1256 
7ft*  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
October  6,  1923 
Publicity  for  the  School  Bill 
At  a  meeting  of  farm  leaders,  held  at 
the  Onondaga  Hotel  in  Syracuse  on  the 
last  day  of  August,  it.  was  decided  to  ask 
all  candidates  for  the  Legislature  this 
Fall  their  attitude  on  the  proposed  rural 
school  bill. 
Prof.  G.  A.  Works,  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Twenty-one,  condemned  the 
partisan  party  system,  to  which  he  laid 
the  blame  for  the  defeat  of  the  commit¬ 
tee’s  proposed  legislation  last  Winter.  He 
pointed  out  that  the  legislation  winch 
died  in  the  Assembly  last  Winter  would 
equalize  throughout  the  State,  and  give 
children  in  remote  communities  an  equal 
chance  to  obtain  educational  training 
with  those  living  in  more  prosperous  dis¬ 
tricts,  and  estimated  that  the  committee 
program  would  increase  by  about  $1'V 
000.000  a  year  the  amount  the  State 
would  give  rural  communities.  He  did 
not,  however,  explain  by  what  process 
the  State  was  going  to  get  this  extra  ten 
million  dollars,  this  'being  a  subject  on 
which  he  and  all  other  members  of  the 
Committee  of  Twenty-one  are  always  si¬ 
lent.  Neither  did  he  explain  how  much 
it  would  cost  the  rural  communities  to 
get  that  ten  millions  by  building  new 
schoolhouses,  nor  how  much  it  would  cost 
for  transportation  of  pupils,  nor  how  the 
districts  were  to  get  the  money  to  build 
the  new  schools. 
Of  course  the  ten  millions  a  year  which 
the  State  is  expected  to  contribute  must 
come  out  of  taxes,  for  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  find  out,  this  State  has  no 
other  way  of  raising  the  money.  I  be 
larger  part  of  this  would  be  contributed 
by  New  York  City,  but  there  is  a  possi¬ 
bility  that  even  New  York  would  not 
care  to  add  six  or  seven  millions  of  dol¬ 
lars  to  their  already  heavy  tax  burden 
just  for  the  sake  of  forcing  something  on 
the  rural  districts  which  the  rural  dis¬ 
tricts  do  not  want. 
One  of  the  most  important  questions 
which  the  voter  should  ask  himself  or 
herself  in  regard  to  this  proposed  law, 
is  “What  would  it  cost?”  The  next  is, 
how  are  we  going  to  raise  the  money, 
and  next,  what  good  will  it  accomplish? 
We  have  in  this  village  one  of  the 
finest  high  school  buildings  to  be  found 
in  the  State.  It  cost  to  build  between 
$16,000  and  $17,000.  To  duplicate  this 
building  today,  with  carpenters,  masons 
ami  bricklayers’  wages  at  $2  an  hour, 
and  with  all  kinds  of  building  material 
from  100  to  300  per  cent  higher  than 
they  were  then,  would  cost  not  far  from 
$100,000.  IIow  many  of  these  $100.- 
000  buildings  would  we  have  to  erect  for 
the  interest  on  the  investment,  the  neces¬ 
sary  repairs,  insurance  and  other  ex¬ 
penses  connected  therewith  to  use  up  that 
extra  ten  millions  a  year?  Where  are 
we  to  get  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  of  which  the  Committee  of  Twen¬ 
ty-one  so  blithely  disposes? 
Of  course  somebody  will  say,  “Why, 
you  can  issue  bonds  for  the  amount.” 
But  if  we  issue  bonds,  where  are  we  to 
get  the  money  to  repay  them  and  pay  the 
interest  on  them?  “Oh.  that’s  easy,  too; 
all  you  have  to  do  is  to  put  it  in  the 
taxes.”  But  what  are  we  to  tax.  since 
it  was  decided  several  years  ago  that 
personal  property  such  as  stocks. _  bonds 
and  mortgages,  with  the  exception  of 
bank  stock,  is  not  taxable,  in  the  rural 
districts,  at  least?  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  total  assessed  value  of  personal  prop¬ 
erty  subject  to  taxation  in  Tompkins 
County  in  1022  was  only  $54,250.  This 
was  exclusive  of  bank  stock.  In  my  own 
town  the  total  of  personal  property  was 
$12,050,  exlusive  of  bank  stock,  and  of 
the  bank  stock  tax  the  proportion  that 
went  to  school  districts  was  only  $288.80. 
