Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-04-05
THE BaHHuasU u sCHoOL

THE DaHUlalU Y SCHOOL
TERN.
When the minimum school term bill
was on final passage in the Senate
March 18th, Senator Hertzler voiced
the sense Of the larger percentage Of his
constituents by voting against the bill.
Previous to the taking of the vote, he
made speech against its passage as fol-
lows:
MIR. HERTZLER Mr.. President, l
am opposed to the passage Of this bill
for the reason that the law today en-
ables any school district in the Com
mOnwealth to have seven months
school, II they sO desire, and the con-
ditiOns are such that they are able to
have it. Personally, am in favor Of
seven months and more than that, for
l am certainly in favor of education,
but I desire to say that the district
which I represent is not able to have
seven months in many of their school
districts. 1 have found upon examin-
alton Of the latest school report of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction,
with reference to the number of months
various counties have school IN their
districts, and for the information of the
members Of the Senate / will present
those figures to you. In looking up
this matter I find that in the county of
Adams, which has seventy-twO school
districts, at least seventy-five per CEN
tum Of those have six months Of school;
in the county Of Armstrong the same
condition exists; in Bedford county
possibly eighty-five per centum of the
school districts have but six months;
in Berks county over fifty per centum;
in Blair county it is exactly fifty per
centum; in Cambria county they have
about fifty-five per centum; in Centre
county they have seventy-five per CEN
tum; in Clarion county about seventy
five per centum; in Clearfield county
they have over fifty per centum; in
Columbia county they have over fifty
have exactly fifty per centum; in Fay
ette county they have fifty per centum;
in Franklin county they have about
seventy per centum; in Fulton county
they have one hundred per centum; in
Greene county they have twenty out of
twenty-three districts; in Huntington
county they have seventy-five per CEN
tum; in Indiana county they have
thirty-fOur out of thirty-nine; in Jefier-
son twenty-three out Of thirty-three; in
Juniata twelve out of seventeen; in
LycOming county they have thirty-five
out of fifty-four; in Mifiiin county they
have fifty per centum, in Monroe
county they have fourteen out of the
twenty districts: III MOntOur county
they have fifty per centum; i'll North
umberland county they have fourteen
out of the thirty-four; in Perry county
they have twenty-five out Of thirty; In
Potter county they over fifty per cent
um; in Schuylkill county they have
almost fifty per centum; in Snyder
county they have sixteen out of the
eighteen districts; In Somerset county
they have thirty-siX districts out of
fOrty-One; i'm Sullivan county they have |
seven out of twelve districts; in Union |
county they have eight out of fifteen !
districts; in VenangO county they have |
thirteen out of thirty-three districts, !
and there are other counties equally as
high in the number of districts that |
have but six months.
find that these districts are rural |
and / don't think it will be
right to impose upon them q larger /
of months when they are not |
able to bear the additional burden. I
don't know what conditions exist in
other districts, but in the county in /
which | live, although the mill rate |
does not appear to be large, yet the
is large.
In my district we lost heavily in the |
flood of one thousand eight hundred
and eighty-nine and all our bridges in
the Juniata river were swept away as
well as many of the bridges spanning |
the streams throughout the county, and |
the commissioners were compelled to
double the valuation of property i'm Or
der to raise funds for the rebuilding Of
these bridges. 1t has come to myI
that many farmers, because
Of additional burdens imposed upon
them by way of taxation, have come to |
the commissioners and rendered them |
their properties if they would give them |
the amount that their properties were
assessed for the purpose of taxation. |
Our counties are not able to have longer |
terms of school and l appeal to the
of the Senate not to impose |
this additional burden upon them be-
cause of their inability to bear any
further burdens in this direction.
l have always, as a member of this |
SeEate, been willing to respond to the
of the Senators from the cities
and more wealthy districts and voted
for or against bills which were shown
to be injurious to their constituents and
not for their best interests TO have them
passed, and l now appeal to those who
are able to have seven, eight and nine
of q school term i'm the year not |
to impose this requirement upon those
districts which are not able to pay this
expense.