The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1401 
Country  People  and  the  Schools 
HE  R.  N.-Y.  has  held  from  the  first  that  any 
school  bill  designed  both  by  name  and  nature  to 
apply  directly  to  country  districts  should  be  framed 
by  country  people  or  their  representatives,  and  not 
forced  upon  them  by  outsiders.  Granted  that  pro¬ 
fessional  educators  understand  the  machinery  of 
education,  it  is  evident  that  the  country  school 
should  be  something  more  than  a  machine.  It  has  a 
different  hold  upon  country  life  than  the  city  school 
ever  can  have  upon  city  life.  It  would  seem  that 
for  years  the  hands  of  the  educators  and  thinkers 
have  fairly  itched  to  get  hold  of  the  rural  school  and 
change  it  into  a  hybrid  institution — more  town  than 
country.  The  R.  N.-Y.  has  been  criticized  severely 
for  not  falling  in  with  this  idea,  which  assumes  that 
many  or  most  country  people  are  incapable  of  im¬ 
proving  their  own  schools.  We  take  the  position  that 
country  people  are  quite  capable  of  handling  their 
school  problems,  and  that  they  should  have  most  to 
say  about  any  change  in  the  school  laws.  That  is 
why  we  have  protested  against  the  effort  to  jam  a 
new  school  bill  through  the  Legislature  when  it  is 
evident  to  anyone  that  the  country  people  do  not 
want  it  From  the  first  our  suggestion  has  been 
that  country  people  should  organize,  discuss  the 
question  fairly,  and  submit  a  fair  substitute  for 
the  proposed  bill — one  that  will  satisfy  our  farmers 
and  prove  workable.  The  following  resolution  shows 
that  this  leaven  is  working : 
Whereas,  Brighton  Grange  No.  689,  I*,  of  II.  of  Mon¬ 
roe  County,  N.  Y.,  believes  that  the  Committee  of  Twen¬ 
ty-one  has  missed  the  mark  in  its  survey  of  rural  schools 
and  in  its  proposed  legislation  ;  and 
Whereas,  the  said  Grange  believes  that  some  legis¬ 
lation  is  needed  to  truly  and  economically  correct  some 
defects  in  school  taxation  and  supervision ;  wherefore, 
be  it 
Resolved,  by  Brighton  Grange,  That  it  request  the 
District  Superintendents  of  Common  Schools  in  Monroe 
County  to  call,  at  the  earliest  practicable  date,  a  con¬ 
ference  of  school  officials  under  their  jurisdiction  and 
of  all  others  residing  in  their  districts  who  are  interest¬ 
ed  in  the  proper  administration  of  rural  schools,  to  con¬ 
sider  what  legislation  is  desirable. 
The  foregoing  is  a  copy  of  a  resolution  duly  passed 
by  Brighton  Grange,  No.  689,  of  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y.,  at 
a  meeting  held  on  the  26th  day  of  October,  1923. 
That  is  good  work ;  it  is  the  way  to  get  what  we 
need  iu  school  matters.  It  means  doing  it  ourslves. 
Every  Grange  in  the  State  should  take  similar  action 
and  call  county  conventions.  These  should  select 
delegates  to  a  State  convention  of  people  directly 
interested  in  rural  education.  This  convention 
should  work  out  the  legislation  which  country  people 
need. 
Local  Feeling  on  the  School  Bill 
I  find  that  only  about  one  person  in  10  would  vote 
for  that  new  bill  if  they  had  the  chance.  And  the 
curious  thing  about  that  also  is  that  they  don’t  have 
any  children  to  send  to  school.  They  seem  to  go  on  the 
theory  that  country  children  ought  to  have  just  as  good 
a  chance  as  any  ( which  the  rest  of  us  agree  to)  , and  that 
the  proposed  change  is  made  by  wiser  (?)  heads  than 
we  are,  consequently  it  must  be  good.  But  about  every 
family  that  has  small  children  seems  opposed  to  giving 
up  our  own  little  schoolliouse.  They  say :  “Let’s  try  to 
get  good  teachers  and  take  more  interest  in  it  ourselves 
and  improve  it  this  way.”  I  know  that  this  town  would 
vote  it  down  by  a  large  majority  if  they  had  the  chance. 
