USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 15
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Great as is the credit that belongs to the Missouri farmer, it must be remembered that he owes most of his profits to his dumb servants, the horses, mules, cattle and poultry. The value of farm animals for the state was $285,839,108, an increase of 78 per cent over the value ten years before. Strangest of the figures is the decrease in the value of Missouri cattle, despite the increase in the price of meat. The figures furnish an alibi when Missouri farmers are accused of getting the extra price the consumer pays for steak in these days. Although census reports give no reason for the decline in the value of Missouri cattle,
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the figures support the claims of the farmers that they are raising beef on an unaccountable narrow margin, their profits being kept down by the packers. The value of Missouri cattle was $72,883,664, a decrease of 3.7 per cent in ten years. Of this number the value of the dairy cattle was $30,620,097.
Horses represent a larger percentage of the wealth of Missouri than is usually thought. Says the report :
"The value of horses and colts is more than one and one-half times that of the cattle, and the two together represent about 65 per cent of the value of all the live stock, while mules and mule colts represent 15.2 per cent, swine 11.2 per cent, and poultry 4.2 per cent.
The number of turkeys, geese and ducks decreased during the past ten years, but this was more than offset by the increase in the number and value of the chickens. The estimated value of all poultry was $11,871,000, or an increase of 107.5 per cent.
About three farms in every twenty report bees. The number of colonies of bees decreased slightly, but their value increased from $508,217 to $584,549, or 15 per cent. There are only 277,244 farm owners in Missouri, holders and producers of all this wealth. Of these, 259,111 are native white and 14,467 are foreign born. Whites mostly own the farms they work, for only 12.7 per cent of them are tenants.
Great as was the increase in the value of farm products, there was a corresponding increase in the cost of producing them. Farm labor cost $18,644,695 in the year of 1909, or an increase of 90.2 per cent over the amount expended in 1899. The cost of feed was $17,148,- 008, which was probably larger than in 1899, although the figures for that year were not reported. Fertilizer cost $671,073, which was an increase of 81.1 per cent. Only 6.6 per cent of Missouri farms use fertilizer, and the average expenditure for that purpose is only $36.40 per farm.
The census report indicates a tendency towards larger and better cultivated farms in Missouri. The average farm increased from 119.3 acres to 124.8 acres. There was a decrease of 2.7 per cent in the number of farms and an increase of 1.7 in the area of farm land.
Very satisfactory is the showing regarding tenant farmers. Thirty out of every hundred farms in Missouri are operated by tenants, but there has been no appreciable increase in the number of tenants during the decade. About two-thirds of the tenant farms are rented on a sharing basis and the remainder are rented for cash.
A majority of Missouri farmers do their own work. Less than half of them hire any labor, although the total expenditure for farm
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labor increased $18,644,695, an increase of 90.2 per cent. About one- fifth of this amount is allowed for rent and board.
That portion of the report which deals with mortgaged farms shows that the number of mortgages has increased from 80,662 in 1899 to 88,486 in 1910. This condition is generally taken as an indication of prosperity, showing that the farmers have borrowed money to put into their business. The report shows that the amount of the mortgage debt of Missouri farms is $112,465,403, secured by lands and buildings valued at $398,476,000.
Taken altogether, the figures indicate that, despite the movement of population from the country to the city, the farmer continues to prosper. Those who move to town sell their land to neighbors, so that there has been an increase of the size of farms, yet the farmers continue to work their own lands in the majority of cases. The decrease in the acreage of corn and wheat is due to the tendency toward a more diversi- fied system of farming. Cattle feeding for beef production seems to have fallen off slightly, but the number and value of other domestic animals kept, such as horses, mules, swine, poultry and bees, has increased.
CHAPTER XII
Educational-The Civil War Depression-Peace Brings Advancement -Better Provisions for Schools-State Normals and Colleges- The Boy and Farm Life-New Methods of Rural Schools-Early Missouri School History-Origin of Public School System in 1839 -Law as Applied to Schools-Boards and Their Powers-Tax- ation -- Length of Terms-School Funds and Appropriations-First Appropriation for Linn County-School Statistics of the County- Review of Some of the Town and City Schools-County Spelling Match at Laclede-"Jack" Rummell the Champion Speller-Wins Two Good Suits of Clothes-Ruth Benson Second.
The development of Education in Missouri is as gratifying as the high standard the state lias reached in commerce and industry. Not that the extension has been steady and uninterrupted, because there were dark periods when it seemed no advancement whatever was being made. But these were obstacles which were surmounted by the deter- mination of the people, and for every season of depression there was a corresponding era of growth that more than made up for the period of inactivity.
