The Bell County Democrat (Belton, Tex.), Vol. 15, No. 55, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 7, 1911 Page: 2 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Bell County Democrat and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Lena Armstrong Public Library.
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BELL COUNTY DEMOCRAT. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7. 1911
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL
SYSTEM OF TEXAS
There Are 968,269 Children of Scholastic Age in Texas-Corre-
lated Rural Schools and District High Schools Recomraonded;
How to Stop The Drift From The Farm.
tt>T<*AA»7<iiSe»?«c3!i»8c& .J,
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NEW MACHINERYr"
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By F, M. Bralley, State Superintendent of Education
We have just installed a New Dynamo, making a
Complete Double Equipment for our light and
power plant—2 Boilers, 2 Engines, 2 Dynamos
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Section I, Article VII of the State
Constitution, reads as follows: “A
general diffusion of knowledge being
. essential to the preservation of the
liberties and rights of the people, it
shall be the duty of the Legislature
of the State to establish and make
suitable provisions for the support
and maintenance of an efficient sys-
tem of public free schools.” Acting
in obedience to this command of the
people, the Legislature has from time
to time provided for the growth and
development of our system of public
free, schools, but the public free
schools of Texas can not in truth
be said to be ‘‘an efficient system,”
because there is lack of both ‘‘sys-
tem” and ‘‘efficiency” in the public
school work of this State. The great-
est mistake made by Legislatures of
the past in Texas was possibly in
concluding that their duty under the
Constitution had been performed,
with honor and distinction, by enact-
ing permissive laws, instead of pro-
viding for a well-balaned and com-
pletely organized system of efficient
schools. The government of the
State undertakes no work of greater
importance to the people than the
establishment and maintenance of
schools for the education and train-
ing of her future citizens, and more j
mbney is expended upon the schools
than upon any other single public
enterprise of the State. With a
State permanent school fund valued
at $71,104,828.49, a county perma-
nent school fund valued at $11,136,-
3 95.56, an investment of more than
$20,0^0,000.00 in school houses and
school grounds, and an annual ex-
pense account provisions for thor-
ough organization, systematization
and efficient work should he made by
the Legislature and the people, and
thus there would be guaranteed re-
sults; adequate preparation for the.
duties and responsibilities of life
through our schools.
the time. The enrollment and the
attendance in the schools of the cit-
ies and towns are much better than
in the country districts; but in the
country districts live about 70 per
cent of the entire scholastic popula-
tion of the State. In the cities and
towns high schools have been estab-
lished for the city children, hut the
country children, who are just as
good and are worth as much to the
State, are without high schools and
high school opportunities except in
a very few instances.
(1) The country schools of eachspi
There are 968,269 children 6f
scholastic age in Texas and ghch
year while our schools are^h ses-
sion only about 60 per ce*Jt of them
are in actual attendance while 40
P. M. Bralley.
county should be organized into a
correlated system. Each school
should no longer be permitted to be
independent in organization, course'
of study, and work of the other coun-
try schools of the county.
(2) High schools should be es-
tablished in the country districts
wherever necessary and practicable
by the consolidation of small dis-
tricts; and in these country high
; schools should be taught, in addi-
all
tion to the usual literary subjects,
the subjects of elementary agricul-
ture, domestic economy, and manual
training. Thus the country high
school would be made to minister to
T
try children.
(3) Adequate and efficient super-
vision of the work of the country
schools in each county should be pro-
vided. No county superintendent
can efficiently supervise the work of
a hundred or more schools scattered
over an are? of from 700 to 8,000
square miles. Further, the schools
of no county can be made efficient
and satisfactory in work without cap-
able, professional supervision. With
such supervision the city schools of
Texas have taken high rank, and the
country schools of Texas will never,
in results achieved, meet the needs
and aspirations of the country chil-
dren until expert trained men are
provided as superintendents. In
each large county, the office of coun-
ty superintendent should be given a
deputy to do the clerical work, and
thus permit the county superintend-
ent, who should be adequately re-
numerated, to devote his’ entire time
to professional duties with the teach-
ers, the trustees, and among the
schools.
