The Washington herald., 1913-05-25
HOUSTON BRINGS NEW IDEA INTO THE SERVICE

future Of his children will remain In the
rural district, as II exists today. II he
can possibly get out. Teachers In the
country are inefficient because they are
underpaid. The average Of their salaries
IL less than 500 year. Rural salaries
In the rich State Of Illinois range from
$50 to 500
In Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi. and
Tennessee the average is down to $50.
and is only 500 in Vermont. Maine. and
North Carolina. Against these beggarly
salaries Is a village average Of. say,
500. The city average. of course. Is
larger still. The people of this country
spend $3.50. ooo. 900 on their public schools.
That is a royal budget. we say, for edu-
cation. But We spend S7po00o.0oo for wars
which are past and which are to come;
$500, 100000 for tobacco. and 81, 500 ooo. 900
for whisky. Our country teachers COM
monty teach in one-room buildings.
Tells His own Experience.
81 taught in such a building and
boarded around 1t was implanted and
unceiled. and a mile from the nearest
house. The yard. cut out OF the woods.
was filled with weeds and stumps. My
pupils ranged In age from seven to TWEEN
ty-six. We almost froze in the winter
and burned up In the summer.
INC tOuDtTy lOudg lHOusdHuS anu
thousands OF such schools. The teachers
have from thirty to forty recitations a
day. Often the teacher Is a young and
inexperienced girl. She has little, IL any.
supervision. Her county superintendent
may call on her once a year. The facts
show that country boys and girls are not
getting a square deal
Farming" 7 said. lis hard work
Isn't that the principal reason why the
children OF farmers leave home whenever
they CAM"
It have never thought So" Secretary
Houston replied. Farming. II Is true.
is hard work. Everything is hard when
II Is done right. believe that in most
cases parents are glad to see their sons
leave the country for the wider oppor-
tunities to he found in towns and cities.
The normal father wants his sons to sue
coed and to be happy. He has had a
hard battle and hopes his children will
meet life on better terms. He has been
compelled to send his sons and daughters
away from home to get a high school
education. He has put them on a train
and has paid their board and tuition
while they have been away from the
farm. Insects have eaten up his crops
and he has fought out that difficulty
alone. His marketing has not always
been satisfactory. He has sent his crops
to town at the wrong time and has had
TO accept what the buyer was willing to
pay. When he has wanted a good doc
tor he has been compelled to drive ten
or twenty miles.
What the Thinking Farmer Sees.
IF the farmer is a thinking and OBJ
serving man he knows that in our econo-
my he Is estimated ordinarily In but two
ways-frst, as a person who grows things
to sell and has need for things he can't
raise, and. secondly, as a citizen. who.
under the law. has a right to vote. He
Is at the base OF our civilization. but
he understands that typhoid fever. ma
LARA, tuberculosis, and diphtheria are
more prevalent in the country relatively
than in the cities. Sanitarians don't con-
Germ themselves about him except when
his milk or his beef or his vegetables en-
danger the health of city folk. When he
takes up his newspaper he reads OF the
efforts of good men to reform municipal
government Mayors, faithless to the
people, are driven from Office. Members
OF the councils OF cities are sometimes
arrested and prosecuted.
And then the farmer remembers