Washington  Co.,  N.  Y.  r.  l. 
HIS  is  the  well-nigh  universal  report.  Out  of 
the  hundreds  of  school  districts  thus  far  can¬ 
vassed  not  one  has  shown  a  majority  for  the  bill. 
It  is  rare  that  more  than  two  or  three  voters  in  a 
district  favor  it.  What  R.  L.  says  about  the  feeling 
of  the  people  regarding  their  school  is  repeated  over 
and  over.  It  is  as  true  as  anything  can  be  that  the 
discussion  of  this  school  bill  has  stimulated  new  in¬ 
terest  in  the  local  school.  If  they  are  let  alone  the 
local  patrons  will  improve  their  school  in  their  own 
way.  The  point  to  understand  is  that  New  York 
farmers  do  not  want  this  school  bill.  It  is  being 
forced  upon  them  from  the  outside. 
Taxation  and  Tax  Exempt  Bonds 
FULL  returns  from  the  income  tax  assessments 
for  1921  show  a  falling  off  of  nearly  eight  bil¬ 
lions  of  dollars  in  taxable  incomes.  This  cannot  be 
fully  accounted  for  by  actual  loss  of  business.  It  is 
estimated  that  the  greater  part  of  this  loss  is  due  to 
a  transfer  of  taxable  property  to  non-taxable  bonds. 
It  seems  clear  that  the  very  rich  are  evading  their 
share  of  taxation  by  investing  more  and  more  of 
their  mpney  in  National,  State  and  municipal  secur¬ 
ities  which  are  tax  exempt.  Few  of  us  realize  how 
these  bonds  are  being  flooded  over  the  country.  They 
are  sold  to  raise  money  for  road  work,  bridge  con¬ 
struction,  special  appropriations  like  a  soldiers’ 
bonus,  and  for  all  manner  of  public  buildings.  The 
tax  exemption  feature  makes  these  bonds  salable,  for 
wealthy  men  have  learned  the  trick  of  hiding  their 
full  income  and  evading  their  share  of  public  bur¬ 
dens  by  investing  in  these  bonds.  They  have  in¬ 
vested  so  much  money  in  them  that  the  burden  of 
supporting  the  government  is  shoved  over  upon  those 
who  are  least  able  to  carry  it.  Another  result  is 
that  towns  and  counties  are  led  into  extravagance 
through  this  easy  sale  of  bonds.  In  many  cases  con¬ 
struction  work  that  is  not  necessary  or  extrava¬ 
gantly  useless  is  forced  upon  taxpayers,  who  find 
themselves  saddled  with  a  life  job  of  paying  the  bills. 
As  we  have  shown,  this  half  insane  rush  to  sell 
bonds  and  contract  for  gigantic  construction  not 
only  keeps  us  under  the  harness  of  taxation,  but  com¬ 
pletely  upsets  the  labor  market  by  creating  an  inflat¬ 
ed  price  for  labor  with  which  farmers  cannot  com¬ 
pete.  As  it  is  now  working  out.  it  is  simply  a  scheme 
for  loading  taxes  upon  the  people  who  are  least  able 
to  pay  them,  and  using  their  very  burden  to  exempt 
the  rich  from  doing  their  fair  share.  It  becomes  an 
unjust  discrimination  against  industry,  and  if  con¬ 
tinued  will  bring  about  a  time  when  half  the  nation’s 
capital  will  be  exempt,  with  the  full  burden  laid 
upon  the  other  half.  The  efficient  remedy  is  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  prohibiting  the  sale 
of  tax-exempt  bonds.  Miake  them  all  pay  their  fair 
share  of  taxes.  That  would  put  all  such  public 
securities  on  a  fair  basis  without  favoritism.  It 
would  help  to  cut  down  the  present  extravagant  pub¬ 
lic  spending  and  give  us  something  of  a  rest  from 
labor  competition. 