The sentiment of ‘‘back to the
country” is heard at every public
gathering and read in the press, but
the drift to the city and away from
the farm will continue, until (1)
good schools, (2) good public roads,
(3) good libraries, (4) and good
churches and preachers have been
permanently established in the ru-
ral communities of our State to min-
ister to the social and spiritual de-
mands of the people who reside there.
As long as the best school, the best li-
brary, the best preacher and church,
and the best social opportunities are
found in the city, the people will
continue to leave the farm for the
city. To increase the financial profit
of the farm is desirable, but these
other things must he provided for
the people of the rural communities
before contentment and permanent
prosperity will vitalize and bless our
common country. In truth the
school is the hope of the State and
through its work the State will, in
future, preserve, protect, and pro-
I^teth^ha^iness^^cUi^H^e^rosner^
HO USE TO BE WITHOUT LIGHTS ANY HOUR OF THE DAY OR NIGHT
In case of accident to any part of the machinery
we can switch to the extra equipment in a mo-
ment’s time and continue a first class service.
We invite the people of Belton and all our
friends who may visit the city to come and inspect
the equipment in a thoroughly modern and up*
to-date electric light plant.
We have put the rate so low that electric lights
are cheap for the home. They are more conven-
ient, easier on the eyes, less dangerous and more
satisfactory in every way than kerosene lamps.
See us for full particulars as to lights at your
residence or place of business if you are not al-
ready one of our patrons.
Belton Electric Light Co
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W. W. THORNTON, President
More Criticisms on New Boojk^
WORK OF THE CONFERENCE
FOR EDUCATION I
TEXAS
Importance of Rural School Problem Deserves Special Attention.'
High Schools Should Be Established Within Reach of Coun-
try Children. Conference Distributes Many Bulletins.
By C, E. Ev3fMy Agent for the Conference for Education.
\
To supply a long-felt need for an
organization of laymen and teachers,
the purpose fow hich should be to
conduct an all-the-year-round state-
wide campaign for the improvement
and perfection of our school system
and thereby arouse a. greater interest
and more intelligent support for all
schools, The Conference for Educa-
tion was organized. It is a non-par-
tisan, non-sectional and non-politi-
cal organization that studies care-
fully the educational needs of the
State anl enlist the cooperation of all
forces for ministering to those needs,
believing that the “benefits of edu-
cation are so universal that all par-
ties tan cordially unite in advancing
it.”
The constitution of The Conference
provides that its affairs shall he di-
rected by an Executive Board of nine
members. The present Executive
Board consists of the following well
known citizens of Texas: Honorable
Clarence Ousley, editor of the Fort
Worth Record; Professor R. B. Cous-
ins, President of West Texas Normal
College, Canyon; Dr. O. H. Cooper,
Ex-State Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Abilene; Dr. W. S. Sut-
ton, Professor of Education, Univers-
ity of Texas; Hon. Theodore Harris,
Ex-State Senator, San Antonio; Mrs.
Percy V. Pennybacker, Austin; Mrs.
Cone Johnson, Tyler; Professor J. L.
Long; Ex-Superintendent of Dallas
rublic Schools; and Dr. W. B. Biz-
zell, President of College of Indus-
trial Arts, Denton. The high stand-
ing of these men and women in the
State is a sufficient guarantee that
the work will be conducted with
strict fidelity to the purposes of the
organization and to promote the gen-
eral welfare. The Conference for
Education in Texas aims to encour-
age and strengthen all forms of edu-
cational endeavor, to organize and
unify educational effort, to perfect
the machinery of school administra-
tion, to multiply good schools and
modern schoolhouses, to inspire fa\ -
orbirde school legislation, and in gen-
eral,. to enlarge the opportunities of
the school children of Texas.
From an enrollment of 31 2 mem-
bers 22, 190 7, The' Conference for
Education in Texas has grown to an
enrollment of more than 1 1,000 mem-
bers in 1910 and has the confidence
of the school officials of the State.