The Civil War decade was disheartening to the friends of education and material development. But an even greater issue was at stake, and patriotic men laid all else aside until the political controversy was settled. Hard upon the war came slanders on the state because of the depredations of certain rough riders who had evolved from guerrillas into bandits. Whatever these bold raiders did was enlarged upon by people of other states, and Missouri acquired an unenviable and unde- served notoriety. It was because of this unfair reputation that the people determined to show to the world that they were in no sympathy with the outlaws, and that the best answer they could make to the slanders was by the encouragement of education.
Provisions were made for state normals, colleges were endowed and every educational enterprise of merit was aided. A better and more comfortable class of schools sprang up in every district, village and town. The wages of school teachers were increased. Laws were
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enacted providing for adequate terms. Practical courses of study were introduced and ancient methods discarded. Agricultural methods are being taught in many of the schools. Prizes are awarded to boys who will produce the finest specimens of corn. Boys and girls are taught the beauties of rural life and its great advantages over the congested city. Not only are such subjects stimulated among school children, but the whole population of the district is interested. With this increased interest progress followed as a matter of course.
There never was a time when so much enthusiasm was shown in the erection and maintenance of good school facilities. In the country districts the old log cabin has long since given place to the model rural school building, and in the towns are large and handsome brick struc- tures with every modern convenience.
The agitation for good country highways is largely inspired by the earnest desire of patrons for their children to be able to reach school conveniently in any sort of weather.
The sort of education now imparted to the pupils of the rural schools is calculated to make the graduates satisfied with rural conditions.
"The boy who becomes imbued with the spirit of the country; whose eyes are opened to the possibilities of the farmer, and whose brain is trained to take advantage of these opportunities-that boy will never leave the farm for an uncertain existence in the city," writes Rex Beresford in The Prairie Farmer. "His training in agriculture and in the appreciation of things natural will increase many fold his value to himself, his neighbor and to society."
That is the idea being carried out under the rural school system of Missouri today and the results have been gratifying. Boys and girls have been encouraged to show what they can do in the lines that are now being followed by the grown-ups. In many schools horticulture and landscape gardening are taught, and the children are given prac- tical lessons in the adornment of their own school yards. They are shown how a rough, unsightly farm, cultivated in a hap-hazard way, may be so handled as to become an attractive feature of the landscape. The character of crops, their cultivation and the development of growths new to the section are matters of study and discussion in many of the high schools. In short, the student is taught to see with clearer vision the advantages of his surroundings. He learns that to the true hus- bandman farm life is not a never-ending round of toil and drudgery, but that it may be made beautiful and happy, and that the real farmer has it in his power to become one of the most independent of men.
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The compiler of this history is indebted to Claude A. Phelps for the following brief sketch of "Early Education in Missouri":
The first school in the state was taught in the city of St. Louis by J. B. Tribeau, in 1774. This schoolroom was used about forty years, and it seems that during nearly all that time Mr. Tribeau was the teacher.
The first legislation concerning schools was enacted in 1808 by the "territorial legislature of Louisiana, June 21, when the legislature, sitting at New Orleans, passed an act incorporating St. Genevieve Academy. This was the first legally organized school in the territory which is now Missouri.
The principal provisions of the act were that the poor and Indian children should be taught free; that theology should not be taught, and that elements of the French and English language should be taught at all times. No provisions of any kind were made for raising money by taxation, the school having to depend on the donations and tuition for its support.
An Act of 1812, passed by the congress of the United States, which created Missouri into a special territory, said: "Schools and the means of education shall be encouraged and provided for from the public lands of the United States within the territory, as Congress may direct." For eight years Missouri remained the separate territory under the direction of congress.
In 1820, when congress framed the act authorizing the formation of a constitution for Missouri, it was declared that "schools should be forever encouraged in the new state," and that "the legislature shall take steps to preserve from waste or damage all lands as have been or shall hereafter be granted for the use of schools." The act further provided that one or more schools should be established in each con- gressional township as soon as necessary, and that the children of the poor should be taught free.
The same act of congress which admitted Missouri into the Union also set apart every sixteenth section of land throughout the state, together with seventy-two sections of Saline lands, for school purposes. This made a grand total of 1,254,200 acres of land, which laid the basis for the formation of Missouri's school funds. The land had to be sold and the proceeds invested before any available income could be acquired for the use of schools.
During the period from 1820 to 1833 there had been established about fifty schools, somewhat similar to those that were in operation in St. Louis, but no real system of free schools had yet made its appear-
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ance. The schools which had been established had to depend wholly upon private endowment and private support in the form of donations, fees and tuition, and consequently the development was very slow. It may be said that the Missouri school system really had its origin in the legislature enactment of 1839. At this time the common school fund, the county school fund and the township school fund were constituted, and permission was granted again for the part of the sixteenth section. Here was instituted the permanent school funds of Missouri. By this act the office of the state superintendent of common schools was created. The law provided that he should be chosen by joint ballot of the senate and house of representatives for a term of two years. The superin- tendent was required to distribute the state's moneys among the several counties of the state where public schools were maintained. The law required that this distribution be based upon the number of white chil- dren between the ages of 6 and 18 years.
