Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-01-06

1913, in California, and the lowest Is
5000, in North Carolina.
According to this study the average
wage of carpenters in the United
States is about $500, of coal minors.
$500, of factory workers $3.50, Of corn
mon laborers $513, and of teachers
Sass.
Throughout the southern states
thousands of rural teachers earn less
than $3.50 per year. In one New Eng
land state hundreds of teachers earn
less than Sc per week. In one couaty
in a Central Atlantic state the aver
| age for ALI teachers is $129 per year.
One southern state rents its convicts
! to contractors at a little more than
/ $400 per year. while it pays its public
school teachers slightly over $500.
{ In each school system there is a
! series of leaks through which the
| children escape before completing the
course. For this reason the member
ship of the lower grades is large; that
OF the upper ones much smaner; the
! high school enrolment smaller yet;
and when the college is reached, few
of the original beginners remain. In
this process of elimination great diff
| ferences are found between the states,
with the result that in some parts of
the country a large proportion of the
young people are receiving higher edu-
cation, while in other localities the
proportion is low. So great are these
differences that the proportion of col
lege students in Massachusetts, Cali
fornia and Indiana is greater than the
proportion of those receiving a high
school education in IL of the southern
but does not vouch for an estimate by
the United States bureau of education
to the effect that in the country as a
whole less than half of the children
finish more than the first six grades;
only about one in four ever enters
high school, and less THAI in 100 60
to college. The right of the state 10
tax the property of the state to edu
cate the children of the state is now
firmly established A free common
school education is the common birth
right of every American child. Never
theless, there appears startling differ
ences in the endeavors of the different
states to meet this obligation In
Oklahoma and Washington expendi
lures for pubic schools each year
amount to about IS cents for eacl
800 of wealth and this proportion is
nearly four times as great a. thai
found in such states as Wyoming and
New Mexico. One-third of tie sta tas
have no laws regulating the construc
tion of public school houses, the re
| port declares. We have only three
| types of institutions where attendanc,
| is ompulsory-jails, asyIums ant
gchoolhouses. Few of us have to sta!
: long or frequently in jails or asylums
8 but all of us spend many years IL
: schoolhouses. Nevertheless, OhiC
! alone has complete legal regulation 0
6 school house construction to insur,
. the safety and sanitation of thes'
! buildings.
, A somewhat better situation i
, found with respect to medical inspec
;. ton of schools, which is provided 70
! by the laws of 20 states That sucl
!, laws are needed in the remaiainl
a states is shown by mass Of expert
, ence which demonstrates that efict
p ent medical inspection bettera healtl
;, conditions among school children, safe
:, guards them from disease, and rer
! ders them healthier, happier and NOR
vigorous.
81 According TO this report the systcT
= OF providing free text books 70
n school children is Almost celtur
II old in America, having been inaugl
i, rated by Philadelphia 95 years ago.
i the present time l. states have FIRE
, text books throughout their schools
n Is have them in certain districts an
. in the remaining u states the systel
II does not exist. School books boUgf
T. by the community cost the communit
20 per cent less than they do whe
v they are bought By Individuals. Or
+ unforeseen feature of the passage