Paragould soliphone. (Paragould, Ark.) 1918-1950, 1922-05-15

! is he People all over the country
seems to have lost the vision. HUI
man life is governed by all kinds of
for the government Of them in their
social intercourse, in business, in
dustry and other lines of human ac-
tivity. Those laws are effective
lie sentiment backing them up. That
is to say the enactment of law
will not make a good citizen; that
is the process Of education directed
by law abiding citizens.
I'VE have before us a question
for solution and that is the educa-
ton of the children Of Paragould.
1t is needless to write about the i'm
portance of education, for any man
who does not conceive that, has
hopelessly passed the state of idiocy
anyway. The question is the prob
lem
1.-THE school board having this
in mind assumed the task of taking
an inventory Of the real situation
and for the benefit Of all interested
and the facts are given here:
The school system, from f.nan-
cial standpoint, would have broken
down some months ago, if it had not
been for the occurrence of the un-
expected in this way. 1t will be
recalled that at one time meeting
was held by the citizens. who liber-
ally contributed to a fund in order
to increase the teachers salaries,
for the reason that those teachers
who were paying board were not
getting a sufficient wage to pay
board and laundry. The school
board at that time did not have suf-
ficient funds to meet the contin-
lgency. Later, petitions were cir
culated among the taxpayers for
voluntary payment of ten mills the
same to cover period OF two years
or more. More than rs per cent of
the taxpayers signed the petition
and number met the payment
Ipunctually at the time due. In fact,
in 1921, this voluntary tax payment
aggregated 11,421.84, which, Of
course, was entirely voluntary by
the patriotic citizens Of the district
Another incident occurred at that
time which helped us before we
could get in possession Of this fund,
and that is a suit that had been
brought by Mr. Vaughan against
certain corporations of Paragould in
the courts of Pulaski county in
which there was collected to the
districts part the sum of $G,238.5 so.
This was received at a time when
the school board was looking for
& fund with which to meet the pay
roll That year we had an aggre-
gate income of $56,497.74.
"The district tax. that is taxes
arising from asseSsable property
within the city, has not increased a
penny. In fact the taxes arising
from that source in 1920 were $32,-
I014.56, while from the year 1921
were $31,021.08. The taxes for
1920 were in excess of those for
1921 $993.48. From this an esti-
mate can be arrived at with refer
enoe to the assessment. Then it is
apparent that the assessment lis less
by over $50, 100000 in 1921 than
that of 1920. <f~
Let us see just what can be done
with this money; how it has been
spent and other necessary informa-
ton the citizenship of the city
should know about.
The school at present is being
| taught by thirty-eight teachers or
was taught by that many, the city
lsuperintendent leaving early in the
winter or spring. The monthly pay
roll at the high school amounts to
| $1,291.65. When the city had
superintendent the payroll az
gregated at the high school ST.
566.65 The matter may be sum
married. as follows showing the
monthly payroll now and what
tie proposed budget of expense viii
be for the year 1922-23
Session of 1921-22; 8 teachers at
High School, $1,92l.G5; 8 teachers
at South Side, $746.00; g teachers
at East Side, $4,000; II teachers
at West Side, $1,O29.00. Total for
the 1921-22 period, $3,77265
Session Of 192223; teachers at
High School, $4,000 8 teachers
at South Side, $775.oO; 8 teachers
at East Side, $1,000; II teachers
at West Side, S1,150.00. Total for
the 1929 period. $4,000.
Total expenditure rs compared
Iabove is as follows
This year a monthly payroll 49,
l772.65. Proposed budget, $3i,-
455.0O.
1.-TWO things will impress the
Ireader here; one 10 the increase in
the payroll OF the three grade
schools, and the other Is the de-
crease in the monthly payroll at