The Civil War period was a dark one for the infant system of public schools. Apportionment of public money was suspended for practically the entire period, and nearly all of the public schools were closed in 1861. The school money was diverted from its proper use and in some instances lost. School buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged. The office of state superintendent was once more suspended and the beginnings of a school system completely disor- ganized. In some localities thrifty farmers maintained schools for three or four months in the year by forming a sort of community and apportioning the expenses among themselves. In a few towns an effort was made to keep up the schools, but in a general way they were failures, so that private schools had to be established on a tuition or subscription basis.
With the termination of the war, however, and the general reor- ganization of the system, the schools of Missouri were re-established. Competent teachers were in demand and the system traveled onward and upward to its present high standing of efficiency.
In his excellent work, entitled "Civil Government," Perry S. Rader has presented some of the present school laws applicable to rural com- munities in a clear, terse form. They will be found of interest to school boards and patrons, and are as follows:
Common School Districts-Whenever there are twenty children between 6 and 20 years of age, in any locality not organized into a school district, the voters thereof are authorized to organize such a district, which may be irregular in shape and contain any number of children of school age above twenty. If the unorganized territory con-
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tains less than twenty children, it may be added to any adjoining dis- trict. New districts may also be formed by dividing those already organized. But that cannot be done unless each of the districts affected, including the one to be formed, contains as many as twenty children of school age.
In each common school district there are three directors and at least one school house and one teacher.
A rural school having six directors is classified as a consolidated school district. A district having six directors in which is a city of the fourth class or an incorporated village is classed as a town school. A district in which is a city of the first, second or third class is classified as a city school.
Annual Meeting-The law authorizes all the legal voters of a common school district to meet on the first Tuesday of April of each year, and (1) to elect by ballot one director for three years; (2) to determine the length of the school term for the next year in excess of eight months, and (3) the rate they will tax themselves in excess of 40 cents on the hundred dollars' valuation, if any, for maintaining the school; and if the district has no school house, or desires a new one, to vote (4) for the erection of such a house, and to determine (5) on what amount they will further tax themselves for such purpose; (6) to decide on changes of the boundaries of the district, and (7) to vote (once in four years) for a county school superintendent; and to transact other business.
School Boards-The school board of a common school district con- sists of three directors, each of whom holds office for three years, one being elected each year. A director must be a citizen of the United States, a resident taxpayer, a qualified voter of the district, and must have paid a state and county tax within one year next preceding his election. A director of any school must possess these qualifications.
Powers of School Board-(1) The school board is required to make rules and regulations for the government of the school. If it fails to do so, the teacher can make such rules or enforce those made for a previous teacher. (2) It is required to continue the school for eight months in each year, if a tax of 40 cents on the hundred dollars' val- uation and the district's share of the other school funds will suffice to pay the expenses of such term; if the funds in its hands will be sufficient for a longer term, it can continue the schools as many months as it may deem wise. (3) If the annual meeting has authorized the building of a school house it can issue and sell bonds of the district to obtain money for such building, and may direct a levy upon the property of the district
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to pay these bonds. (4) It is required to employ legally qualified teachers. The contract must be signed by the teacher and the president of the board and attested by the clerk. But no contract is binding unless the teacher holds a teacher's certificate, which must be in force for the full term for which the contract is made; and no teacher can be discharged when once employed till such certificate is revoked by the county superintendent. And these are the powers of school boards in all districts.
Taxation and Length of School Term-It is the policy of the law to maintain a school for at least eight months each year in each school district, and whether or not there will be a longer term often depends on the voters themselves. The taxpayers in each district are by law compelled to submit to a tax of 40 cents on each hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of all property in the district, for employing teachers and paying the incidental expenses of the school, unless a less tax rate, together with the district's share of the various public school funds, will be sufficient to maintain a school for eight months. If a less rate, together with the district's share of the public funds, will yield enough to maintain an eight months' term, the board may make the tax rate any sum it pleases less than 40 cents. The board is bound to levy a rate of 40 cents if that sum is necessary to maintain an eight months' school. And the board can levy 40 cents, without consulting the tax- payers, even though that rate would provide for a nine or ten months' term. But it cannot exceed that rate unless a majority of the tax- payers authorize it to do so, and then it must fix the rate at such sum as they direct.
This rate of 40 cents applies to all districts in the state except in those in cities having one hundred thousand inhabitants or more, where the rate is 60 cents on the hundred dollars' valuation instead of 40.