Death  of  the  Washington  Elm 
ALL  who  love  a  big  tree  will  be  sorry  to  learn  of 
the  sad  end  of  the  great  Washington  elm  at 
Cambridge,  Mass.  Under  the  shade  of  this  great 
tree  Washington  took  command  of  the  American 
Army  during  the  Revolution.  It  was  large  and 
vigorous  then — probably  several  hundred  years  old 
at  that  time.  It  has  been  preserved  as  a  landmark 
of  American  history  since  that  time — inclosed  within 
a  fence  and  carefully  kept.  During  the  past  few 
years  it  became  evident  that  the  old  tree  was  dying. 
Very  few  aged  human  beings  have  ever  received  the 
care  that  was  given  this  veteran  tree,  but  there  was 
no  possibility  of  saving  it.  The  other  day  workmen 
tried  to  take  off  several  dead  limbs.  They  sawed 
one  nearly  through,  and  then  fastened  a  rope  to  the 
limb  and  pulled  to  break  it  off.  There  was  a  crack 
and  something  like  a  groan  from  the  old  tree.  It 
tottered,  seemed  to  reach  out  its  dying  limbs  like 
feeble  arms  and  finally,  after  a  struggle,  fell  flat  in 
the  street.  It  was  found  that  its  trunk  was  completely 
separated  from  the  roots  some  two  feet  under 
ground.  There  was  genuine  sorrow  throughout 
Massachusetts  when  the  news  spread,  for  the  old 
tree  was  like  an  aged  friend  to  the  older  generation. 
It  represented  a  great  event  in  American  history, 
and  through  its  hundreds  of  years  of  silent  watching 
had  seen  the  forest  give  way  to  civilization,  and  a 
little  colony  of  earnest  men  and  women  grow  into 
the  greatest  republic  the  world  has  yet  seen.  Fol¬ 
lowing  the  course  of  a  human  life  it  passed  on  from 
childhood  to  mature  age,  and  then  tottered  to  its 
fall.  There  is  something  about  a  great  tree  which 
inspires  respect  and  a  thoughtful  view  of  life.  We 
have  seen  the  great  elms  in  the  woods  at  South 
Hanover,  N.  Y.  One  of  them  is  said  to  be  1,200 
years  old.  It  stands  erect  and  proud,  a  monstrous 
monument  to  nature’s  silent  building.  For  when 
one  looks  at  this  forest  giant  the  mind  goes  back 
into  history,  trying  vainly  to  realize  the  changes  in 
human  life  which  have  passed  on  before  this  leafy 
giant.  It  seems  like  the  loss  of  a  personal  friend 
and  spiritual  guide  when  one  of  these  old  trees  falls 
to  the  earth. 
Here  is  a  Wonderful  Boy 
The  inclosed  clipping  was  taken  from  a  Philadelphia 
paper.  Why  not  set  this  young  man  up  in  a  correspond¬ 
ence  school  so  that  he  could  impart  his  wonderful  knowl¬ 
edge  to  so  many  of  us  ignorant  farmers? 
“You  may  as  well  compare  an  elephant  with  a  kan¬ 
garoo  as  to  speak  of  the  city  boy  and  the  country  boy. 
Lots  of  educated  city  boys  can  go  out  in  the  country 
and  show  the  ruralites  how  to  run  their  farms.  I’m 
only  19,  but  when  I  went  to  the  farm  of  a  relative 
nearby  recently  I  found  they  were  wasting  a  lot  of 
ground  on  almost  useless  crops;  I  showed  them  how  to 
improve  the  ground  and  lay  out  the  crops  differently, 
and,  as  a  result,  they  made  over  $400  on  that  piece  of 
ground  alone.  Prior  to  my  instruction  they  used  to 
make  about  $30.  I  also  showed  them  how  to  improve 
their  dairies,  so  that  they  get  22  quarts  of  milk  daily 
from  some  of  their  cows.  I  also  gave  them  suggestions 
which  have  greatly  improved  the  egg  output.  This  is 
my  opinion  on  your  city-country  boy  question.”  . 
j.  n.  w. 
