Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1902-12-16
MORE REASONS ADVANCED
Santa Fe Stands in Need of a Modern
School Building Centrally Located.
Santa Fe, N. NJ, Dec. 13. 1902.

Santa Fe, N. NJ, Dec. 13, 1902.
To the Editor of the New Mexican:
The necessity Of having a large COM
modius school house or two. seems to be
generally recognized by everyone, he
last school ce.sue shows euuin i.>-
tion of 800 childten entitled to school
privileges and our public schools have
room for less than 500. or the 500
not over 600 are able t. pay tuition to
attend private or parochial schools or
to go to other towns for school privileges.
Even if there were more who are able to
attend pay schools there are not the
facilities ut present in Sal.ta Ee for ac-
commodatng greater number. There
fore, it is evident that there are in San
ia Fe at least 1000 children who must
be educated in free public schools or
grow up in ignorance. 1t is a recognized
fact throughout the civilized world that
education at any cost is cheaper than
ignorance in this day and age of the
world So the proposition simply re-
solves itself into the question: Shall
1000 school children in Santa Fe grow
up without the opportunities of an edu-
cation or will the parents OF these child
rem vote bonds for the purpose of fprovid-
ing proper school facilities? Since this
is the true condition and not a theory,
where is the father who will deliberately
cast his vote against the issue of bonds,
thus saying that he does not want his
child to have an education, or that the
present old shacks are good enough for
his children?
There arc very fow parents in Santa
Fe who are able to start their children
in business, or at death to leave them
fortune, but all parents in Santa Fe can
do even better than that, they can
unitedly provide the means whereby
their children may obtain an education
which is better than riches. An educated
people is always well to do. becomes q
people of newspaper readers, of produ-
GERS and happy people.
Again large centrally located school
building or two would equalze the work
of the teachers | learned that the re-
ports of the teachers for the last month
showed the attendance of one teacher to
be 1875, the attendance Of another In the
same ward to be 2s.S. In another ward
the attendance Of teacher was $40, OF
another co. If these teachers $were all
teaching in one and the same building,
the pupils could be so distributed that
each teacher would have about forty
pupils, instead of some having too small
number, and others too large a num-
Der. The best work cannot be done nm
der the present existing circumstances,
But some say that it is no use to vote
| bonds for they cannot be sold, or If sold,
it will be at 30 or 40 per cent discount.
Section 1854 of the Compiled Laws OF
1897 of New Mexico, says that bonds for
erecting school buildings can not be sold
below par and that the rate of interest
on the bonds shall not exceed six per
cent.
Therefore, the thing to do is to vote
| the bonds and if they can not be sold at,
or above par, they can not be sold at all,
and will cost the city nothing.
The same section says that such bonds
shall be payable In no less than twenty
nor more than thirty years from date.
BY that time the children who receive
| the benefit of the bonds will be the ones
to help the capitalists and well-to-do
people who would move here before that
time. to pay off the principal. But says
some objector, it will keep people from
moving here to issue bonds. Well, has
| it kept people from moving to Albuquer-
que, Las Vegas or Roswell? Or from
moving to Colorado Springs, Pueblo or
Denver where they have a heavy bonded
| indebtedness.
| No, it will not keep people from Ssnta
Fe but will draw them here quicker
than any other enterprise, at least, It
has In all other cities where the expert
ment has been tried.
| CITIZEN.