Morgan County republican. (Versailles, Mo.) 1906-1914, 1907-09-05
THE S@CHOOLHOUSEs
WHAT THEY MEAN TO THE PEG.
PIE OF THE COMMUNITY.
AND HOW THEY ARE BUILT
II Is the Money That stays at Home
Which Makes Good Ones Possible
A Simple System That
Works.

A Simple System That
Works.
Your schoOlhouses. Those OF the
town and those of the country dis.
tricts. You know what they mean to
you and to your children.
They represent the difference he.
tween ignorance and enlightenment.
They mean to your children the differ.
ence between signing their names
with a mark or in writing. They
represent the difference between the
civilization of the twentieth century,
as this country knows it. and the bar
barism Of benighted Asia or Africa.
You want the schoolhuuse, do you
not?
You would willingly make sacrifices
to keep 1t, would you not?
You glory in the free educational
system of this country, do you not?
But, Mr.. Citizen, did you ~ sit
down and consider carefully what
1t is that makes possible the school.
houses of this country; the school.
houses that stand as beacon lights on
the tops of a thousand hills: the
s~choolhouses that carry cheer and FL.
lightenment to the hearthstunes Of
the homes Of a thousand valleys?
1t is the taxes that you and your
neighbor. and your neighbours neigh.
Dor pay into the school fund year after
year, is it not?
A,l u.l,- L.. ..,, ,,a, to
Because you own properly-real as.
tate, bonds and mortgages-and be.
cause that property is valuable.
What makes your real estate val.
liable?
1t is the prosperity of the commit
nifty. As the community grows and
prospers the value Of your property
increases. As YOU property increases
in value and you write your wealth
in thousands instead Of hundreds, the
amoun you pay into the school fund
increases. When the school fund in.
| creases the old building gives place to
4 new and more modern structure, in
which your children and your neigh.
boris children ecure their instruc.
ton. And, again. the erection o. the
new building but adds more to the
value Of your property.
II is an endless chain system that
builds villages ont OF cross roads.
and cities out Of villages
Who are you. Mr.. Citizen. and who
is your neighbor and our neighbours
neighbor, whose contributions TO the
school fund make the schoolhouses
possible. You, and YOU ~neighbor,
and your ~neighbor's neighbor. are the
farmers. the merchants. the doctors.
the blacksmiths. You are each and
every man who 90 10 make up the
community in which you live, and 1t is
only when you work collectively that
you accomplish results-that you build
up new sc~hoolhouses.
And how shall you work collec.
lively?
By a simple system Of boosting one
another. You, we will say, have
oats TO sell-your neighbor buys them
Of you He. you will say has dry
goods TO sell-you buy them of him.
It is this system Of mutual help that
makes the town grow into the city.
that increases the price Of real estate
in the town and in the community sur.
rounding il, hat builds new school.
houses.
The dollar that is unnecessarily sent
away from home neyer bought so
much as a nail for a sch~oolhouse. never
put a single on its roof
But the dollars that are
sarily sent away from home send back
TO the community which they left
only ruin. 1t is these dollars that
prevent the replacing of the leaking
roof, the broken door hinge or the
worn out desk.
II is the dollars that are unneces-
ssrily sent away from home by you,
and your ~neighbOr. and your neigh
bor's neighbor that decrease the value
of your, and your ~neighbor's. and
your neighbours %neighbor's real es.
tate. That makes the school fund
grow less year after year. That forces
the discharge OF the competent teach.
er for a less competent one. That re.
duces the standing of your schools
In the educational system of the coun.
try.
Work II backwards, send your
money for the things you need away
from home instead Of spending ii at
home, and the system that builds vii.
lagos out Of cross roads, and cities out
of villages, that increases the value OF
your real estate and permits you to
write your wealth in four figures
where previously three figures were
enough, and you will make Of the
thriving little city but a village, and
OF the village but a cross roads.
DO you not believe, Mr.. Citizen, and
do you think your neighhor and your
neighbor's neighbor should believe,
that It pays best to keep the dollars
in the home community? Keep the
system moving forwards, help Ia
make a city Of your village. Boost
your towns interests and 0 boost
your own
WRIGHT A, PATTERSON.