Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-01-14

credits lis with a decrease in popula
ton has done us the kindness to furr
ish other figures that present a YER
different picture and tell very differ
ent story For example. the recen
census shows that the value of low
farm lands from 1900 to 1910 increaset
in round numbers from s1.256,000,O0
to$2,S00, 00U,uO0, or about 1913 er cent
The value of buildings alone increased
nearly SO per cent. The value Of farm
implements and machinery increased
nearly IS per cent The expenditure
for labor increased from Sl6,376,000 t.
$24, $4,000, or 81 per cent How cal
lany one study these figures and those
that have heretofore quoted and con
clude that there is anything seriousl,
the matter with Iowa.
Loss in School Population.
/ / do not feel so deeply concerned
lahout the loss of few thousand PEG
pie from our general population as
do about the loss in school population
From 1900 to 1910, as shown by the
annual school enumeration. the school,
population of the state decreased from
731,154 to 677,204, showing loss OF
54,l50 persons of school age in ten
years, being almost seven and one-hal1
per cent decrease. This would indi
cate that in the main our loss in popu
lation consists Of the younger men and
women who are the parents of children
less than twenty-one years of age. The
result is that the attendance in our
public schools, especially in the coun-
| try schools, has been constantly de-
creasing.
In 1908 there were 1852 schools in
the state with an enrolment Of ten
pupils or less, while the report for 1910
shows 2,071 such schools If this rate
of decrease in attendance keeps up for
few years what is to become of the
rural school? We are confronted with
no more serious problem than that OF
the rural schools. Some people have
attributed our loss in population to
our country schools and their methods.
1t would seem to me a much more
reasonable criticism to attribute the
condition of the country schools to the
loss in population. Restore the old
time number of pupils to the rural
school districts and the solution Of the
school question will be greatly sim
plified.
During the last ten years the average
size of the farms in Iowa have in
creased from 1872 acres to 1868 acres.
or about 3.4 per cent, while the de-
crease in gerenal population has been
only about three-tenths of one per
cent. During the same period the de-
crease in school population has been
almost seven and one-half per cent.
AS previously shown much of the loss
in school population is confined to the
country districts, which indicates, not
only a movement from the state. but
from the country toward the cities and
towns. This is a condition not pecu-
liar to Iowa alone, but has for years
been the experience of other Of the
older and more densely populated
states.
Political Strife Costly.
shall not say that there is no
merit in the suggestion that CIR politi-
cal strife has had an unwholesale eff.
feet upon the state. While these
things may not have driven any one
from among us, do not apprehend
that they have in any way encouraged
people to locate here. No business
man ever seeks battle ground, either
bloody or bloOdless, upon which to
make an investment at least not until
the battle is ended, and certain it is,
that capital is not going to flow readily
to state where uncertainties exist as
to the conditions under which it may
be invested and handled. Neither do
believe it to be any encouragement
n int ocfc to no rty~f
state better known away from home
by reason Of its political and facticnal
feuds than for its broad acres and inn
mense crops. The terms progressive"
and "standpats" as used In this state
TO represent discordant elements, have
never induced one man or one woman
20 locate in the state. There is evil
1ence upon every hand and from al
most every county that these bitter
'actional alignments have had their
influence upon local business condi
ions of the various communities. Men
lave been known for these reasons to
change their places of banking, of pur
chasing goods and of transacting bust
less in general. Even the harmoni-l
mus and united efforts of business
mems organizations have been inter
erred with because of intense fac
ional feeling. The man who sug-
,ested that these things have had a
Fearing upon the population of the
tate had much ground upon which to
,ase his conclusion.
Nothing better could come to our
tate than that there should be an end
# these matters. Give the business
interests of the state precedence over
he ambitions of men and let the peo-
lie join in united effort to promote
he material welfare of the common
wealth
l do not wish to be misunderstood.
Where we need new laws, and we do
eed some let us have them, and let
S have chance to test their effici-
ncy by requiring that they be OBJ
erved. No wiser suggestion has been
made recently than the suggestion by
PRESIDENT Taft, that we halt in our eff
orts to legislate long enough to secure
ompliance with laws already enacted
o that we may know just what adj
it1onal legislation is needed. Con-
tant agitation means constant dis