Arizona republican., 1914-04-19
REMEDY F0R
 RURAL SCHOOL
 |S SUGGESTED
Consolidation of Districts Discussed as Improve mcnt Over System Now ill Vogue Here = Other Topics of Interest

Consolidation of school districts under a central administration was hailed as the remedy for the ail- ments of the present educational sys- tenn in rural districts, at the second annual meeting of the school trustees of Maricopa county at the Phoenix high school yesterday afternoon. That the trustees were in accord with the movement which is spreading throughout the country for the pur- pose of bettering' the condition of rural schools. was evidenced by a resolution unanimously adopted to- cards the close of the session.
 The resolution places the trustees of the county on record as favoring q ceAtral system of purchasing sup plies. This means that a system will be worked out whereby the old method of each district buying it's supplies in small quantities will be eliminated. Superintendent Loper of the city schools, County Superinten- dent of Schools Higgins and others pointed out that a great saving could DS llstue II tle Sttpl'litS were DouSHt through one purchaser for the entire county.
 The consolidation topic was brought up by the supplies question, but Dr. i! J. C. Muerman, rural schools expert of the national department of edu- cation, enlarged on the subject and spoke of the wonderful improvement l it had wrought in rural schools i throughout the country. He told of the saving it enabled and the better ! facilities it provided for the educa- tion of children.
 l The trustees showed their approval of pr. Muerman's outline by vigor- ously applauding him. pr. Muerman declared that he could not say that l the consolidation of the entire rural school system of Maricopa county would be advisable at this time. But nevertheless, he said, even if five or six districts consolidated their af- fairs. they would offer better service to the taxpayers.
 l Adoption of the more modern ! method Of purchasing supplies spells ] ''finis' to the itincrant book -vender i who stalks upon the principal of a ! rural school and with the typical . book agents flow of words, convinces
 the principals that their schools would not be complete without the book the agent is selling.
 The principal repeats the agents 1 argument to the trustees, and tho 1 trustees authorize the expense. George P Brown, trustee of tn,
 Buckeye schools, in discussing som, recent successes Of the book Nender:
 who prey upon obhging principals
 said:
 Tn some cases trustees pay iron . So to $50 for books which are nevel ] consulted by children. l am in faVoi
 Of having all the supplies for tn,
 rural schools bought at one time be-
 cause I believe we can save from 1( 1 to. 100 per cent by getting quantity prices and going into market whert there is competition among dealers. | Mr. Brown also spoke of the neces-
 sity of q rigid system of accounting in all the rural districts. He de
 clared that present methods em- | not such as they would use in theil
 own private business.
 Speaking of the economy of buy ing supplies in large amounts, Super intendent of Schools Loper recite,
 the ease of the purchase of d hal
 dozen high-grade sewing machine:
 for the domestic science classes.
 ''Ordinarily," said Professor Loper
 one of these machines would cos
 something like s65. By buying thu entire half dozen at once, and per
 hitting makers of high grade ma
 chimes to bid, We managed to pur- chase the machines at exactly s25.0.
 each.''
 The old rural school problem. O.