The Wrangell sentinel., 1930-04-10
To Vote or Not to Vote
(Contributedl

SCENE: on Wrangell streets soon after an arrival of a boat from the south.
 Well, Olaf. I am certainly glad to see you. It is a sight that cures sore eyes just to look at you again. By the way. tell us about your trip. I hear that you have been all over the country" ''I have been in many places since I have been away" an- swered Olaf. When l received my citizenship papers. I was a proud man and I was anxious to know more about what is now my coun- try. I was in many cities and in a large number of country towns, and many the size of old Wrangell. l landed, you remember, on the Brit ish side, and this was really the first chance that ever had to get a glimpse of my country. It was great. liked the small towns, those about the size of Wrangell. By the way. what is this see? I notice a large number of the people wearing pins with the slogan, WE WANT A NEW SCHOOL HOUSE. What does this all mean?"
 Well, the town is going to decide whether they shall issue bonds to get the money to build a new school house." answered Jim.
 Then Olaf continued, But I do not see you wearing one of those pins. What is the matter?"
 The answer was. My mind is not clear in regard to the matter. They have a good enough school house now, as I see it, and do not see the sense of building another" 1"
 What reason do they give for wanting the new school house?" questioned Olaf
 The response was, "0h, they say that the lighting system is bad, and that there is too much cross light ing, and about everything under the sun is the matter. I do not see the sense of such talk None of the buildings are over 25 years old. ex- cept the Presbyterian church, where they have high school now, and one of the buildings, where they have the seventh and eighth grades. isn't over five or six years old. It is nice looking building, even if it is maybe a little small and kind of inconve- nient. But they talk so much about cross lighting. I do not see the sense of such kind of talk"
 Well" said Olaf, when l was going through small towns, I saw in every town, no matter how small it was, building that had glass all over one side of it. At first l said nothing, but I could not hold back my curiosity longer, and asked what kind of buildings those were. The bus driver looked at me as if I were specially green and exclaimed, Why, school houses of course,' and then he explained about the evils of cross lighting. quickly under stood, for I remembered how my eyes felt when was boy going to school. It kept me behind and fi- nally I became discouraged and left school, and it made me feel more discouraged thinking was one of those fellows that had a weak brain and a strong back. Now I see what the trouble was. Say, Jim, people have learned lot since you and l were boys 50 years ago." But, OIaf," inquired Jim, what about the increase in taxes? I do not feel that I can possibly pay any higher tax than I am paying now. I worked hard for my little place and would hate to see it sold for taxes"
 Well" said Olaf, when I left here, the town had about s15, 1000 worth of bills more than they had ready money. Have they paid those bills yet?"
 "Yes." said Jim. '"Three years ago after the town had voted against bonds in the first election for a new school house because many thought bond issue would raise taxes, the council ordered the valuation of the property increased so that our taxes have been about a fourth or more higher ever since. People had been saying for long time that our tax valuation was too low and that we ought to make it higher. don't like to pay taxes. but guess it is better to have a little higher tax rate. Il guess, after all, it hasn't hurt any one to pay the higher taxes for the past three years Anyway, the town