History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 124

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146

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A committee which had been appointed previously by Superintendent Nash and which consisted of Messrs. Lugg, Brown, Olander, Ramer, Lange and Mrs. Oliver Heron, reported at this meeting on the revision of the course of study for the rural schools. Their report was also adopted, but there was made a reservation for additional suggestions from county superintendents which could be filed by Mr. Lugg before the meeting of the state educational association in December. At the meeting of the state association the sub-committee, consisting of Messrs. Byers, Lawrence and Eddy, made their report which provided for additions to the rural school course of study. This course was divided into six grades and each grade was subdivided into nine sections, making a total of seventy-two sections below the high school.

During the years 1905 and 1906 great efforts to have religion taught in the public schools were made throughout the state by people of religious tendencies. In the end the Legislature refused to make the change. Generally the people of the state had come to the same conclusion a little earlier. Even State Super- intendent Ramer advocated religious instruction in the common schools. His course was opposed by many of the most prominent educators in the state, who insisted that such a course would be unwise and that the public schools should be strictly secular.

It was circulated throughout the country in 1906 by the editor of Who's Who in America, that one-fifth of I per cent of the men in the United States were college graduates, and yet from that small group came 30 per cent of the legis- lators, 50 per cent of the senators, 70 per cent of the supreme judges and 75 per cent of the presidents. It was therefore concluded that in round numbers there were 300 times the chance for college graduates to reach these positions than for others. The editor of Who's Who further showed that of 8,000 persons

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

whose services and achievements had placed their names among the public nota- bles and benefactors, over four million five hundred thousand adult uneducated men furnished 31 ; 35,000,000 with only a common school education furnished 808; 2,000,000 high school graduates furnished 1,345; and less than one million college bred furnished 5,768. Thus it was concluded that a college education seemed to increase a person's opportunities for larger service over the high school graduates by 1,000 per cent; and over the common school students by 24,500 per cent. It was therefore asked why a good education was not a good investment.

On June 30, 1906, there were only 7c of the permanent school fund unin- vested and idle in the treasury; the balance consisting of $3,267,489.52 was loaned in the several counties of the state. The deferred payments on school lands amounted to $1,540,097.56. This made a grand total of $4,807,587.08 drawing interest. Part was drawing 6 per cent and part 5 per cent. All loans since January 21, 1903, were made at 5 per cent in compliance with the law adopted at that time with an emergency clause. This act had caused a loss to date, due to the difference in percentage, of $22,691 in one year. It was expected that within a year or two all 6 per cent loans would be converted to 5 per cent loans. The law changing the interest from 6 to 5 per cent added greatly to the clerical expense of the department. There was much enthusiasm throughout the state concerning the rapidly growing school fund, its judicious investment, and the rapid increase in the value of school lands. There was being prepared at this time by the department a complete record of every loan made of the school fund in the state. This was made possible by an additional clerk allowed by the Legislature, who had visited each county seat and checked up the perma- nent school fund, lists of securities, number of loans, names of borrowers, description of security, date of loan and when due, abstracts of land offered as security, in order to indicate to county officials any errors or irregularities which had crept into their methods of handling the school funds. This was deemed necessary in view of the fact that the state now has nearly five million dollars thus invested in numerous counties in all parts of the state, that each handled the fund in a different manner, and that it was necessary that the methods of all should be understood. Thus the department systematized the handling of the fund; and this was what the people and the Legislature demanded. This fund was not for charitable and benevolent purposes, and therefore was handled wholly and absolutely from a safe, sane and substantial business standpoint.