These are the rates that the boards may fix without consulting the taxpayers, but in all rural districts the rate may be increased to 65 cents on the hundred dollars' valuation by a majority of the taxpaying voters, and in all city or town districts to 100 cents. These are the tax rates for "school purposes," which mean the employment of teachers, paying janitors, buying fuel, and "incidental expenses." The money raised for school purposes can not be used for building a school house or for paying interest on a permanent debt or for any other purpose.
Taxation for School Houses-Any school district may contract a debt for school houses, furniture or building sites. And the property within the district must be taxed to pay the debt. And in addition to the tax to pay that debt, the property within the district may be further
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taxed to create a fund to build other houses. It may be taxed for one or both of these purposes just as the voters direct.
But no district can create a debt or authorize such a tax until two- thirds of the qualified voters of the district voting at an election authorize it. The vote may be taken at an annual school meeting or a special election, but in either case two-thirds of the voters voting at an election must vote "for the loan" before it can be legally charged against the district. If that is done, then thereafter the school board must annually levy such a tax as will pay the interest as it accrues, and they must also levy such a tax, not to exceed 40 cents on the hundred dollars' valuation, as will pay the debt itself within twenty years. But the debt of a district can at no time be increased if that then existing equals 5 per cent of the assessed valuation of all property within the district.
But after having created a debt equal to 5 per cent, the patrons of a school may yet want other school house room. Suppose after the district has voted a loan equal to 5 per cent and built a school house, the school house burns down without insurance; its taxpayers, of course, must be taxed to pay that loan; or suppose the voters do not wish their district to go in debt for a school house; or suppose after authorizing a loan they find that it will not build quite so good a house as they need. In any such case, a fund for building purposes may be created when two-thirds of the qualified voters of the district vote for a tax for that purpose, which cannot exceed 65 cents in rural schools, and 100 cents in city or town schools, but this tax can be voted for only one year at a time, but may be voted each succeeding year. It can be levied for no year unless two-thirds of the voters authorize its levy for that year. But the tax to pay a loan, when once authorized, must be levied by the board each year until the entire debt is paid.
Thus we see the taxes for all school purposes may be less than 40 cents on the hundred dollars, and may by the majority of the taxpayers in a city or town school be raised to 100 cents for current "school pur- poses," and by two-thirds of the voters be raised to 40 cents more to pay debts for building purposes, and in the same way may be yet raised to 100 cents more for buildings.
The Public School Fund-There is a permanent endowment of the public schools of the entire state which is by the Constitution called the "Public School Fund." It amounts to more than $3,000,000 and only the annual income therefrom can be used for the support of the schools. It had its origin in an act of congress dated June 13, 1812, the passage of which was secured largely by Thomas F. Riddick, an honored citizen
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of Missouri, who rode on horseback all the way to Washington to persuade congressmen to support the measure. That act and other subsequent acts of congress gave to Missouri certain saline and swamp lands lying within her borders, to be sold and the proceeds to be turned into the state treasury, to be invested by the state and the income to be used for public schools. To this fund have also been added certain fines and forfeitures, and unclaimed escheats. Sometimes it occurs that persons without known or ascertainable heirs die without wills, leaving estates. The proceeds of such estates are turned into the state treasury, and if not claimed within twenty years are transferred to the public school fund.
Legislative Appropriations-The Constitution provides that at least one-fourth of the ordinary state revenues shall be appropriated for the use of public schools. Since 1887 the legislature has appropri- ated one-third of the revenues to this purpose. The entire amount annually turned over to the schools from these appropriations and from the interest on the state public school fund is about $1,500,000 and is equal to over $1.80 for every child of school age in the state. This money is apportioned to the various counties by the state superintendent of public schools according to the number of teachers and according to the number of days all the children have attended school during the past year, and each county's share is by the county clerk divided up among the school districts of the county in the same proportion, and the money turned over to the county treasurer and by him paid out to teachers. By this means the state aids the whole state to have public schools, but especially counties of small taxable wealth. There are twenty-five counties in the state that get more money from this source for their schools than they pay into the state treasury for all purposes.
In 1890 the school enumeration of Missouri was 856,744, and the expenditures for that year were $5,561,056.29, or $6.52 per pupil. In 1910 the enumeration had increased to 1,005,434, and the expenditures to $13,905,188.80, or $13.86 per pupil.
The first money appropriated to building a school house in Linn county was on May 3, 1858. For this purpose $106.59 was drawn from the general expenditure fund, set apart for that object, and the money given to Mr. Harper and others to use. Previous to this appropriation most of the school houses in the county were made of logs, erected by the patrons. According to the sixty-fifth annual apportionment made by the state superintendent of public schools, July 31, 1911, Linn county had an enumeration of 7,030, and its apportionment of the school moneys was $12,750.44.
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