Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-01-16


| mail In Australia. TasmanIs, Kansas anC
elsewhere some of these plans have beef
put in operation and have been found t
work well. most respectfully recommenC
| the enactment of similar legislation fol
Wisconsin
THE INITIATIVE. REFESUNDCM AMI
RECALL.
| The proposed initiative. referendum and
| recall amendments TO the Constitution ara
i1fore you for final passage before sub
mission to the people for their approval
The ideas embodied in them are no longer
new. In their present form they are,
believe. the best resolutions upon these
! subjects adopted by any state legislature
! All parties are pledged to the constitu-
| tionaI changes they propose ] therefore
| recommend that they be passed at this ses-
! sion without unnecessary delay.
THE COUNTRY SCHOOL
/ Education is one of the principal func-
lions of government That the people OF
! Wisconsin are not Indifferent to the claims
it has upon them is strikingly shown by
| the fact that more than half the expenses
| OF the state is incurred on this account.
| In 1910 there were 780,1S1 children Of
/ school age in this state. nearly equally
| divided between city and country. OF
| those between seven and fourteen years
| Of age in the country twenty per cent at
| tended school whatever while only
/ about two per cent absented themselves
/ IN the cities. This is but one fact out
| Of many that might be adduced TO show
| that the country school is inferior 10 the
/
1 TEN
Since the adjournment of the last legis-
| lature various committees and boards nave
/ been active in the inyeStig cation Of rural
| school problems with the view Of making
/ recommendations for enriching the courses
| OF study vitalizing the instruction and Sc
/ curing better results.
In November, 1911. the Board of Pub
/ lie Affairs invited the Training School for
/ Public Service of the Bureau of Municipal
Research of New York City to conduct an
! investigation of the country schools of Wis
| conSln- In response to this invitation ana
| at a very triHing expense to the state TINS
! investigation has been made 1t included
Il general examination of educational con-
! dIuons in tWenty-Seven counties in widely
! separated portions of the state and q more
! detailed examination of the facts concern
| ing 131 schools in thirteen counties. The
report presents vivid pictude OF All
| phases of rural school life: fiscal, educa-
| tional and sanitary 1t is vigorous. I'M
| biased statement Of the facts as the eN-
| perts of the Training School saw them. in
| clear. untechnical language. The recon-
mendatiOnS given at the end of the re-
| ing Wisconsin educators and the members
Of the Board Of Public Affairs. L most re
specaqIIy Tecommend this report to your
careful study and consideration.
l am personally well satisfied that no
greater service can be rendered the cause
OF education in Wisconsin at the present
| time than the establishment by law OF the
county board system of school administra-
ton. This is the key to the whole prob
| lem-the point at which all effective re-
form must begin.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION
Among the educational institutions Of
America none more frequently calls for
the unstinted praise of thoughtful men
who live outside borders than the
| University of Wisconsin. This preemin-
| ence of our University is due not to its
| age, its size, nor the richness of its en-
dOwment. but principally to its willing
ness to serve all the people of the state
| especially those who have never been with
| in its walls as resident students.
The example of Wisconsin in organic
ing extension work upon Il broad and in
elusive basis has already been followed by
more than 20 state universities and was
recently copied by a number of privately
endowed institutions, such as Columbia
and Harvard.
AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION.
The federal census of 1910 showed a
| substantial increase in the total popula-
! ton of the state This increase however
was not uniform but was due largely to a
gain in the population of cities and towns.
| Many country districts actually lost i'll
! population and others made but slight
| gains. Nineteen counties. mostly devoted
| TO farming. declined in total population
| and twenty mine in rural population. Mean
while the city of KenoSha, largely devoted
| to manufacturing. doubled in numbers and
| the city of Milwaukee. the chief industrial
| center of Wisconsin, increased more in
population than all the rural districts of
| the state combined. But the city-ward
| ttElib Ol DOpuIlllen Is not Couuueti 10 w Is
consin or any particular section of the
| country. 1t is nation wide and is due to
numerous and complex causes. Some of
| these represent social progress but others
| indicate the existence of serious defects in
| the economic and social conditions of coun-
| try life
SO far as it is within our power there
| fore. steps should be taken to aid people
| who live in the country to improve their
| business methods, their systems of mar
keting and their credit facilities-in snort,
| fhlT al a,.nvN nTsaJ4 II l.
| ton.
The legislature of 1911 took this matter
| up in very commendable way. 1t crea-
! ted the State Board of Public Affairs and
| directed it to make an investigation of co
| operation and marketing. This work has
| been done. Among other things it covers
cooperative buying and selling and CO
| operative credit.
Cooperative marketing is not new in
| Wisconsin. Its history is part of the in
| dustrial history of the state. With US it
| has been 4 group movement not a cen
| traliZed coordinate undertaking; and the
success or failure of each group has de-
| pended almost entirely upon the initiative,
! resourcefulness and business ability of the
members themselves.
COOPERATIVE RURAL CREDIT.
There is, real need for agricultural CO.
operative credit. The farmer often finds
| it difficult to secure loan to tide over
| the period between seed time and harvest,
ITO buy stock and machinery or to make
| permanent improvements upon his land. 1t
! is even more difficult for him to buy and
| pay for farm. especially in the thickly
| settled sections of the state. Indeed this
| task is SO hard as to discourage many and
drive them to other states where land is
cheaper or to other occupations where more
| immediate if less substantial rewards are
| offered for their labor.
| At the present time the average farmer
| is denied the credit advantages enjoyed by
| the merchant or manufacturer, even though
| he be equally honest, equally trustworthy
! and equally able to meet his financial obi
/ rrat5 Is Is n an
| individual matter. Until recently the col
| lective credit of Il group of farmers had
not been thought of in America: and even
| now it is employed only to a limited extent
| in one or two states. In Europe this prob
| lem is solved by system of rural banks.
Under the auspices of the Southern Com
| mercial Congress and the International In
! stitute of Agriculture delegation made up
| of two representatives from each state in
| the Union Will go abroad in April of this
| year 10 study the operation of rural banks
| and cooperative agricultural credit societies
| in Europe. Wisconsin has been invited to
| send representatives. Believing as [ do
| that agricultural cooperation is of the
! big things of the future. too large and sig
nffcant to be ditched by its short sighted
friends and destroyed by its own momen-
tum. | recommend the appropriation of a
| sufficient sum of money TO defPay the ex-
penSeS of two delegates from this state, as
| requested by those who have the matter in
charge | believe we have sufficient in
| formation to enable us to make beginning
in the organization of land mortgage banks
| to be operated along lines similar to those
of the German Landschaften. These asso-
| Citations should be under the supervision
and control of the state banking depart
ment and their powers should be carefully
| limited to what is necessary to accomplish
| the purposes here mentioned.
PRICE DISCRIMINATION.
Equality of opportunity in industry and
| trade is a sound American ideal; but like
whether they be owned by individuals OF
! limited means by cooperative societies
| should be protected against tactics of this
sort. l recommend the enactment of a law
at this session that viii effectively put an
end to all such practices in Wisconsin.
all ideals it is not easily attained. Here
and elsewhere in recent years unfair meth
DDS have been systematically employed by
powerful organizations of capital to break
down the business of small dealers. \
faverite practice is to sell commodities be
low cost in localities where the market Is
shared with Others for the purpose of drfv-
ing them out. and at the same time recOuI
the loss by putting up the price of the
same goods in other localities where there
is no competition. In buying precisely the
same object is attained by reversing the