For three years ending June, 1906, not $1,000 of the permanent school fund had been idle for thirty days. This desirable condition was the result of unity of action between the different county officials and the commissioner. The most important state problem was to safely handle this permanent school fund and keep it all invested. The old question of whether it was advisable to continue selling the school lands was still before the people. There were good arguments on both sides of the question. Generally the people were adverse to selling the land, because they believed it was rapidly increasing in value. Generally, also, it was thought that it would be best to sell a limited amount each year. It was not believed best for the state to discontinue entirely the selling. Many began to think now that the minimum price should be raised to $20 per acre. The com- missioner himself thought that while this view might startle some of the people

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

in the state, yet the position would stand investigation in view of the following statistics :

Periods

Acres Sold

Amount sold for

Av. per acre

1891 to 1894, inclusive.

140,765.23

$1,909,147.64

$13.56

1895 to 1898, inclusive.

17,770.00

226,779.23

12.76

1899 to 1902, inclusive.

116,265.32

1,844,438.48

15.86

1903 to 1906, inclusive.

26,867.13

721,286.90

26.85

The permanent fund of the state institutions was being slowly increased by the sale of the endowment lands. These tracts generally were situated in thinly settled districts, because when the lands were selected the state was unable to secure tracts in the older settled parts of the state. The following table shows the institutions which had a permanent fund in 1909 from the sale of endow- ment lands :

Loans

Deferred payments

Normal School

$ 3,543.24

Springfield Normal

498.91

$ 1,496.00

Agricultural College

17,801.07

41,561.02

Reform School

1,540.00

4,620.00

Educational and charitable institutions

400.00

1,380,00

Total

$23,843.22

$52,057.71

The apportionment of interest and income fund on June 15, 1906, was $325,001.96, which amounted to $2.34 for each child of school age in the state. This sum was derived from the interest on deferred payments of school lands sold, rental of school lands leased, and interest on the fund loaned out by the several counties of the state. The following table shows the amount of interest and income fund apportioned to the counties from 1890 to 1906, inclusive :

1890 to 1893, inclusive.

$ 321,284.16

1894 to 1897, inclusive. 595,143.40

1898 to 1901, inclusive. 1,073,872.90

1902 to 1906, inclusive.

1,538,890.91

During the biennial period ending in 1906 the department had continued the work of procuring the topography of the school and endowment lands of the state and had finished the work in Fall River, Pennington, Custer, Lawrence, Meade and Lyman counties, leaving some work yet to be done in Gregory, Stanley and Butte counties. When this work should be finished the office would have a complete record of the topography of every piece of land owned by the state and devoted to the interest of schools. The commissioner said that they had been kept busy looking after trespassers on school lands, and that in several counties they had found it somewhat difficult to convince some of the people that the state lands were not individual property and had been compelled to enforce the law strictly to the letter without fear or favor to anyone in a few cases. It was apparent in 1906 that a different method of leasing lands, particularly in the southern and eastern parts of the state, would have to be adopted within a few years. In some of the states the following was the rule: "Each piece of land is valued or appraised and the lessee pays as rental a certain percentage of this valuation. The commissioner was not certain that this method would prove satis-

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

factory in South Dakota. In many counties east of the Missouri River, the de- partment was getting but little above the minimum price for rental. The fees collected during the biennium amounted to $12,378.50. This was transferred directly to the state funds. Endowment lands selected during the two years were in the following counties : Campbell, Day, Edmunds, McPherson, Penning- ton, Meade, Potter, Sully, Stanley and Walworth, the total acreage being 22,- 925.61. In regard to the Taylor lands the commissioner pursued the same course as in previous years, using his best efforts to keep the town lots and lands rented and selling whenever he could do so to advantage. The Taylor lots in Water- town, Huron, Madison and Deadwood were offered for sale in 1906 at public auction. Capt. Seth Bullock offered to take charge of the disposal of the dead and fallen timber on the school sections in the Forest Reserve, and his successor offered to do the same. From this source the proceeds during this year were $471. The commissioner believed that the time had come for the Legislature to authorize him to sell all matured timber belonging to the Black Hills Forest Reserve.