HAT  surely  is  a  wonderful  boy.  If  be  belonged 
to  us  we  should  keep  close  watch  on  him.  He 
would  make  a  good  back-to-th e-lander.  We  think 
this  reads  much  like  a  form  of  propaganda.  The 
scheme  will  be  to  use  this  plausible  letter  as  a  bit  of 
bait  to  draw  letters  from  country  people.  An  answer 
will  no  doubt  come  that  the  whole  thing  is  explained 
iu  a  book  or  set  of  instructions  which  can  all  be  ob¬ 
tained  for  about  $5.  That  is  the  way  such  things 
are  worked,  and  a  man  or  boy  can  make  more  in  one 
day  mailing  this  advice  to  suckers  than  a  fanner  can 
make  in  a  month  “at  hard  labor.” 
Federal  Farm  Loans 
HE  child-like  faith  of  some  of  our  people  in  the 
power  and  offices  of  the  government  is  almost 
pathetic  at  times.  People  write  us  about  a  Federal 
Bank  farm  loan.  They  seem  to  think  that  prac¬ 
tically  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  go  and  apply  for 
the  loan  and  the  money  will  be  handed  them  at  once 
because  they  happen  to  live  on  a  farm.  Others  think 
that  certain  classes  of  people  are  specially  favored 
in  taxation  and  the  loan  of  money.  Some  of  them 
actually  think  that  a  person,  60  years  old  or  more,  is 
exempt  from  certain  taxes,  and  they  have  curious 
ideas  of  the  special  privileges  which  the  government 
offers  to  widows,  men  who  have  lost  their  wives,  and 
elderly  women  left  alone  without  support.  It  is 
often  difficult  to  convince  such  people  that  the  gov¬ 
ernment  does  not  extend  a  special  privilege  to  all 
these  classes,  and  the  chief  trouble  comes  in  mis¬ 
understanding  the  intent  and  working  out  of  the 
loans  made  by  the  Federal  Loan  Bank.  As  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  fact,  it  is  usually  harder  to  obtain  a  loan 
from  one  of  these  banks  than  it  would  be  to  give  a 
mortgage  to  the  local  bank  or  money-lender.  A 
good  deal  of  “red  tape”  must  be  gone  through  with, 
in  order  to  obtain  a  Federal  loan,  and  there  is  con¬ 
siderable  expense  connected  with  the  matter.  The 
best  way  for  our  people  to  learn  just  what  the  Fed¬ 
eral  Loan  Bank  can  do  for  them  would  be  to  write 
direct  to  the  bank  and  call  for  circulars  or  other 
matter  which  explains  the  system.  The  New  Eng¬ 
land  States,  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  are  repre¬ 
sented  by  the  bank  at  Springfield,  Mass.,  and  the 
bank  which  serves  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Dela¬ 
ware  and  Virginia,  is  at  Baltimore,  Md. 
Keep  the  Mind’s  Door  Unlocked 
I  have  been  a  farmer,  but  for  the  last  five  years  I 
have  been  an  outside  salesman,  or  drummer,  as  we  used 
to  be  called,  and  you  can  take  it  from  me  the  waste  in 
distribution  of  food  products,  the  increase  in  cost  to 
the  consumer,  is  beyond  all  reason.  I  have  seen  it  from 
the  inside.  There  is  no  doubt  of  the  necessity  of  a  more 
direct  system  of  distribution  than  now  exists,  but  the 
most  constructive  work  to  accomplish  that  is  to  educate 
women  to  buy  according  to  value  and  not  according  to 
price.  I  have  noticed  that  most  women,  given  two  ar¬ 
ticles  to  examine  of  equal  value  but  different  price,  will 
inevitably  buy  the.  higher  priced  one  if  their  purse  per¬ 
mits,  thinking  that  that  must  necessarily  be  of  better 
quality,  simply  because  of  the  higher  price  asked. 
