The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-01-03

Exclusive of the mill tax, the State tax of
1917 was reduced fifty or sixty thousand dol
lars from the previous year. The taxpayers will
now be glad to learn that in the opinion of the
Treasurer, if there are no extraordinary ap-
preparations made by this legislature, the |
state tax tor the year 1873 can be reduced to |
hive mills on dollar, being reduction of
$4,000 from the State tax of 1872.
While 1t is our duty to provide for all just
and necessary expenses, we shall, trust, ex.
ercise the most rigid scrutiny in regard to all
our appropriations and disbursements.
EDUCATION.
For complete exhibit of the educatio ,ha
work of the State, you are referred % P,,h1;c
report of the State Superintendent o. suanas
Schools. He makes some impoIfan. 'oec .,
tons that WILL trust, receive 80 oa'e,ui
consideration. Our Norma, esioois arc ~
ing well, but the den'anu ~, thoroughly
trained teachers is greater than they can sup
ply. In Gove,nmrn. iike ours, where the
- General education are the surest guaran-
s sass 81 good government and the perpetuity
Of free institutions. The material prosperity
and moral standing of the State correspond
with the degree of intelligence among the
people. The State that best educates its peo-
pie, will, other things, being equal, be the
strongest and most prosperous. Education
hits up the masses. and secures greater equal
ity of wealth and influence. 1t creates indi-
vidual strength and reliance; ignorance brings
weakness and dependence. 1t secures pro-
gress; the neglect of it carries us backward.
1t br ngs national power and respect; through
Ignorance both are forfeited. Our hope is in
the intelligence of the people; our danger is
in the ignorance that is controlled by corrupt
men. To the forces which education has
planted in the heart the brain and the con-
science of the people, we owe our success
in the past, and upon them we rest our hopes
of the future. This grand superstructure of
free government which we are building can
only rest securely upou the immovable, en-
during foundation of universal public educa-
ton.
We rely chiefly upon our common school
system to provide for the intellectual wants of
the young, and for carrying each successive
generation forward to higher plane of moral
and intellectual development. Every ques-
ton, then, bearing upon this subject is of
vital Importance. The wages of teachers are
less in this than in any other State in the
country. Hence many of our best teachers
leave the State or engage in other pursuits.
| We cannot expect good schools without good
teachers, and but few good teachers can be
had without good pay.
am glad to notice that the proportion of
female to male teachers is gradually increas-
ing; this is as it should be. There are some
| occupations open to men that are not accessi-
BILE to women, but for this they are peculiarly
adapted. Many of our best and most sue
! cessful teachers are females. l am here re-
minded of what appears to me to be great in
| justice to female teachers. The wages OF
male teachers i'll this State average thirty
three dollars and seventeen cents per month
exclusive of board. The average wages fol
female teachers, exclusive of board, is fourteen
dollars and forty cents per month. This is
wrong. A given amount of labor, equally
well performed, is worth the same, whether
done by male or female A woman can live
no cheaper than man; it costs as much fol
her education as for his she has no advan.
tage in the cost of board, clothing, railroad
stage and hack fare, hotel bills, books, maya.
zines or papers. Indeed, present custom, in
some of the most important of these items o.
expenditures demand more of her than of him
Why, then, must she be compelled to accept
one dollar for services of equa, value with
those for which you pay him two dollars and
thirty cents , earnestly hope the next re.
port of the Superintendent of Public Schools
will show large increase in the wages O
female teachers.
| suggest that our present public school sys
rare instances, furnish facilities for instruction
beyond those offered in the district school
This has created necessity for large mum.
Der of academies and private high schools
and these have in some respects, detracteC
from the interest so desirable In the public
school. Many of our wealthiest and most in
telligent citizens rely chiefly upon privat,
institutions for the education of their chill
dren. They do this because, in their opinion
the instruction in the public school is no
what it should be, or because higher grade
of studies is desired. The result is that thu
interest which all citizens should have in oul
common schools, is, to some extent, at least
withdrawn, ano the active efforts of man,
whose cooperation and advice are greatly
needed, are turned into other educational
channels. And this will continue until oul
schools are raised to the standard required
by the progressive demands of the times
Our public schools should be the best
schools in the state and should furnish OPP
portunities, not only for primary and inter.
mediate studies, bnt to prepare for college, OIL
the practical duties of life. These advan.
tages should be as free to the children as the
water they drink or the air they breathe. In
most of our cities, and in some of the larger
towns, public schools of the grade indicated
| are in successful operation. In the smaller
| W" ho ~ WILL VI CouiSe, Uc iuOle ulMCult, Du
| it appears to me not impracticable to establish
in every town of one thousand or more inhab-
itants, public high school, equal in grade to
our best academies. Two or more smaller
towns could unite for this purpose. This
would secure equal opportunities for the
children of the rich and poor and unite the
interests OF all classes. Many of our academies
now having feeble and precarious support
or no support at all, would furnish excellen,
accommodations, and in some instances good
teachers for public high schools. Ample room
would then be LETT for many excellent insti-
buttons in the state of grade between the
high school and college. l trust the educa-
| tional interest of the state will receive at
| your hands, the careful consideration its i'm
portance demands.
| INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
The labor of the farmer during the past
| year has generally been rewarded with salts
factory returns. Some important crops have
/ fallen below the average, while others have
exceeded the most sanguine expectations
More interest is felt in the discussion of ques-
tons affecting this great interest than ever be-
fore. Farmers are anxiously inquiring for the
best methods of cultivation the most approx
ed machinery, the comparative advantage and
| profits of different kinds of crops, and for new
| and more profitable channels of agricultural
lIiuustIy. Ills spiIlt VI inquiry, Supplen e0t-
| ed by the meetings and discussions of the
| Board of Agriculture, and Farmers Clubs and
| the agricultural departments of the public
press, cannot fail to advance materially the
development of our agricultural resources.
Our manufactures of cotton and wooden fab
RIGS, leather, boots and shoes, bricks and car
riages and other articles of wood, are increas-
ing. Many of the older manufacturing opera
tions are being increased, and new establish
ments are starting up in various parts of the
States. Our water-power, which, for constant
supply and availability, is unsurpassed in the
country, is being more extensively improved.
Our advantages III this direction have already
attracted large amount of capital to the
State, and must eventually make this one of
the leading manufacturing States in the coun-
try.
Our quarries of granite, marble. slate and
lime are inexhaustible. Operations in them
are increasing and yielding remunerative re-
turns. The products of these quarries have
already become an important item in our in
dustrial productions.
More than the usual amount of lumber has
been cut and manufactured during the past
year, and ready sale has been found. Our
timber lands are proving to be an almost in
exhaustible source of wealth. Townships
upon which operations have been carried on