During this biennial period several mineral cases came up to test the owner- ship of school lands in Lawrence, Pennington and Custer counties. The court held that it was necessary to prove only that the land was known to be mineraled before the survey. It did not seem fair to the commissioner that valuable mineral lands, the richest in the world, should be permanently lost to the school fund simply because it was mineral. Why thus discriminate against the schools? He believed that the chief reason why this land was claimed as mineral was because of the timber growing thereon. The enabling act said: "All mineral lands shall be exempt from the grants made by this act."

At this time, also, alleged homesteaders laid claim for a considerable portion of school and state lands in the western districts. The commissioner took the position that, when a squatter failed to file his homestead entry within ninety days after the filing of the plat in the United States land office where the land was situated, he lost his right. This was the law when the state was admitted to the Union, the law on the subject being as follows: "And such lands shall not be subject to homestead entry whether surveyed or unsurveyed, and shall be reserved for school purposes only." It was shown that the act of 1891 amended the enabling act as follows: "Where settlements with the view to pre- emption or homestead have been or shall hereafter be made before the survey of the lands in the field, which are found to have been made on sections 16 and 36, those sections shall be subject to the claims of such settlers." Also an amendment of April 15, 1902, held: "When claimant has failed by reason of ignorance of the proclamation of the President, or of the filing of the township plat of survey, or from unavoidable accident or conditions, or from misunderstanding of the law, to place his claim of record, said claimant may be permitted, within a period of two years from and after the passage of this act, to file his claim and receive patent." The commissioner took the ground that while Congress had the right to pass a law for the relief of any settlers on Government land, it did not have the right or power to pass a law affecting the school lands in this manner without the consent of the people of South Dakota. The secretary of the interior held that the above quotations applied to the school lands of South Dakota within the Forest Reserve. The commissioner believed the matter should be carried to the

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

highest court, in order that the rights of the state might be determined without doubt. It was true that indemnity lands for the school tracts lost in the Forest Reserve could be secured acre for acre, but the same value could not be secured. The bulk of the lands lost was worth from $20 to $50 per acre, while the state was obliged to take often as indemnity the land that sold for 50 cents per acre. The commissioner demanded a change from this injustice. The constitutional board of appraisal consisted of the state auditor, commissioner of school and public lands and superintendent of the schools of the county where the land was situated. Inasmuch as the land varied greatly in value, increasing or decreas- ing with the construction of railroads, etc., the appraisement of school lands was necessary almost annually. This necessitated visiting every piece of land at least once a year. All such matters had to be duly considered in order to reach the best results with the school lands of the state.

By 1906 the development of the common schools of South Dakota was so phenomenal that their fame had passed far beyond the limits of the state. Even in the East the care of the school fund and the character of the educational system here were noted and commended. By this time even the rural schools had begun to employ the more advanced methods of instruction and had begun to assume more pretentious and commanding appearances and results. The graded country school in many places had taken the place of the pioneer school which had been kept by almost any person. Teachers were required to report and make a complete exhibit of their work. However, notwithstanding the pro- gressive work already done, the whole system was still in more or less of a funda- mental or transitional state, with the main object still unaccomplished. No one at this time had a higher appreciation that the system needed revision than the state superintendent. There was yet little cohesion or uniformity between the lower and high schools of the state. The work of grading the rural schools so as to terminate in high schools and of grading the high schools so as to termi- nate in the university was yet a thing to be accomplished. All educators of the state looked forward with anxiety to the time when this important change should become an accomplished fact. Already nearly two million dollars was spent on the public schools annually, which fact demanded that no longer should incom- petence rule either as to teachers or methods. The superintendent urged all persons interested in education to contribute to the perfection of the system that would give equal educational rights to country and city schools. At this time the law required the state superintendent to visit as many counties as possible for the purpose of conferring with county superintendents and other educators, and further required him to attend as many county institutes as possible, in order to get in communication with the practical work of all the teachers. He reported that in 1896 "large and enthusiastic institutes have been held in all the counties, which indicates that superintendents and teachers are thoroughly alive and imbued with the spirit of this progressive age."