Many  articles  of  value  in  household  and  personal  use 
could  be  distributed  in  a  co-operative  way  at  a  great 
saving  to  buyers  if  only  jxeople  would  be  progressive 
enough  to  think  a  little.  People  seem  to  be  so  prone  to 
treat  with  suspicion  any  new  proposition,  because  it  is 
new.  I  wonder  how  many  have  thrown  their  first-born 
out  of  the  window,  because  it  was  something  new.  Yet 
that  seems  to  be  the  first  reaction  to  any  suggestion  of 
any  beneficial  program.  The  farm  folk  are  by  no  means 
the  only  ones  of  whom  this  can  be  truthfully  said,  but 
I  am  writing  to  them  at  this  time,  and  wish  to  em¬ 
phasize  the  desirability,  if  not  the  necessity,  of  their 
keeping  open  minds,  ready  to  give  due  consideration  to 
any  matter  that  is  proposed  that  may  result  in  advanc¬ 
ing  their  welfare.  There  will  be  many  men  offering 
suggestions  to  the  farmers  during  the  next  12  months. 
They  should  weigh  them  all  carefully  and  rationally, 
and  while  they  should  reject  firmly  the  unsound,  let 
them  as  firmly  accept  and  promote  with  little  delay  the 
safe  and  sound.  I  know  of  no  better  leader  to  follow 
than  The  It.  N.-Y.  in  arriving  at  intelligent  conclusions. 
May  your  circulation  greatly  increase.  w.  w.  m. 
“Official  Figures”  and  Apple  Prices 
You  state  in  your  editorial  columns  that  the  Eastern 
fruit  grower  had  received  this  year  a  good  price  for  his 
apple  crop.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  for  this  section,  at 
least,  that  statement  requires  some  modification.  And 
as  it  was  due  to  “the  same  old  game,”  I  think  the  fact 
should  receive  some  attention  so  that  we  may  not  be 
caught  napping  another  year. 
Our  federal  statisticians  seem  to  think  that  in  order 
to  earn  their  salaries  they  must  invariably  give  out  that 
indications  point  to  a  bumper  or  record  crop.  Well, 
when  the  apple  man  said  in  his  first  report  that  there 
would  be  6,000,000  bushels  more  than  last  year,  the 
poor  fruit  grower,  who  had  fought  his  insect  enemies 
harder  than  ever  this  year,  recalled  the  glut  crop  of 
last  year  he  at  once  became  hysterical,  and  the  first 
apple  buyer  who  came  around  with  this  report  in  his 
inside  pocket  bought  the  poor  chap’s  fruit  at  his  own 
price.  Thousands  upon  thousands  of  barrels  in  this  and 
adjoining  counties  were  sold  at  a  price  that  barely  cov¬ 
ered  cost  of  production.  Later  the  report  was  that  the 
crop  was  9,000,000  bushels  less  than  last  year,  and  im¬ 
mediately  the  price  began  to  move  up,  with  the  result 
that  those  of  us  who  were  not  faint-hearted  or  took  but 
little  stock  in  federal  reports,  sold  at  a  good  profit. 
The  apple  game  is  the  most  interesting  and  exciting 
one  I  have  ever  played,  for  from  the  very  start  of  it  (the 
time  when  the  tree  is  planted)  you  have  to  be  continu¬ 
ally  on  the  qui  vive ;  for  the  mouse  or  the  rat,  the  wood¬ 
chuck  or  jaekrabbit,  the  aphis  or  scale,  the  skeletonizer 
or  federal  statistician,  one  or  all,  “will  get  you  if  you 
don’t  watch  out.”  harvey  losee. 
Dutchess  Co.,  N.  Y. 
