Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-12-21

whole system. It consists in confning the
application of the great principle of equal
taxation, equal appropriations, and furnish
ing equal facilities for education, to the
smallest possible extent of territory instead
of extending it to its utmost bounds. 1t is
limited to single school districts lof lolich
there are 1926 IN the State, each nth rate
Of taration differing from the Others, and
carrying from Of q mill on the dollar for
months school IN OEey district Berks county
to 25 nlills ON the dollar for months school
IN Red Bank district, armstrong county,
instead Of being applied to the whole State
alike We cannot for a moment believe
that the men, who framed our school laws,
either designed the application Of this great
fundamental principle to be thus limited, or
such gross inequalities Of taxation to be
imposed upon the people Great reforms
are not accomplished in day. They require
time. 1t may have been an oversight in
the trainers Of the law, but it is more prob
able, that, because of the bitter opposition
with which the system first met the
friends of the reform consented to limit the
application of this part of the law in the
beginning, hoping to extend it gradually, as
the opposition, which always meets great
reforms, should give way under the benign
influence of education and the propagation
of liberal ideas. Why the effort to extend
it has never been made we pretend not to
know. Perhaps the barriers of ignorance
and prejudice have not yet been sufficiently
broken down. If they have not, we hope
the day is not far distant when they will
have forever disappeared before the tide of
advancing civilization. We design to show,
from the school returns and statistics for
1854, in the first place, the gross inequality
and injustice of the present mode of taxa
ton, not only between the various districts
of the same county but between the various
counties of the State In the second place,
that like inequality and injustice result from
the present mode of distributing the State
appropriations, that the present methods of
both taxation and appropriation discrimi-
LietNS pbbACi NlSlA AbLS anu
OF the richer, and that the only way in which
our schools can bemade permanently efficient
throughout the State, and our school sys-
tenn made to accomplish the object designed
by its trainers and desired by all good citi-
zens, is by the abolition of district taxation
and the substitution of general and equal
system Of taxation for the whole State, and
on a1nrrnrriat tian ananrdinG La the -.,..--L
of schools existing or required, instead OF
as at present, according to the number of
taxables
INEQUALITY OF TAXATION.
In order that we may the better appreei-
ate the significance of the figures which
follow, it may be well to state that the law,
as it now stands andis enforced, requires Of
each district to keep open its schools four
months in each year or forfeit the State
appropriation. Under this requirement,
we find in Jefferson county that tax oils
mills to the dollar is required to keep open
the schools four months, at an average rate
of $50 per month to teachers in Knox dis
trict, while its richer neigEbor Corsica, is
enabled to obtain months school, at an
average teachers salary of $25, with tax
of only five mills TO the dollar. That is, in
order to obtain the same advantages, the
poorer district would have to endure FIVE
times as high a rate Of taxation as the
richer.
In Indiana county, Canoe district obtains
four months school at SIC per month for
teachers, with taxation of Is mills to the
dollar, while Saltzburg district with 81 mills,
obtains the same length of term and pays
her teachers $lS per month. Here again
we find the same advantages gained by the
richer district at less than one-fourth the
rate of taxation of the poorer.
In Lancaster county, East Hempfeld has
six months school at $40, with 8 mill tax,
while West Lampeter has eight months at
$50, with a l. 5 mill tax. Here we find the
poorer district would be obliged to bear II
times as high rate Of taxation in order to
gain the same educational advantages as its
richer neighbor
In Centre county, Taylor district has four
months school at $50, with u mill tax,
while Farmers mills district obtains six
months at $28.83 with two mill tax, or
about one twelfth again.
La Bucks county. New Britain has five
months at $25, with l. mill tax, while
Northampton has ten months at 500, %
with a two mill tax, or less than twelfth
In Luzerne county Dennison has FIVE
months at SIT, with Is mill tax, while New
has seven months at 1856 with
a 5 mill tax, or less than one-twelfth
In Lebanon county, Heidelberg has five
nontha at $50, with a u mill tax, while
Cornwall has six and onc-half months at
s23, with a l mill tax, or one eighteenth The
rate Of tax of the poorer district.
In Potter county, Sweden district has
four months at SIS, with Is mill tax,
While Coudersport has eight and ehalf
months at 500, with a 2.5 mill tax, or one
the rate Of Sweden.
In Northampton County, Moore district has I
our and two-third months at $40 with
10 mill tax, while Bethlehem Borough has
line months at $33. S5 with a mill tax, or
.ets the same advantages at one fttyJowth
,art the rate of taxation of the poorer