The Northern South Dakota Educational Association covered the counties of Brown, Campbell, Clark, Day, Faulk, Grant, Marshall, McPherson, Potter, Spink and Walworth. In 1906 it held its session at Ipswich in April. There were present superintendents, principals, teachers and parents from every county. State Superintendent Ramer was present and delivered an address that occa- sioned much comment by the newspapers. He insisted that fathers should remain

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

at home evenings, attend church regularly and thus set a better example to their children. At this time he was a strong advocate of putting an ethical course in the common schools. Never before had advanced educational methods taken such a hold on the state as at this time. In every school there was a notable awakening to the importance of education. Never before had advanced methods, particularly industrial education and manual training, taken so strong a hold upon the people. However, the farming community still remained more or less unconcerned, uninterested, untouched and inactive. They refused to be awak- ened to the alleged value of a high school or college education for a farmer. They could not see the necessity for such learning on the farm. Yet there remained only three essentials to satisfy them with the education now proposed in the consolidated schools.

The Legislature of 1907 passed a new school law based upon the recommen- dations of the revision committee of the State Educational Association. Before this date the school laws were scattered through the South Dakota Code. They were now collected and published together.

In 1907 education in South Dakota made great progress. Times were much better, crops had been good for many years, and business of all kinds was flour- ishing. Farmers, although not satisfied, already began to send their children away to high schools and colleges. In fact, farmers' children now were registered at all the higher institutions of learning throughout the state. At this time, 1907, nearly all disputes and quibbles at the state educational institutions had been permanently ended, with the result that they all assumed new life and grew rapidly. However, an investigation showed that 265 students of South Dakota, during the winter of 1907, were attending colleges and universities outside the state. As each one spent an average of about four hundred dollars per year the total thus taken away from South Dakota amounted to $106,000. This was one of the results of the bickerings that had so long ruled in the state educational institutions. Why not improve the facilities and keep the young men, women and money at the home here, it was asked.

In the spring of 1907 Dr. F. H. Gault, president of the State University, reported the institution in prosperous condition. Several new departments had been introduced, the general expenses were steadily increasing and larger appro- priations were urgently needed. The medical course had become an important feature. The law department was making steady progress. The new depart- ments demanded additional room. By March, 1907, the law college had enrolled over four hundred students. In the medical college was a course in anatomy, which included dissection. There were also courses in physiology, histology, embryology, pathology, bacteriology, materia medica and chemistry. All of these studies were either already introduced or about to be put on. The institution must have a regularly established medical college or the graduates therefrom could not expect to enter other medical schools. The plan was to educate here well enough so that the student could enter the junior year of a standard medical college.

During the past fourteen years previous to 1907 only $14.551 had been appro- priated for books for the college library. At this date the library had very few reference books, and the president now asked for $15,000 at once for an increase. He insisted that it was the duty of the Legislature, in justice to the faculty and

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

institution, to make this appropriation. As a matter of fact the faculty at this time was almost in open revolt, because the institution had no library of conse- quence. President Gault, in a dignified and becoming manner, expressed the opinion frankly to the Legislature that the meager salaries of the professors should be increased, and declared that they were not receiving as much as similar professors were paid in all similar institutions elsewhere. The institution also needed a $10,000 addition to East Hall. It was declared by the press at this time that politics or parsimony was at the bottom of the refusal of the Legisla- ture to make decent and adequate appropriations for the state educational insti- tutions.