Its work has been cordially indorsed
schools; it has printed and distribut-
ed more than 3 00,000 copies of bulle-
tins, which furnished reliable infor-
mation on educational conditions
and needs; it has conducted cam-
paigns in behalf of vital amendments
to the State Constitution, authoriz-
ing better financial support for the
common schools, legalizing the for-
mation of county-line school dis-
• m
by many of the leading civic organi-
zations. The .Conference has stimu-
lated public sentiment in behalf of
good schools, modern schoolhouses
and improved school equipment; it
has sent speakers to many sections
of Texas to plead the cause of better
C. E. Evans. >
tricts and validating the school dis-
tricts of the State together with a
large invalidated bonds indebted-
ness; and it has been an influential
factor in the promotion of progressive
legislation in the interest of public
free schools. The bulletins issued by
The Conference discuss rural high
schools, local taxation, school build-
ings and educational progress in the
State.1 Model '"ph^f™for' one'-*room,
two-room and three-room school-
houses are sent free to school officials.
Educational maps of Texas by coun-
ties have been prepared.
The Conference for Education in
Texas proposes to continue the pres-
ent vigorous campaign in behalf of
better schools and.better school sur-
roundings that the people may fully
understand actual educational condi-
tions and cooperate to give the best
possible school facilities for Texas’
children. The effectivness of The
Conference for Education in Texas
in the accomplishment of results is to
be attributed to the selection and ad-
vocacy of wise and attainable meas-
ures and to securing the concentra-
tion of the efforts of the friends of
education for these reforms.
For 1910-11, The Conference is ad-
vocating the following specific meas-
ures in the interest of the schools;
the complete separation of the A. &
M. College from the , University of
Texas, a liberal and independent in-
come for the support of the State's
higher institutions of learning, ma-
jority rule in school-tax elections or
cities and towns, longer terms for
school officials and the divorcement
of schools from partisan politics, and
more efficient county organization
looking to better rural schools and to
the establishment of rural high
schools.
The importance of the rural school
problem deserves special attention
and will he briefly reviewed. The
office of county superintendent should
be extended to all counties in the
State having each 2,000 scholastic
population and the smaller counties
should he grouped for supervisory
purposes. The experience of all
states in the Union which have
strong systems of education demon-
strates the necessity of county sup-
ervision. The educational forces of
each county need a strong center of
administration and influence; county
superintendency supplies the need.
This work can not be done efficiently
by officers whose chief business lies
in other fields. County judges,
though men of acknowledged char-
acter and ability, are not doing the
work needed, because, as a rule, they
lack both the time and the profes-
sional training required. Men of su-
perior ability and specific profession-
al training, giving their entire time
to the work are necessary.
The rural school problem will not,
however, be satisfactory solved until
high schools is imperative for the
accessible to all the children of coun-
try districts. The establishment; of
high schools is imeprative for the
effectiveness of elmentary work.
When the rural high school is the
central school for the consolidated
district, with which other schools in
the district are properly affiliated, it
relieves the smaller schools of the
burden of teaching the few advanced
pupils and saves time waslted in the
useless repetition of studies. The
rural high school affords country
children a high school education,
C?£rtra«nr "of ~trafn fn g
that a sate should offer its
children in this strenuous age, and
makes possible the entrance of as-
piring country boys and girls to col-
leges, universities and professional
schools. It also makes practicable
an education adapted to the needs of
rural people, enables farmers to edu-
cate their children at home, en-
riches and dignifies country life, and
will do much to check the disastrous
exodus from country to city.
It should be borne in mind that ef->'
ficient high school work is not prob-
able in the one-teacher school, which
does not and can not do thoroughly
satisfactory elementary work owing
to its crowded program, and should
not even attempt high school instruc-
tion. It is also true that many com-
mon school districts have neither the
funds nor the pupils for the organi-
zation of high schools and that the
levy of even the maximum fifty cent
tax would not give the needed funds,
each district in a county not sepa-
rately provide high schools for its
children and the cooperation of dis-
tricts for high school purposes be-
comes necessary. \At the same time,
if the consolidation of districts is
to be haphazard affair without any
county plan for such consolidation
and without reference to the rights
of other districts, some portions of
the county will have good high
schools while districts in various
portions of the county will he with-
out high schools. In order to assure
an economic distribution of high
schools throughout the county, dis-
tricts should be consolidated from
the county standpoint and high
schools should be so located that the
children of all districts will be with-
in riding distance of a high school.
