USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wakefield > Town annual report of the officers of Wakefield Massachusetts : including the vital statistics for the year 1882-1886 > Part 41
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Respectfully submitted,
J. H. CARTER, Chief,
J. N. RYDER, ROGER HOWARD, Sec.
Engineers.
.
149
REPORT
. OF THE
APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE.
The Committee on Appropriations, chosen at the last an- nual meeting, after due consideration of the various matters brought before them, would respectfully recommend the fol- lowing appropriations for the next financial year :
For Payment of Town Debt, $5,000 00
Interest on Town Debt,
3,200 00
Support of Schools, .
15,000 00 .
School Contingent Fund, .
1,300 00
School Text Books and Supplies, 1,200 00
Poor Department, the income from farm and 5,000 00
Fire Department,
2,000 00
Street Lamps,
1,400 00
Town House Expenses,
1,700 00
Highways and Bridges,
5,000 00
Concrete sidewalks,
500 00
Concrete crossings and gutters,
500 00
Salaries of Town Officers, 2,875 00
Miscellaneous expenses, ·
3,000 00
Beebe Town Library, the dog-tax and 300 00
Support of Reading Room,
175 00
Total,
. $48,150 00
150
The appropriation for salaries of Town Officers is made upon the following basis of division, which we also recom- mend :
For Town Treasurer,
$200 00
Town Clerk,
100 00
Board of Selectmen,
400 00
66
" Assessors,
400 00
66
" Overseers of the Poor,
250 00
" School Committee,
250 00
66 " Auditors,
100 00
" Road Commissioners,
200 00
" Registrars,
100 00
" Fire Engineers,
75 00
" Health,
50 00
Tax Collector,
400 00
Constables and Police,
350 00
Total,
$2,875 00
We further recommend that the compensation of Engine- men for the ensuing year, be fixed at fifteen dollars and a poll-tax, or its equivalent.
The recommendation for Concrete sidewalks, is made with the usual provision, that it shall be expended where abutters will bear one-half of the expense of the same.
The increase in the appropriation for Town Expenses and the decrease in the Reading Room appropriation, is recom- mended, with the feeling on the part of the Committee, that the Janitor's service for the Reading Room, should be charged to the first named appropriation, the same as for other parts of the building.
Messrs. Thomas Winship, James Oliver. Thomas Hickey, and John J. Pratt, members of the Committee, not having been present at either of the meetings of the Committee, do not join in this report.
66
151
Messrs Richardson and Skinner dissent from the report so far as relates to the appropriation for the Support of Schools, feeling that the retrenchment proposed cannot be made with- out detriment to the schools.
Respectfully submitted,
WM. F. YOUNG, JAMES F. EMERSON, S. O. RICHARDSON, WM. K. PERKINS, ALSTEAD W. BROWNELL, EVERETT HART, WM. G. STRONG, JAMES H. CARTER, JOSHUA PERHAM,
THOMAS J. SKINNER, Sec'y.
,
REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
1
20
1
155
REPORT.
To the People of Wakefield :
Municipal Government is a science which affords opportu- nity for research and thought. It embraces many subjects and frequently involves the solution of abstruse questions of policy, finance and law. The laying out, construction and keeping in repair of highways calls for the exercise of the skill of the engineer, as well as the muscle of the laborer. The extinguishment of fires requires a practical knowledge of the elements of fire and water in opposition, as well as skill in the use of power and machinery, and a good judgment in the application of one element to the extinguishment of the other. In the care of the poor, whom we have always with us, there must be added to good business judgment and a knowledge of many intricate questions of law, a heart which is touched by the misfortunes of humanity, and throbs with a quicker pulsation in response to the call of want.
To promote the cause of education, the most important, as well as the most expensive duty of municipal officers, re- quires, besides a knowledge of books, some business capacity,
.
156
some acquaintance with the human mind, some knowledge of the laws which govern its development, some skill in the practical enforcement of these laws, some knowledge of ed- ucational methods and machinery, and a definite understand- ing of the purposes for which schools are established. These are departments of a Municipal Government, which in turn is but a part of a great scheme of government, established in order to furnish those who compose it with the power of en- joyment, in safety and tranquillity, of their natural rights and the blessings of life.