For five years previous to 1907 the school books of the state were uniform and had been secured from a book trust under a five-year contract, the object being not only to effect uniformity, but to obviate the necessity on the part of patrons of having to purchase new books too often. "It is time for reform and the placing of educational interest upon a plain business basis, whatever may be the merits of publicly supported schools for advancing learning. * * *

The system is built up and complicated with an army of superintendents, supervisors, directors, wheels within wheels, cliques, cabals, soft snaps, school-book grafters and spongers, for all of which the public puts up a price and dares not protest, because it is done for the sacred cause of popular education, although the funda- mental proposition of the training of the child for useful citizenship is quite lost sight of in the incumbersome process:"-Pierre Dakotan, June, 1907. This paper further demanded that educational provision should halt at the point when a good elementary education ended. The paper did not seem to think that for the masses provision beyond the eighth grade should be made. It held that while there could be no serious objection to higher education, yet when the schools generally were supported by special taxation it was not fair to the farmer to spend most of the money on high schools, colleges, academies and universities. Such a course was a reversion, it declared. Vocational training was the popular effort at this time, not Latin, or Greek, or even algebra, for farmers' boys and girls. No studies should be introduced in the country schools that had a ten- dency to take the children away from the farms permanently.

"The deplorable part of the administration of higher educational processes is the methods that bring it down to the level of intrigue, manipulation, the oper- ation of the jealousies of small minds and their petty revenges and rewards. The entire higher educational scheme is wrong, and so long as it remains wrong it will feed the sentiment that is beginning to demand the elimination of advanced education from the calculations of the state."-Sioux Falls Press, June 11, 1907.

At the National Educational Association, July, 1907, Prof. G. W. Nash, president of the Aberdeen Normal and Industrial School, read a paper that attracted much attention. It was entitled, "Teacher's Compensation Other Than Financial." During the annual meeting of the national association the commis- sioner of Indian affairs told the members that he was in favor of turning over to the states all of the Indian schools within their borders now conducted by the general Government. He favored the mixing of the red and white pupils in the schools so that the reds could better learn the habits and customs of the whites. At this date there were four Indian schools in South Dakota.

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

It was noted in September, 1907, that 50 per cent of the applicants for teacher's certificates failed, although they were high school graduates. It was therefore admitted that a high school education was not sufficient to qualify for teaching. At the same time it was concluded that something was wrong with the present school system because the high school students made so poor a showing. It was maintained that a history of current events should be conducted in every school; that an hour every morning should be devoted to discussing newspaper articles and the occurrences that were then happening.

In January, 1908, O. C. Dokken, commissioner of school and public lands, predicted that in the end South Dakota would have a school fund of $100,000,000, the largest in the United States. This would furnish an annual income of $5,000,000, an abundance for a state population of 1,000,000. He contended that this had been made possible by the unusual foresight and insistence of Gen. W. H. H. Beadle, the "Father of the School System of South Dakota." He said that in the constitutional convention of 1889 General Beadle had fought persistently and successfully for the $10 minimum price at which school lands should be sold and had won the fight. At that time much of the land would not bring half that sum, but enough was sold with his permission to give every pio- neer child a fair education.

At the annual meeting of the county superintendents held in Rapid City late in 1908 it was decided to appoint a committee to appear before the next Legis- lature to ask for a change in the school law, so that there could be presented or incorporated in every rural school in the state a course in progressive agricul- ture. The plan was two-fold. First, a textbook on agriculture must be adopted. Second, teachers should be required to pass an examination for at least a rudi- mentary knowledge of progressive agriculture, etc. The committee was instructed to ask further that there should be a series of tests or experimental work con- ducted in connection with every country school. They particularly asked that every county should have an experimental station, or, where the settlement was meager, several counties could unite or group and secure the same privileges. All of this was to be supervised by the superintendent of public instruction and his staff (a mistake) in order to secure efficiency and uniformity. The committee appointed to formulate this plan was appointed at a meeting held in Canton, July 3, 1907. They were charles J. Anderson, Myrtle B. Farmer, Gerald E. Muller, P. F. Nolan and W. M. Mair. "We would further recommend that steps be taken to establish an agricultural school in each county of the state and would suggest that the county poor farm which is found in many counties be used as an experiment farm for that purpose." This was one of the most important sug- gestions concerning rural education ever made in the state. Bath Township, Brown County, constructed a township high school where six country school dis- tricts were combined.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 124

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1146

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146