That  leaves  us  nothing  to  tax  but  real  es¬ 
tate,  and  real  estate,  in  the  rural  dis¬ 
tricts  at  least,  is  now  paying  much  more 
than  its  just  share  of  taxes. 
In  addition  to  the  cost  of  school  build¬ 
ings  there  is  the  matter  of  transporta¬ 
tion  of  pupils,  which  would  be  several 
thousand  dollars  a  year  for  each  of  the 
proposed  consolidated  school  districts* 
As  if  this  were  not  enough,  the  proposed 
law  creates  several  hundred  new  offices 
to  be  filled  by  political  straphangers.^  all 
of  whom  must  'be  paid  for  their  time, 
which  will  be  around  a  million  a  year  at 
least.  Then  the  proposed  bill  takes  all 
supervision  of  the  financial  affairs  of  the 
proposed  consolidated  districts  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  taxpayers  and  centers  it  in 
the  hands  of  the  board  of  education.  Of 
course  it  is  provided  that  an  expenditure 
of  more  than  $7,000  for  some  specified 
objects  must  be  submitted  to  the  voters 
of  the  district,  but  anything  under  this, 
up  to  $0,009.90.  is  within  the  discretion 
of  the  board,  and  no  one  can  say  any¬ 
thing  about  it.  no  matter  how  much  graft 
there  is  in  it. 
One  of  the  principal  arguments  in  favor 
of  the  proposed  law  is  the  chance  for 
high  school  work,  and  we  are  often  cited 
to  Minnesota  as  an  example  of  what  can 
be  done  in  this  direction.  Now  this  may 
be  all  right  for  Minnesota,  but  if  we  ex¬ 
amine  the  reports  from  that  State  we  find 
the  consolidated  schools  drawing  their 
pupils  from  a  radius  of  seven  to  nine 
miles.  In  this  State  nearly  every  village 
of  any  size  has  its  high  school,  and  the 
seven  to  nine-mile  radius  will  overlap 
with  the  majority  of  them,  so  the  high 
school  argument  loses  much  of  its  force. 
If  we  examine  the  reports  of  what  is 
termed  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  what 
a  consolidated  school  can  do  in  that  State 
we  turn  to  the  Bloomington  school,  some 
18  miles  from  Minneapolis,  and  we  find 
that  transportation  of  pupils  alone  cost 
that  school  district  $6,000  a  year.  Of 
course  the  State  pays  two-thirds  of  that, 
but  this  State,  under  existing  laws,  pays 
no  part  of  that  expense,  and  if  the  pro¬ 
posed  law  does  any  better  I  have  not 
heax-d  of  it  yet. 
Another  of  the  arguments  offered  is  the 
larger  taxing  district.  Well,  we  tried 
that  in  the  township  law  several  years 
ago,  and  the  Legislature  promptly  re¬ 
pealed  it.  If  any  tw7o  or  more  districts 
in  this  State  wish  to  consolidate,  they 
can  do  so  under  the  present  law  just  as 
well  as  under  that  proposed,  and  at  less 
expense. 
It  was  suggested  at  the  meeting  above 
referred  to  that  a  campaign  fund  be  sub¬ 
scribed  by  farm  organizations  and  allied 
associations,  as  well  as  individuals,  to 
promote  publicity  to  explain  the  provis¬ 
ions  of  the  legislation.  Prof.  Burritt 
suggested  that  small  donations  of  from 
$1  to  $10  be  sought. 
