Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1923-05-03
THE COUNTY UNIT.

The county unit will soon be submitted to the vote OF the peo
pie in the third class districts. This paper believes that 1t Is only
fair and proper for the voters of the unit to have an opportunity
to decide for themselves whether they shall continue the present
system or not and it is just as firmly believed that their side of the
case should be presented to the voters.
Opposing them is that beautiful political machine built up dur
ing the past seven years by the State Department of Education
and which has only to crack the whip and county superintendents'
school principals and teachers fall into line to support any policy
which the state department approves.
Far be it from us to beittIe in any way the good work of the
state department which has put across many notable improve
ments in our school system, but we reserve the right to differ
from them at times when our judgment tells us that their policy
is wrong.
Not very long ago the statement was made by public speaker
in Belt that in a survey Of the schools of the United States the
schools of Montana were ranked first. This has been heard many
times and has been used as a lever in many instances to py fur
ther monetary advances from an impoverished people in order to
keep Montana in its foremost position.
There is a misconception about the report of the Sage Founda-
ton which might profitably be rectifed. The report showed that
Montana was first in the amount of money it spent for each of its
school children. That is, Montana spent more money for each
school child than any other state in the Union. In what it got for
it's money in efficiency, Montana ranked seventh. Quite a differ
ent thing when your mind dwels upon first place from another
view point. The state of Montana, impoverished by years OF
drought and almost famine, spends more money each year on a
school child than any of the wealthy old states of the middle west
or extreme east.
An enviable record truly, but isn't it comparable to the way
in which an im~provident man usually spends his money.
A great deal of the expense incurred for the support of Mon
tana schools may justly be laid at the door of the state department.
In flush times their demands for Increased facilities, adequate
buildings, higher qualifications of teachers, higher salaries for
teachers, less periods of teaching transportation, adequate super
vision; new text books, etc, etc. would have met the approval of
the rural population but in times like these, when most ranches
have been rn at a terrific loss for a five year period, to more than
double the school taxes of the people shows bad leadership, an ina
bnity to conform private ambition to the exigencies of the people
The full strength of the state department is behind the county
unit and to show how it works let us cite you to one day in the
last legislature when an administration school measure was before
the house. Most of the legislators disapproved the bill but they
had been showered with kilograms from teachers and school people
of their home towns and were afraid to oppose it, but one repre-
sentative arose and explained that when an administration meas
ure was to come before the house, orders were issued for the
school people to send in these kilograms. This representative
showed that the seeming popular approval of the measure was not
the voice of their constituencies but only the inspired demand of
a transient nontax- paying portion of the population for the enact
ment of these measures. After this explanation the bill was
slaughtered.
The voice of the nontax-payer should have no weight with
the voter at this election. The persuasive eloquence of those sent
to address you should not blind your eyes to the fact that county
unit as at present it exists, is nothing more than another method
of exploiting the farmer for the benefit of a few favored commun-
tiles. If you care to confen the absolute control of your schools
upon the county seat, vote for it. If you want to run the chance
of having your school closed and your children sent to Cascade.
Fort Shaw. Belt or Great Falls for their education, give it your
approval at the polls.
This system has a tendency to make a goodly portion of the
people dependent. With no effort expended on their part, no sac
rifces made, they have learned to expect schools, free Transports
ton, free text books, until they have lost all pride in the schools
and look upon them solely in the light of a graft.
AS a lady expressed it recently in our hearing, "They seem to
want us to pay them for sending their children to school!vl
Such was not the case under the old system where to have a
school in many communities meant work, pecuniary sacrifice and
hardship, but In those schools were raised the strong men or today
From those schools at least twice has come the pupil with the high
est average in the eighth grade examinations in the county. The
people had their own peculiar problems and they found a way to
meet them. They made a strong, self-reliant student body. The
poor teachers they had at times were the fault of our certifcation
system and not the fault of the trustees. When pupils came in to
the high school they were not babies nor mammals darlings. They
were mature enough to know what they were in school for. The
old system had its Disadvantages just as the unit system has,
but because of it's possession of something like freedom CT action,
in government and a motive for economy as well as eff
ficiency, we favor the former.
Vofn Of ~ cns,ntv mi and n h laura ona aor arnard /
ed SO that a real county unit is possible, vote it in again. Just so
long As the voters stand for this class legislation, just so long will
they be at the mercy of the school people who have only a single
track mind. who can see only one thing, Montana schools equipped