The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1912-04-06
! DE al. PER CAPITA
TAXES Or ScHO s
Is Suggested BY MI. ShawSey
in a Very Helpful

Il Spoutu az 4Ndbl1flllSgr 1euu,s t15nufbQhlyl
ltIon NJ. p. shawkey, state superlh.
ttendent Of schools of West Virginia,
made clear two very important things
that enter into the question, or stand
out more prominently than any Others
First. the rural school needs Ca
more money; tb) better methods
lAnd, second, that supervision viii
increase efficiency and get more on,
Of the money spent for schools =
West Virginia is conceded to have
made greater progress in education
in the rural schools than any. solthern
state. The discussion u the subject
by the head of the school system OF
the state is therefore of especial i'm.
portance from school and education
al standpoint. t
1 Mr.. shawkey discussed at length
the difference between the city and
country school. He said there were
two fundamentals, and discussed the
first incidentally, but the second more
fully. The one is in the nature Of a
condition." he said, the other pol
ICY AS to the first he said:
When | was a boy I lived on a
piece Of land such as,is, by common
courtesy in most parts of the coun-
try called a farm / recall, that
once upon a time we had three pigs
in pen one big one and two consid-
erably smaller ones. They were fed
in a common trough and alI-the same
feed. AS hog killing time approached
we were annoyed to note that while
the big pig constantly grew bigger
and fatter the smaller ones remained
stunted. Upon closer investigation
1t was found that the big pig had ac-
quired a certain monopolistic skill.
He knew how to take advantage OF
his size. When the slop was poured
into the trough he-@ould either plank
himself iengtbwlse inY the trough,
thus occupying 1t to the exclusion of
aYerytifing sise,eor throw his weight
on one end of it causing the whole
bucket full of slop to flow his way,
while the smaller hogs rugged and
crowded to get enough stun to keep
! them alive. We have wondered why
the country school has remained lean
and slender. II is the smaller hog.
!, The cities have been taking advan-
tage of their weight to tip the trough
their way. The products of the farm
are collected IN the towns where the
accumulated treasure is taxed to sup
Iport the city school. The railroad
drains the country and concentrates
its property in the towns where 1t is
taxed to support the city school. The
lefty banks collect the surplus money
from the country and 1t there pays
its taxes to support the school of the
city. The productive power of the
city is further increased by its super.
ior schools. Thus the endless chain
process continues.
THE city pig grows large and lusty
while the country develops nothing
especially vigorous except the ap-
petite of good animal. For 1t is a
fact that the average country boy or
girl is much more hungry for an edu-
cation than his city cousin. Just note
the contrast.
I'm the United States one-fourtA OF
the people live in the city, but thai
lone-fourth of the people of the nation
spend one-half of the nations school
money. In other words the nation
invests three times as much in the
education of the city boy as in that
of the country boy.
The city has most of the high
schools and nearly all of the libraries,
lyceums and laboratories. The one
fourth of the people who live in the
city own three-fourths Of all the
public school property in the United
States. The city pays Its teachers
double the rate of salary for thirty
per cent longer term. The city also
attracts to itself most of the available
supply of professionally trained teach
!ers. Money has done much for the
city school and to my mind there is
no real solution to the country school
problem except through the aid Of
greatly increased revenues"
Mr.. shawkey called attention to the
suggestion of Prof. W. c. Bagley that
the United States as nation reverse
the process for while and support
our schools from tariff and Internul
revenues and build our battleships
from direct taxation.
when we do our schools will have
a better living" said Mr.. shawkey,
But while We are waiting on the re-
versal of the process of providing for