The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-27

plated. Aroused by this condition of az
fairs the teachers held meeting and, ap-
pointed Miss Haley and another to in
vestgate the cause The first progress
made by the teachers representatives
was through newspaper item stating
that the reason there was not enough
money to run the schools was that five
corporations in the city were paying
nothing on their franchises. The COM
mfttee at.once set to work to find a rem
edy, and decided that the only way was
to make corporations and persons not
paying a. just proportion of the taxation
come to the front. They found that the
board of equalization was not getting
one cent from five of the largest corpora
tons which were feastng at the public
crib On free valuable franchises
The revenue law, which provided for
the taxation of capital stock was being
entirely ignored, the assessors not even
calling on the companies for statements
OF what their capital stock amounted to-
The lower courts decided that there was
due the city per cent tax on the fran
chises of these five companies, or ten mil
lions of dollars each year in the aggre-
gate On Nov. % the supreme court of
Illinois sustained the lower court, and
the corporations now threaten to go to
the federal courts for relief.
Miss Haley maintains that this action
on the part of the companies is Just
what the teachers desire for as the peo-
pie are after all the real final court, the
more publicity given the case the more
advantage to be had by the cause of
right. Meetings are being held in the
evenings in school rooms, attended by
the parents Of the children, at which
these matters are talked over, and these
meetings are really making of every pub
GphGO1 nix-ia
Lind Was Absent
Ex-Gov. John. Lind, who was to have
led the discussion on Miss Haley's ad-
dress, was not present, and Miss Haley
occupied the time in answering questions
that were sent up. from the audience
One teacher in the audience wrote ask
ing Miss Haley to state what the schools
Of st. Paul were losing, taking the pro-
portlorate population of the two cities
as a basis. Miss Haley was unable to say
what the amount was, but told how it
might by little work be ascertained.
A. l. Ankeny, president of the state
normal school board, followed with a
paper on school Expenditures
Mr.. Ankeny began his remarks by
thanking Miss Haley for her address and
her work, on behalf of himself and the
association, and he commended her ex-
ample to all His address was in part
as follows:
The subject of taxation and school ex-
penditures is one that reaches far down
in the fundamental principle of our edu-
cational system. and it is a matter to
which there can never be given too much
Intelligent thought an dstudy If there is
not sufficient revenue to properly conduct
the state educational institutions there
is something wrong somewhere. and the
wrong must be intelligently righted with
all possible speed. If, on the other hand
the school funds are being wasted and
expended improperly, there is just as
great a wrong there and 1t deyoiyes I1po,,
US TO make known the facts.
Now. there are some who appear 70
think that our business Is confined ex-
clusively to the discipline and instruction
departments of the system and thar
whenever we attempt to have any voice
in the business management we are get
ting outside our bounds, to where we
have no business. | most emphat1caIly
deny this. The educator of today has 4
double trust, and it is his or her duty to
see that they are properly taken care Of
It is a well known fact that there are
institutions that succeed year after year
in lodging their taxes. This may be due,
to several causes, perhaps principally to
the lack of appreciation on the part of
the legislators. 1t is matter of great
rejoicing that committee was appoint
ed at the last session of the legislature
to look into this matter, 2cd that It will
soon be ready to hand in its report Then
/ anticipate that some justice, at least,
will he done.
Expenditure of school Money.
f'The great question is not how econem-
ically school system may be run. but
how effective it may be made. On some
sides is frequently heard the remark that
We are spending entirely too much mon
ey for educational purposes. and to re-
flute this ] win make comparison in
round numbers with ten of the leading
states in the Union in regard to educa-
tiona1 facilities. In 1900 the state of Min
nesota spent in round numbers S., 0G0, COO
for its schools, which. taking the exact
figures, made per capita expenditure OF
penditure psr capita was as follows:
massachusetts. 1886; New York, 81 so:
New Jersey 1874: Pennsylvania, So Al :
Ohio. $3.50: Indiana, s36S: Illinois So IS;
A63
From this comparison 1t will be seen
that the per capita expenditure of MIN