Chairman  Albert  Manning  of  the  State 
Grange,  criticized  the  action  of  the  As¬ 
semblymen  who  killed  the  proposed  law 
last  Winter  on  the  ground  that  the  farm¬ 
ers  were  not  thoroughly  informed  of  its 
provisions,  but  the  probability  is  that 
these  Assemblymen  had  heard  from  horrm, 
and  some  of  them  were  probably  taxpay¬ 
ers  themselves. 
Regarding  the  proposal  for  greater 
publicity  about  this  proposed  law,  I  am 
in  favor  of  it,  but  it  is  too  much  to  ex¬ 
pect  that  its  proponents  will  ever  consent 
to  a  full  and  free  discussion  of  the  cost 
of  building  the  new  school  buildings,  cost 
of  transportation,  irresponsibility  of  the 
school  boards  in  the  matter  of  handling 
the  finances,  lack  of  supervision  of  the 
financial  affairs  of  the  proposed  consoli¬ 
dated  districts  by  the  taxpayers  and 
other  matters  of  vital  interest  to  those 
who  will  have  the  bills  to  pay. 
I  am  also  in  favor  of  finding  out  just 
where  our  candidates  for  the  Assembly 
stand  in  regard  to  this  proposed  law,  for 
if  they  are  in  favor  of  it  the  rural  dis¬ 
tricts  certainly  have  no  use  for  them..  I 
am  also  in  favor  of  someone  explaining 
to  the  inhabitants  of  New  York  City 
just  what  this  law  will  mean  to  them  in 
increased  taxes,  and  also  why  we  of  the 
country  do  not  want  it.  I  have  generally 
found  city  people  willing  to  give  the 
country  districts  any  kind  of  legislation 
they  wanted  if  they  could  find  out  what 
it  was  and  it  did  not  interfere  too  much 
with  their  own  affairs. 
I  would  also  like  to  have  Albert  Man¬ 
ning  explain  by  what  authority  he 
states  the  attitude  of  the  rural  pop¬ 
ulation  on  this  question,  and  I  would  like 
to  have  Enos  Lee  and  Victor  C.  Under¬ 
wood  of  the  Farm  Bureau  Federation, 
explain  the  same  thing.  None  of  the  men 
represent  any  rural  opinion  except  their 
own,  and  have  never,  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  learn,  been  authorized  bv 
the  organizations  they  represent  to  ’n- 
dorse  this  proposed  legislation.  I  would 
also  suggest  that  the  Grange  and  Farm 
Bureau  members  get  together  and  find 
out  if  these  men  do  or  do  not  represent 
them  accurately.  E.  L.  HORTON. 
Tompkins  Co..  N.  Y. 
Across  the  Country  With  an  Apple  Car 
Personally  Conducted  From  Pacific 
to  Atlantic 
Part  II 
Minnesota  Transfer. — I  have  not  writ¬ 
ten  for  some  days  because  there  was 
nothing  to  write  except  the  same  old 
story  of  delay — delay — delay.  Now 
something  has  happened  to  write  about ; 
something  that  will  make  all  the  rest  of 
the  trip  a  great  deal  pleasanter.  I  have 
found  a  pal.  We  met  at  about  midnight 
yard  office.  There  were  four  stockmen’s 
big  fur  overcoats  hanging  there,  and  the 
night  man  told  us  we  might  as  well  roll 
on  the  third  floor  of  the  main  office  build¬ 
ing,  and  we  took  to  each  other  at  once. 
His  name  is  Stone.  He  is  an  orderly  tak¬ 
ing  his  colonel’s  horses,  a  polo  pony  and 
a  jumper-,  from  Camp  Lewis,  Wash.,  to 
Baltimore,  Md.  He  has  been  on  the  road 
about  as  long  as  I  have,  but  he  came 
over  the  Northern  Pacific.  He  has  his 
horses  in  one  end  of  a  box  car,  and  his 
own  bed  in  the  other  end,  along  with  the 
hay  and  feed.  I  certainly  am  glad  to 
find  a  pal,  and  I  guess  he  is.  too.  As  we 
were  both  going  on  the  C.,  B.  &  Q.,  and 
couldn’t  get  off  till  next  day,  we  decided 
to  see  the  town,  even  at  that  hour,  12:30 
a.  m.  We  started  off  down  the  street, 
but  did  not  dare  turn  any  corners  for 
fear  of  getting  lost.  We  wei-e  a  classy 
pair.  I  think  Stone  stands  about  5  ft.  6 
in.,  just  up  to  my  shoulder.  His  broom¬ 
stick  legs  were  clad  in  riding  breeches, 
and  he  had  size  11  arctics  on  his  feet. 