In theory and in law, all are equal, and enjoy in equal de- gree the right to protect their lives and liberties, acquire and possess property, seek and obtain happiness. In order to se- cure and protect this right, individuals have voluntarily as- sociated together and entered into a compact, agreeing that all shall be governed by the same laws for the common good. This compact recognizes the common good as superior to the individual or personal right, and no public official can prop- erly discharge his duty who forgets that he holds his place by virtue of a compact, that bids him first inquire "what is for the common weal." This compact recognizes also that this common weal must be supported at a common cost and that while the acquisition, possession and protection of prop- erty is one of the natural rights of man, the distribution of such parts of it as are necessary for the common good, by legitimate methods, is a superior duty. Hence it is as much the duty of every official in every department of municipal government, to inquire how shall money be expended for the public welfare and the happiness of the community which he represents, as it is to see that no dollar is squandered for im- proper purposes or in an improper manner. Private citizens as well as public officials, should recognize this duty, but ob- servation and experience teach us that those men upon whom no responsibility rests and who have no hope of individual profit to themselves, frequently promulgate the doctrine of necessity as the guage of public expenditure.
/
157
The public good should be the test and touchstone of pri- vate as well as official action. It is in the determination of what is for the public good, that many of the most perplex- ing questions arise in the experience of every public official, and unless anchored in his own convictions, he is liable to be ship-wrecked by the false reasoning of the ignorant or the misstatements of the crafty and designing. In this deter- mination criticism may be of valuable assistance, but it must be honest criticism, born of a sincere purpose to aid such a determination, and expressed in a friendly spirit to those whose judgment it is desired to assist. Public criticism, es- pecially the carping kind, ordinarily fails to accomplish the purpose intended, and usually recoils upon the head of the critic.
Some officials and many individuals, seem to think that the over-shadowing duty of a public officer is to inquire "how little money is it possible to get along with," "how here and there can a cent be saved" and to expend that only which law or physical necessity imperatively· demands.
In the discharge of our official duties as School Committee we have not recognized the latter as the principle by which we should be guided, but have recognized our public school system as a department of our municipal government, to be conducted upon the same underlying principles as any other department, and to be governed practically by the same rules, not that we have attempted to disregard the necessity for economy, for we recognize it, but with an honest endeav- or we have tried to avoid both parsimony and extravagance, and to make such expenditures as were really for the public good.
We are led to these statements by the determined, syste- matic and unwarranted attack made during the last year upon the expenditures for public schools, and which we should have passed by without comment, had we consulted our own con- venience or comfort, but of which we are bound to take some
158
notice for the sake of the schools, and the children who at- tend them.
This discussion took public form by the insertion in the Town Warrant for the Annual Meeting in 1885 of the fol- lowing article :
Art. 48. To see if the town will choose a Committee to investigate the subject matter of school expenses in all de- partments, and the cause of the disproportionate ratio of in- crease in the expense per scholar, with a view to the inquiry as to what changes can be made, so as to render the increase of expense, proportionate to the increased number of school pupils, and check this tendency to ever increasing expendit- ure in excess of the legitimate demand caused by the increase in number, and report the result of their investigation to the town, or what action it will take in regard to the matter.
This Article was an implied, if not an expressed reflection upon the School Committee. When the article came up for action, the Chairman of the School Committee made the fol- owing motion :
"That the town appoint a Committee of which Mr. James F. Emerson shall be chairman, to investigate the subject matter of Article 48, and report to the town, and that said Committee have authority to employ an expert accountant if necessary."
This motion was carried, and Mr. James F. Emerson, the author of the article in the warrant, and two other well- known gentlemen, were appointed to make such investiga- tion. At the next meeting of the School Committee, this Investigating Committee was tendered the use of the records of the School Committee and of all information in their pos- session to aid them in their labors. In pursuance of that offer several pleasant and interesting-and we trust profita- ble -- interviews with the Investigating Committee were held, and we gave them such aid as we could in the prosecution of
159
their work. As a Committee we felt as deep an interest in the fair prosecution of their work, and as desirous that the investigation should be thorough and complete as did any citizen of the town ; and as individuals we felt that we had a right to have the most minute and searching investigation possible.
The result of that investigation has been spread before the town, and it affords material for thought, examination and discussion. To some of the conclusions we readily assent, to some, as Committee, we neither assent nor dissent, but should obey the expressed will of the town without comment, to others we should, both as Committee and citizens dissent most emphatically. We do not propose to review and dis- cuss them at length, but only to make a suggestion as to one or two matters which the Investigating Committee say would not have been tolerated or permitted twenty years ago. One an item of three dollars for measuring concrete, and another item of six dollars for writing diplomas. Without attempt- ing to avoid the point, it may well be said that an expense for measuring concrete would not have been tolerated at that time since there was no concrete to measure, and it is but twenty-three years since the first diploma was issued ; but it should be borne in mind that the contractor had some voice and was somewhat interested in the accurate measurement of this work, and would not be likely to accept the measure- ment of any one who was not independent and qualified by law to do that work; and it should also be borne in mind that the School Committee have no authority to require a pupil to write the diplomas, and, if they had, the propriety of enforcing it would be extremely doubtful. Such items as these are unworthy of the dignity of the subject.
