  a  manual 
training  department  and  dental  room.  But  we  do 
not.  Our  school  building  was  built  about  1S35  and 
cost  $3,000.  We  have  no  gymnasium,  no  lunch 
room,  a  very  poor  apology  for  a  laboratory  and  no 
effort  made  for  a  manual  training  department.  The 
hone  of  contention  in  many  plans  for  consolidation 
seems  to  be  the  matter  of  transportation.  We  have 
no  transportation  furnished  by  the  district.  When 
some  families  needed  it,  their  farms  were  set  off 
into  another  district.  The  board  of  education  paid 
the  tuition  of  some  children  in  other  districts  to 
avoid  being  required  to  provide  transportation. 
Other  parents  paid  their  children’s  tuition  when 