His  coat  was  big  enough  for  me.  I  had 
on  an  old  mackinaw,  out  at  the  elbows, 
red  overs,  a  black  cap  too  small  for  me, 
and  each  of  us  with  a  week’s  beard — his 
like  a  baseball  game. 
We  passed  several  restaurants  which 
did  not  seem  to  be  just  our  style,  but  at 
last  we  found  one  in  keeping  with  our 
clothes,  whex-e  we  got  a  pretty  good  feed. 
We  took  as  long  as  we  possibly  could  to 
eat  it,  and  then  went  back  to  the  stock- 
up  in  them  and  go  to  sleep,  as  there  was 
no  chance  of  getting  off  till  next  day. 
We  took  his  advice  and  slept  until  7  :30. 
Then  we  went  in  search  of  food  again, 
and  found  a  place  nearby  which  had  been 
closed  earlier  this  morning.  The  next 
thing  was  to  get  my  Burlington  contract 
at  the  main  office,  and  then  back  to  the 
yards,  where  we  watered  and  fed  his 
horses.  We  spent  the  rest  of  the  morn¬ 
ing  helping  one  man  load  cattle  and  an¬ 
other  unload  horses,  etc.  Fine  fun  it  was 
after  the  monotony  of  the  past  two 
weeks.  When  we  were  hungry  again  we 
got  a  good  roast  beef  dinner.  My  pal 
bought  a  mince  pie,  bread  and  doughnuts 
to  go  with  the  grub  I  already  had  stowed 
in  my  car.  We  are  going  to  have  a  fine 
time  eating  it  tonight  and  tomori'ow. 
when  we  can  go  into  the  caboose  and 
make  coffee  to  go  with  it. 
East  Winona,  next  day. — Vre  might 
have  known  it  was  too  good  to  last. 
Stone  and  I  had  to  part  after  two  nights 
and  a  day  together.  Yesterday  at  about 
4  o’clock,  he  got  orders  to  load  his  horses, 
and  we  both  got  into  the  other  end  of 
his  car.  After  three  hours  or  so  of 
switching  around  the  train  started  and 
we  rolled  up  in  his  blankets  and  ’were 
soon  asleep.  After  some  hours  an  unusu¬ 
ally  bumpy  bump  woke  us  up  and  we 
decided  to  go  to  the  caboose  to  warm  up. 
Meeting  the  conductor,  I  stopped  to  get 
him  to  punch  and  sign  my  contract,  as 
each  one  has  to  do.  and  not  in  the  least 
expecting  any  trouble.  He  looked  at  it 
and  said,  “That  car  is  not  in  this  train.” 
I  told  him  that  the  yardmaster  had  said 
it  would  be.  but  he  merely  answered  that 
it  was  evident  that  the  yardmaster  did 
not  know.  Of  course  I  must  get  to  my 
car  again  as  soon  as  possible.  How  to 
do  it  was  the  problem.  It  was  decided 
that  the'  best  thing  was  for  me  to  get  off 
here  and  find  out  by  wire  whether  my  car 
was  coming  on  the  next  train.  If  it  was, 
everything  was  O.  K.  When  we  got  here 
about  daylight  I  was  much  relieved  to 
learn  that  it  was  coming  and  would  be 
there  about  1  o’clock.  So  I  had  to  say 
goodby  to  Stone,  and  he  had  to  say  good- 
by  to  that  mince  pie  and  the  doughnuts. 