In the work of improving the
schools of the State The Conference
for Education in Texas cordially co-
operates with all educational forces
and seeks the assistance of patriotic
citizens of all vocations and profes-
sions. It is believed that an efficient
system of schools will assure an in-
telligent * citizenship, promote the
material prosperity of the State and
will invite capital and immigration
to Texas.
A Toast.
By Mrs. Mary Gentry.
Here’s to the friend .
Carner^Jj&ar r.Edwin
91 ^mantic, stir-
With a U4iWui't5iidirI Ul
When I am down and out.
Here’s a heart for those who show me
a heart,
When mine is too tired to beat,
For the hand that is strong
That bouys me along
When I struggle to get on my feet.
Here’s love to the friends that are
loyal and true,
When others deride and blame,
Who kind words speak,
When they know I am weak,
Who love me just the samp,
And here’s to those who have done
me a wrong,
Who are ruled by a selfish greed,
Who gives me a frown
Or a kick when I’m down
But let us forget the deed.
It’s a Crime
to neglect your health. The wors
neglect that you can be guilty of is to
allow constipation, biliousness or any
liver or bowel complaint to continue.
It is poisoning your entire system
and may lead to a serious chronic di-
sease. Take Ballard’s Herbine and
get absolutely well. The sure cure
for any and all troubles of the stom-
ach liver and bowels. Sold by Hunt-
er and Freeman.
Subscribe for the DEMOCRAT
. J • *T. AA 100 X1^^ ^ T
ring novel of the West; a great
love story. Mr. Royle is the au-
thor of the play called “The
Squaw Man.” The hero of this
'thrilling story is the Squaw
Man’s son.
The Unforseen—(by Mary
Stewart Cutting.) The same
broad sympathies and truthful
portrayal of American middle
class life which have won such
wide popularity for Mrs. Cut-
ting’s stories in the past are to
be found in this delightful ro-
mance, humor of expression, a
quiet feeling of pathos which
gives a touch of active realism to
all her writing.
The Sword in the Mountains—
(by Alice MacGowan) whose pre-
vious stories, Judith of the Cum-
berlands and the Wiring of Lance
Cleaverage have won admiring
readers on both sides of the At-
lantic. The Sword in the Moun-
tain in a manner that makes if
not only fascinating and dramat-
ic as a romance but as a faithful,
picture of feeling, of life and of
death in stirring times of the
Civil War.If You Have Eczema.
If you have eczema would you like
to get prompt relief and be perma-
nently cured by a clean liquid prep-
aration for external use? Mr. Henry
Howell, the chemist, has this remedy
in stock. He knows the ingredients
and knows its wonderful curative
and healing properties. ZEMO has
cured a great many chronic cases of
eczema and other forms of skin and
scalp disease. Mr. Howell will give
you a booklet on skin diseases and
explain to you how you can be cured
in your own home by this clean, sim-
ple remedy. ZEMO is pleasant to
use and can be used freely on infants.
It cures by drawing all germ life and
poisons to the surface of the skin
and destroying them, leaving the
skin clean and healthy.
Whea Yoi Can Get
25c TO 27c FOR BUTTER FAT
And Save The Trouble of Churning.
BeLaval Separator $1.00 a Week
And the difference in the price of Butter and Butterfat
will pay for it, giving you the Separator Free.
The first successful Cream Separator was perfected
and patented by Dr. DeLaval in 1878.
The DeLaval was the pioneer. It was first in the field
and for over thirty years it has maintained its leadership
over any and ail comers.
98 Per Cent of The World’s Creameries Use the DeLaval
to the Exclusion of All Other Makes.
In cleanness of skimming, quality of cream separated,
ease of operation, simplicity of construction and durability
the DeLaval-is in a class all to itself.
The more you know about cream separators the more
you will appreciate its superiority, and whether or not you
start with one SOONER OR LATER YOU WILL BUY A
DeLAVAL.
We Are Always In The Market With Tbe Top
Cash Price for Poultry, Eggs, Peeans, Etc.
DONNELL CREAMERY GO
Belton
Texas
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Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Doyle, Davis K. The Bell County Democrat (Belton, Tex.), Vol. 15, No. 55, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 7, 1911, newspaper, February 7, 1911; Belton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth845461/m1/2/?q=%22Texas+Normal+College%22: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lena Armstrong Public Library.