Out of an expenditure of nearly a quarter of a million of dollars covering a period of twenty-one years the Investigat- ing Committee were able to find two items only, amounting to"nine dollars, which in their judgment were extravagant and unwarranted. Such a finding is conclusive evidence
-
160
of the integrity, economy and good judgment of the twenty- one boards of School Committee by whom that money has been expended, and should be sufficient to consign the critic of school expenses to "innocuous desuetude."
Two suggestions are made which it is argued would dimin- ish the expenses of schools. First-A change of the time of promotion from summer to spring, so that the Primary schools would escape the effects of the influx which usually comes with the opening of the spring. This matter has been inquired into many times by the Committee, and the conclu- sion always arrived at has been that it would not decrease the expenditures, but very likely would increase them. The same number of scholars would be in the schools and have to be provided for somewhere, and the result would be that some school or schools, of a grade higher than the primary, would be overflowing, and at a correspondingly greater ex- pense. No person of experience would adopt the suggestion as an economical measure, whatever else may be said in its favor. It will be recollected, however, that promotions in the spring were, until within a comparatively few years, in vogue in this town, and the change was made for what seemed good and sufficient reasons, and so far as the know- ledge of the present Committee extends, there has been no call by the people for a return to the old practice.
Second-The most radical suggestion made by the Com- mittee of Investigation was that the number of weeks in the school year be reduced from forty to thirty-six. The Stat- utes of the Commonwealth require that the High School . shall be kept ten months in a year, but as to the other schools the town may regulate the number of months, above six, during which they shall be kept.
This suggestion is made in the interest of economy, and, if carried out, would result in the saving of a very few dol- lars. Of course the additional vacation would be in the summer months, and no saving would be made in fuel. The janitors would have one month's less care of the school
161
houses, and in that way a few dollars would be saved. The teachers would require just the same pay for thirty -six weeks teaching as for forty. They must live and bear their ex- penses during the fifty-two weeks of each year, and their expenses would be the same whether they taught or not. The opportunities for making additions to their income by other employment during vacations are by no means fre- quent, and even if they were at their very door, they would come back to the schools tired in body. jaded in spirit, and with their minds distracted from school and school work. If the town or the Committee saw fit to reduce the number of weeks in the school year by four and the teachers' salaries correspondingly, the practical result would be that our
teachers would leave us and go to a town where that kind of parsimony does not prevail, which they could all easily do in a very short time. Their number could be easily supplied but the quality would be wanting. If the town really desires the effect it is the duty of the Committee to heed that desire.
But the gravamen of the report and of the criticism in the public prints, is that the expenses of our public schools are unnecessarily increased, and that the Committee is extrava- gant ; and to establish this position the Investigating Com- · mittee has appended to its report a statistical table, which " we take the liberty to copy, because we want the exact facts set before the town, and because in connection with other well known facts, and the expenditures in other departments of the town's affairs, it contains a complete vindication of the School Committee from the charge of extravagance which is so insidiously made.
21
1
.
162
TABULATED SCHOOL STATISTICS.
Year.
No. Schools.
No. Teachers.
Average Whole No.
Total Expense, not
Including Cost of
Land or
Buildings.
Cost per Scholar
for Teacher.
Cost, per Scholar,
for fuel.
Cost per Scholar
for Janitor.
Cost per Scholar, for
Contingencies.
Total Cost per Schol- ar, Exclusive of
Land & Buildings.
1864
I2
14
525
$4,848 33
$7 09
$1 06
$ 48
$ 60 $ 9 23
1865
I2
I3
562
5,067 24
7 06
67
42
86
9 0I
1866
13
14
590
7,041 17
33
96
50
2 14
II 93
1867
13
14
650
8,951 70
8 47
68
46
4 16
13 77
1868
13
14
722
8,277 30
8 10
76
40
2 20
II 46
1869
14
I5
572
9,479 27
IO 75
I
09
57
16
16 57
1870
14
15
614
8,564 78
IO 29
85
57
2 24
13 95
1871
14
15
664
9,532 65
I0 48
73
66
2 49
14 36
1872
16
18
646
17,349 18
13 65
I
27
I 06
IO 88
26 86
1873
16
18
837
14,830 09
11 65
I 37
82
3 88
17 72
1874
17
18
890
16,453 53
13 52
I
33
96
2 67
18
1875
17
18
865
13,460 30
12 08
I
09
91
I 48
15 56
1876
18
19
916
13,567 61
II 86
98
85
1 12
14 81
1877
18
20
866
12,220 OI
II 33
89
86
I 04
14 12
1878
18
21
836
13,116 39
12 50
76
92
I 50
15 68
1879
I7
21
807
11,507 95
II IO
92
86
I 38
14 26
1880
19
21
931
13,070 33
IO 51
93
75
I 85
14 04.
