American Agriculturist 
THE FARM PAPER THAT PRINTS THE FARM NEWS 
“Agriculture is the Most Healthful, Most Useful and Most Noble Employment of Man .”—Washington 
Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. 
Established 1842 
Volume 113 
For the Week Ending March 1, 1924 
Number 9 
An Opportunity of A Generation 
Bill Would Bring Better Schools and Lower Taxes to All Rural Communities 
T O many who have had erroneous informa¬ 
tion, as to the effect on taxes should the 
proposed New York Rural School Law 
pass, these definite figures that have been 
worked out showing how the bill will operate in 
six towns of Tompkins County will be startling. 
Some have feared the bill, thinking it will increase 
taxes. This is not a logical conclusion when it is 
remembered that the bill as now amended will 
bring to the 54 rural counties of the State two and 
a half times as much State money as they have 
ever had before, or $20,000,000 a year, instead of 
$ 8 , 000 , 000 . 
N. B. Royce, a prominent citizen 
of Tompkins County, has submitted . . 
the following convincing figures as to 
the effects on taxes in six towns of that 
county if the bill as now amended 
becomes a law. 
For the districts of Enfield last 
year the lowest tax rate was $6.50 per 
thousand, while the highest was 
$22.88 per thousand. IN ONLY 
THREE DISTRICTS WERE THE 
RATES LESS THAN $10 PER 
THOUSAND. UNDER THE PRO¬ 
POSED LAW THE RATE WOULD 
BE $1.44 PER THOUSAND ON 
THE ASSESSED VALUATION. 
The tax rates for Newfield last year 
ranged from $4 per thousand to $20 
per thousand. Most of the districts 
paid over $10 a thousand. Under the 
proposed law, the rate for the town 
would be $1.31 per thousand on the 
assessed valuation. 
Ulysses rates last year ranged from 
nothing in one district to $22.50 per 
thousand in another, a fair sample of 
the injustice of the operation' of the 
present system. One district paid $4, 
another $4.40, and another $5 per 
thousand. Three-sevenths of the 
j districts paid $9 or more per thou¬ 
sand. Under the proposed law the rate would be 
8-51 per thousand on the assessed valuation. 
For the districts of Dryden last year the average 
tax rate was $9.28 per thousand. Under the pro¬ 
posed law the rate would be $7.40 per thousand. 
For the districts of Caroline last year the average 
| rate was $10.65 per thousand. Under the bill the 
rate would be $6.45. 
The total State aid to accrue to six townships 
w °uld be $142,287, or an average of $23,714 per 
township. These figures were prepared from the 
! annual report to the Commissioner of Education 
for 1923, as recorded in the Tompkins County 
derk’s office by applying those sections of the bill 
(1309 to 1313) outlining the method of determin- 
ln g State aid to community districts. 
In another group of districts centering at Mc¬ 
Kean, near the Cortland County line in Tompkins 
, j °unty, seven districts would get an increase 
°1 $3,607 per year over what they have had. One 
of the districts whose equalized valuation is 
596,445, last year received $447, or 41% of its 
current expenses from the State. Under the 
odl this district would get $754, or 70% of its 
expenses. 
By A FARM PARENT 
$56,949, last year received $529 from the State. 
Under the bill it would receive $847, or 81% of its 
current expenses. 
The McLean district, the center of this group 
employing four teachers in a junior high school, 
equalized valuation $290,136, last year received 
$2,689, or 41% of its current expenses. Under the 
bill it would get $6,502, or 75% of its current ex¬ 
penses. If the bill does not pass, this district, 
already very heavily taxed, will have, because of 
certain conditions, a much heavier tax. It will be 
opponents of this bill have not read the amended 
bill, or else choose to misinterpret it. It is in as 
clear, or clearer, English as the average insurance 
policy, deed, mortgage or automobile license, 
almost as clear as the average notice for a school 
meeting. It has come to be the accepted form of 
discussion for the opposition to admit that the new 
bill does not enforce consolidation of schools, or 
close any schools, then to devote an hour or so to 
denunciation of consolidation and its attendant 
evils. Let us stick to the text of the bill. 