I  have  got  pretty  well  used  to  delays  in 
this  matter  of  traveling  by  freight.  A 
wait  of  nine  or  10  hours  does  not  make 
much  impression,  but  it  seems  one  can¬ 
not  even  keep  a  chum  to  help  pass  the 
time.  I  really  ought  not  to  complain, 
though,  for  I  was  very  fortunate  in  hav¬ 
ing  weather  so  mild  that  the  stove  was 
not  needed.  If  I  had  been  separated  from 
the  car  in  weather  like  some  we  have  had 
I  am  afraid  the  whole  load  would  have 
been  spoiled.  This  is  a  desolate  place ; 
nothing  here  but  the  station,  a  water 
tank  and  a  farmhouse,  a  hundred  yards 
away.  I  went  to  the  house  about  noon, 
but  found  nobody.  I  thought  of  going 
to  the  barn  and  milking  a  cow  to  get 
some  lunch,  but  I  decided  I  was  not  quite 
hungry  enough  to  justify  that,  so  the 
memory  of  yesterday’s  good  dinner  had  to 
do  for  lunch,  as  it  had  for  supper  and 
breakfast.  I  see  a  train  coming  now ;  I 
hope  my  car  is  with  it. 
Evening. — iWe  are  now  at  La  Crosse. 
I  have  just  had  some  food,  the  first  since 
noon  yesterday.  It  was  nearly  1  yesterday 
when  that  train  pulled  in  to  East  Wi¬ 
nona,  and  to  my  great  relief  No.  253176 
was  there.  I  was  not  so  much  pleased 
at  her  position,  next  but  one  to  the  en¬ 
gine  ;  for  when  a  train  is  half  a  mile 
long,  as  this  one  was,  it  makes  it  very 
hard  to  get  from  the  caboose  to  one’s  car 
to  take  care  of  it,  or  to  get  food.  I  was 
so  glad  to  be  with .  my  charge  again  that 
I  forgot  about  eating.  After  we  started 
there  was  no  chance  to  eat  until  we  got 
here.  The  Burlington  is  better  than  the 
Great  Northern  in  two  respects ;  less 
time  is  lost  between  divisions,  and  the  ca¬ 
booses  are  much  larger  and  better. 
December  24. — I  have  not  written  for 
a  couple  of  days,  because  there  has  been 
nothing  to  write  about  except  the  usual 
delays.  Of  course  I  have  known  for 
several  days  that  I  would  not  be  at  home 
for  Christmas,  but  the  disappointment  is 
none  the  less  keen  because  I  have  seen  it 
coming.  I  am  not  the  only  sufferer, 
either.  What  will  the  shipper  of  that 
carload  of  dressed  turkeys  say  when  he 
learns  that  they  reached  Chicago  after 
Christmas!  t.  H. 
Where  Did  They  Come  From? 
On  leading  the  article  on  page  993, 
“Where  do  Plants  Come  From?”  I  said, 
“Now  I  must  ask  my  long-deferred  ques¬ 
tion.” 
Everyone  familiar  with  the  treeless 
prairies  west  of  the  Missouri  River — as 
late  “as  the  70’s  even — know  that  they 
had  lain  in  the  same  condition,  tramped 
hard  and  grazed  by  herds  of  buffalo,  an¬ 
telope  and  elk.  burned  over  in  the  Spring 
and  Fall  by  the  Indians  to  make  attrac¬ 
tive  pasturage  for  the  game  the  next  sea¬ 
son,  for  a  length  of  time  that  only  a  geol¬ 
ogist  would  dare  presume  to  guess  at. 
One  of  the  first  things  a  homesteader  did 
after  putting  up  a  log  or  sod  cabin  was 
to  fence  in  a  pasture  lot,  usually  a  20  to 
40-acre  piece.  In  a  few  years  the  native 
grasses  would  be  tramped  out  and  suc¬ 
ceeded  generally  by  blue  grass.  About  this 
time  would  appear  in  scattered,  isolat¬ 
ed  spots  in  the  pasture,  small  gi’oves  or 
clusters  of  trees,  consisting  invariably  of 
hickory  or  chincapin  oak.  These  trees 
were  not  intermixed,  but  each  variety 
stood  in  a  group  by  itself,  many  rods 
apart.  These  thickets  were  of  circular  or 
oval  form,  the  hickory  sometimes  50  or 
more  feet  in  diameter,  the  oaks  much 
smaller.  The  trees  in  these  little  groves 
stood  so  thick  that  cattle  could  hardly 
crowd  through  them  in  places. 