1881
18
21
869
12,863 44
12 04
I OI
82
98
15 85
1882
18
25
924
15,132 32
12 53
93
75
2 16
16 37
1883
23
25
IOIO
19,148 32
13 44
I 07
81
3 63
18 95
1884
24
26
1008
18,031 92
13 72
1 05
I 02
2 09
17 88
Scholars.
For a fair consideration and discussion of the question at issue the table reveals certain instructive facts. In 1864 the cost per scholar for teachers was seven dollars and nine cents ($7.09), in 1872 thirteen dollars and sixty-five cents ($13.65), in 1874 thirteen dollars and fifty-two cents ($13.52), in 1884 thirteen dollars and seventy-two cents ($13.72). In 1884 the cost per scholar for janitors' services was forty-eight cents ($.48), in 1872 one dollar and six cents ($1.06), in 1874 ninety-six cents ($.96), in 1884 one dollar and two cents ($1.02). In 1864 the cost per scholar for fuel was one dollar and six cents ($1.06), in 1872 one dollar and twenty-seven cents ($1.27), in 1874 one dollar
163
and thirty-three cents ($1.33), in 1884 one dollar and five cents ($1.05). In 1864 the cost per scholar for contingent expenses was sixty cents ($.60), in 1872 ten dollars and eighty-eight eents ($10.88), in 1874 two dollars and sixty- seven cents ($2.67), and in 1884 two dollars and nine cents ($2.09).
The term "school contingent" is a misleading one and should be called incidental or miscellaneous. It includes the repairs of buildings, the care of yards, the supply of furniture and apparatus, and in short the many things for which it is impossible to make specific appropriations. The increase in that expenditure from 1864 to 1884 was one dol- lar and forty-nine cents ($1.49) per scholar. It will be seen, by a reference to the table, that in 1866 the cost per scholar was two dollars and fourteen cents ($2.14), in 1867 four dollars and sixteen cents ($4.16), in 1872 ten dollars and eighty-eight cents ($10.88), in 1873 three dollars and eighty-eight cents ($3.88), in 1883 three dollars and sixty- three cents ($3.63) and in 1884 two dollars and nine cents ($2.09). It will, be observed that the average cost per scholar per year for contingent expenses during the first eleven years named in the table is three dollars twenty-nine cents and eight mills ($3.29,8), while the average cost per scholar per year for the last eleven years named in the table is one dollar and ninety cents ($1.90), a decrease of one dollar thirty-nine cents and eight mills ($1.39,8) per scholar per year, which certainly does not look like "a tendency to ever-increasing expenditure in excess of the legitimate de- mand caused by the increase in number."
The cost per scholar per year for fuel during the first elev- en years named in the table, was ninety-eight (98) cents, the same for the last eleven years was ninety-nine cents and six mills ($.99,6), but if we make comparison from 1872, to 1884 inclusive, we shall find that the cost for fuel during the first seven of these years, was one dollar nine cents and eight mills per scholar, while for the last seven of these years, it
164
was ninety-five cents and three mills, a difference of fourteen and one-half cents per year, per scholar; and it will also be observed, that the cost for the year 1884, is one cent less than in 1864.