The time has come to drop bluster and denunci¬ 
ation and to look at. real facts and figures. In our 
desire to find fault with the proposed 
— - law some of us have lost sight of the 
fact that for generations the State 
has not done its duty by the rural 
population. We have even forgotten 
to give education the important place 
it deserves as a factor in preserving 
the safety of the State, of the courts, 
the militia, or the nation. Education 
is a fundamental need. The ninth 
article of the State Constitution and 
the first paragraph of the State edu¬ 
cation law reads: “The Legislature 
shall provide for the maintenance and 
support of a system of free common 
schools wherein ALL the children of 
the State shall be educated.” 
So (far all have not been educated 
equally. The rural children have been 
discriminated against. City legisla¬ 
tors are acutely aware of this fact, 
also of the fact that if rural people 
demand their share of State support 
it MUST be given to them. The 
$12,000,000 extra support‘asked for 
will not equal the support that has all 
along been given the larger cities. 
Even so, it will,. however, approxi¬ 
mate that given the smaller cities and 
. . . — ■■■■ —. i larger towns. It does not take into 
consideration the fact that rural edu- 
greatly to the advantage of every district in this cation costs more proportionately because of 
group to have this law passed, and it is a typical the isolation. Where in the cities the average 
group of districts of the better sort. Poorer cost per pupil has been around $60, in coun- 
districts get even a larger share of State aid, up to try schools it has ranged from $100 to $300 
90% of the current expenses for those whose valu- each and even to $800 per pupil. The farmers 
ation is as low as $30,000. And some districts have for generations made up for this double injus- 
in this State have but $20,000 taxable valuation ticeof curtailed State support and of added expense 
in their territory.. due to isolation by carrying a too-heavy burden of 
The examples given above cover all sorts of dis- taxes. Now that the cities have been willing to cor- 
tricts, for purposes of illustration, the wealthy as rect this, one of the least understandable develop- 
well as the poorer. CAN FARM PEOPLE AF-, ments of the century is that some rural people are 
FORD TO LET PREJUDICE LEAD THEM afraid to accept what has been their due all 
An Appeal to Reason 
I N all the material that has been written for and against the 
Downing-Porter School Bill, we have seen no fairer statement 
than the appeal to reason in the article on this page, written by 
a farm woman in Central New York. This woman, by the way, 
is not a member of the Committee of Twenty-one, but she is 
a farm parent living in a country district. Incidentally, she 
has made a thorough study of the bill and knows what she is 
talking about. 
We consider it nothing less than a great tragedy to the farm 
people of New York that they should let this opportunity go by 
to reduce their school taxes, in many cases more than half, and 
to pass up an opportunity for better educational advantages to 
their children and their children’s children. It is an opportunity 
of a generation, an opportunity that will not come again, for 
already city folks are bringing pressure on their legislators against 
the large features of State-aid to rural sections in this bill. 
Read this article which so fairly sets forth the facts and proves 
them by examples repeated over and over, and then write your 
assemblyman.— The EDITORS. 
INTO FAILURE TO LOOK INTO THIS 
MATTER? Can we afford on a dollar and 
cents basis only, not to do our best to work 
along. 
Right here is a big point for rural people to con¬ 
sider. Perhaps it would be better to say that city 
hard for the immediate passage of this bill? legislators WERE willing to grant rural education 
All districts will be allowed to continue their 
one-room schools as at present if a majority of the 
voters so desire. No matter how many or who 
dispute it, this is the fact as determined by a read¬ 
ing of the bill itself Surely there must be some 
its just share of support rather than to say they 
ARE willing. It is rumored that the people of 
New York and other cities, while conceding the 
justice, privately do not care to increase their 
taxes for our benefit. But with the State Federa- 
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way to settle the contradictory statements made tion of Women’s Clubs, the State Teachers’ Asso- 
about the bill. Two people may still arrive at the ciation, the District Superintendents’ Association, 
same understanding of the same statement made and all the leading farm organizations backing it, 
A .. in the same language if they will but read that it must be passed, UNLESS the unorganized farm 
Another district with an equalized valuation of statement. The trouble is the noise-makers and ( Continued, on page 211) 