Now,  how  did  these  trees  get  there? 
There  were  no  sources  of  seed  for  many 
miles.  They  could  not  have  been  lying 
dormant  in  the  ground  like  the  clover, 
nor  brought  there  by  the  wind,  on  the 
clothing  or  boots  of  passersby,  nor  in  the 
fur  of  animals,  the  size  of  the  nuts  not 
lending  themselves  easily  to  those  modes 
of  transportation.  It  certainly  looks  as 
if  “the  seeds  were  there  in  the  soil  wait¬ 
ing  for  the  proper  conditions  to  grow,” 
but  no  one  ever  discovered  any  signs  of 
them  in  the  soil.  The  settlers  readily  ac¬ 
counted  for  them  by  “they  just  naturally 
growed,”  evidently  finding  no  difficulty  in 
believing  in  spontaneous  gei-mination. 
Like  Mr.  Twitchell,  I  too  am  an  evolu¬ 
tionist.  but  believe  that  life  always  comes 
from  life,  each  after  its  kind.  My  inquiry 
and  illustration  would  seem  to  confirm 
his  theory  as  to  the  origin  of  plant  life, 
but  why  should  those  trees  on  the  prairie 
be  confined  to  these  particular  varieties? 
Other  kinds  when  planted  grow  readily. 
Connecticut.  w.  K.  smaixey. 
R.  N.-Y. — We  should  be  glad  to  have 
this  discussion  continued.  Who  has  a 
theory  to  account  for  this  wonder? 
Plant  Immigrants 
About  that  lettef  on  the  “Life  Principle 
in  the  Soil,”  it  might  be  interesting  to 
read  in  connection  with  the  subject  Tho- 
reau’s  “'Succession  of  Forest  Trees.”  Tho- 
reau  knew  a  lot  more  than  his  generation 
about  some  things,  and  he  has  a  good  deal 
to  say  in  that  essay  about  Nature’s  han¬ 
dling  of  dormant  seeds.  Queer  seeds  ap¬ 
pear  in  my  vegetable  garden,  which  is 
kept  weeded  year  after  year — certain 
parts  of  it  having  been  cultivated  without 
interruption  for  about  70  years — that  is, 
plowed  every  year  and  planted  to  “garden 
sass.”  This  year  there  are  two  or  three 
roots  of  a  grass  that  I  never  saw  before — 
a  flat  tuft  with  seed  heads  that  look  as  if 
they  were  braided.  Birds  carry  every  sort 
of  small  fruit  seed,  but  do  they  caiTy  the 
poison  ivy  (oak)  from  my  neighbor’s 
floui'ishing  tree  of  it?  Little  plants  keep 
coming  up  in  the  vegetable  patch.  Strict¬ 
ly  seaside  weeds  come  in  with  seaweed 
used  for  mvrtehing,  and  there  is  an  aspara¬ 
gus  clump  about  40  years  old  at  the  foot 
of  the  meadow — where  the  salt  tides  -rise 
over  it  occasionally  in  Wintei’ — that  was 
never  planted  by  the  hand  of  man. 
M.  E.  B. 
“I  SAW  you  taking  home  a  nice-look¬ 
ing  lobster  last  night.  How  much  did 
it  cost  you?”  “I  don’t  know  yet.  The 
doctor  is  up  at  the  house  now.” — The 
Passing  Show. 
Many  who  read  this  paper  will  remember  the  old  days  when  on  most  farms  hay 
was  cut  with  a  scythe.  In  these  days  few  men  know  how  to  swing  a  scythe — 
and  where  could  anyone  hire  such  an  outfit  as  is  here  shown? 