The expenses for janitor per scholar per year for the first named eleven years, was sixty-two cents and seven mills ($.627) and for the last named eleven years, eighty-six cents and five mills ($.865). This expense cannot be so fairly es -. timated by the scholar as either of the other items inasmuch as the work is in the care of the property of the town, and the cost must be proportioned very much to the number of the rooms, their size, style, value and the manual work to be done. During the period covered by the table, four new buildings were erected by the town; the Franklin Street School House in 1871 ; the High School and Woodville build- ings, in 1871 and 1872, and the Hamilton Building in 1883 and 1884, which more than quadrupled the value of the school houses in the town. If we examine the table from 1872, when the High School and the Woodville Buildings were first used, to and including. the year 1884, we shall find that the average cost per scholar, per year, for janitors' services for the first seven years of that period was ninety-one cents and one mill ($.91,1) and for the last seven years, eighty-four cents and seven mills ($.84,7). The above table also shows the cost per scholar for teachers during the same period, and an examination of it, shows that for the first eleven. years, the average cost per scholar, per year, was nine dollars and ninety-four cents ($9.94), while for the last elev- en years of the same period it was twelve dollars and twenty- four cents ($12.24), an increase of two-dollars and thirty cents ($2.30). If we compare the cost from 1872, when the town took a new departure in educational matters, to and including the year 1884, we shall find that the cost per schol- ar, per year, for teachers during the first seven of these years, was twelve dollars and thirty-seven cents ($12.37), and for the last seven years, twelve dollars and twenty-six
165
cents ($12.26). Thus it is show nfrom the table furnished us by the Investigating Committee, that if an examination is made of the School Expenses from 1872 to 1884, inclusive, it will not only reveal the fact that the average total expense per scholar, per year, for the last seven of these years, has been less than during the first seven of the same years, but it will also show that the average expense per scholar, per year, has been less in each department. Surely in the light of these figures, no fair minded citizen can fail to regard Article 48 of the Town Warrant of 1885, as anything but a piece of as- sumption based upon an ignorance of the facts, and the report as an effort to sustain that assumption.
It is apparent from the same table that the bulk of the in- crease in the cost of schools from 1864 to 1884, is in the salaries paid to teachers, the total cost per scholar in 1884, was nine dollars and twenty-three cents ($9.23), in 1864 seventeen dollars and eighty-eight cents ($17.88). The cost for teachers in 1864, was seven dollars and nine cents ($7.09), in 1884, thirteen dollars and seventy-two cents ($13.72), an increase in the total cost of school per scholar, of eight dollars and sixty-five cents ($8.65), and an increase for teachers of six dollars and sixty-three cents (6.63), al- though the increase since 1872 has been but seven cents per scholar, while in all the intervening years, it has been less than in either of those years, by from twenty-one (21) cents to three dollars and fourteen cents ($3.14). After this anal- ysis the practical question is, are the salaries of our teachers too high? Tested by their market value they are not, be- cause they are being constantly called to other places at in- creased compensation. Tested by a comparison with the salaries paid in towns immediately about us, and with which we have been accustomed to institute comparison, they are not, as shown by the following table :
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166
TOWNS.
Average wages of Male Teach-
ers per month in 1884.
Average w ages of Female
Teachers per month in 1884.
Amt. raised per scholar in 1884,
between the ages 5 and 15 yrs.
Per ct. of the valuation raised
per scholar in mills and hun -
Rank in amt. appropriated for
each scholar between 5 and
15 yrs. iniMdx. Co., 54 cities)
and towns.
Cost of Supervision.
Wakefield,
$101 25
$42 25
$12 878
004.57
31
$ 250 00
Reading,
126 32
37 00
14 014
003.42
18
290 00
Stoneham,
170 00
42 67
15 931
004.58
13
400 00
Melrose,
160 00
50 20
13 693
003.47
22
450 00
Malden,
170 00
52 24
13 767
003.30
21
2125 00
Woburn,
107 00
40
13 829
004.23
20
1620 00
No. Reading,
51 33
28 29
15 288
004.01
15
104 75
Waltham,
116 84
54 34
18 651
004.01
S
2000 00
Winchester,
175 00
45 58
19 928
003.62
6
650 00
Watertown,
140 00
47 76
17 045
002.48
10
770 00
Arlington,
177 67
48 75
21 39
004.11
3
Un-
known.
dredth of mills.
Tested by a comparison with the salaries in the towns and cities of Middlesex County, they are not, as shown by the same table,-our town standing number thirty-one in the fifty-four towns and cities in the County. The average amount of money including voluntary contributions appro- priated by the towns and cities of Middlesex County in 1884 for the education of each child between the ages of five and fifteen years, was fourteen dollars and sixty-five cents and seven mills ($14.657), one dollar seventy-seven cents and nine mills ($1.779) more than is appropriated by the town of Wakefield ; the average amount raised in the Common- wealth for the same purpose, is thirteen dollars and eighty- seven cents and two mills ($13.872), or ninety-nine cents and four mills ($.994) more per scholar than is raised in our town. Tested by a comparison with the wages paid to `young ladies who go from this town to Boston daily to act as Cashiers, Book-keepers, Type-writers and Clerks, we think they are not. In order to ascertain this fact, we asked five .
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