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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1922)
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX, PORTLAND, OCTOBER 8, 1923 8 30-10 SCHOOL PUR UPTO VOTERS SOON Proponents of Measure Are Well Organized! EXTRAVAGANCE IS SEEN Taxpayers AVarn-Against Tax Rise and Educators Assert Pro posed System Not Needed.- PUGET SOUND BUREAU, Seattl. Wash., Oct. 7. The 30-10 plan of raising and distributing: money for (school purposes will come before the voters of Washington in the election of November 7 as initiatrve measure No. 46. Since the time when that privilege was first conferred upon them the voters of this state have wrestled with numerous measures proposed by means of the initiative. They hav adopted but one the law that put "Washington in the dry col umn before Mr. Volstead came on the scene. Other initiated measures may have had merH, but the merits were not understood or appreciated. The g-eneral tendency as to both -initiated and referred measures has been- to vote "No." Washington vot ers have shown an almost uncanny instinct to reject proposals which they did not understand. 30-10 Plan Widely Known. The 30-10 plan "for providing a current state school fund," as its ballot title runs, presents a case running- contrary to precedent. There is no excuse for lack of understanding- as -to what this measure meane; that is to say, there is no excuse if the voters care to read or to listen to the ample argument on fcither side of the Question. Not ince the day when fi-tate prohibi tion was at issue has so much been offered in positive support and in equally positive opposition to pro posed state law. H is as true of this as of many previous proposals, that the great majority of voters will not take the trouble to find out exactly what is involved in adoption or rejection. But that is the fault of the great majority of voters, and not of the proponents or opponents of the law. Those who are active on either Bide are doing their best to flood the situation with light. Mentture's Purpose Told. The 30-10 measure proposes that the state shall raise by taxation the cum of $30 a year for every child of school age in the state and that the school district shall raise by district taxation $10 for every child resident within each district. The money thus raised is to be spent wholly on the educational machin ery, on the daily processes of teach ing and learning. None of it goes to the achool plant. One-half of the total fund is to be apportioned to the counties, on the basis of school attendance; the other half is to be apportioned on "the basis of the number of teachers employed. . The fund is to be created in the ratio of 30 to 10; it is to be expended in the ratio of 50 to CO one-half to the school children and one-half to the school teachers. Most Points In Dispute. There are a few points involved tn initiative No. 46 which are not subject to dispute: The basis of the proposed tax levy is not school attendance. The law proposes that the state tax . shall "equal $30 for each child of school age resid'ng within the state," and school age is fixed from 4 to 21 years. It is admitted that this age scope . covers thousands of Infants who haven't started going to school and young persons who are out of school to stay. It is admitted that there are the statt in round numbers, 375,000 children between the ages of 4 and 21. The present ratio of school taxa tion per child between these ages is $20 by the state and $10 by the school district. It must, therefore, be admitted that the increase of the state's levy from $20 to $30 means an in crease of $10 per child, or a total increase in state school taxes of $3,150,000 a year. Increase DIscuHition Avoided. The argument in favor of the 30-10 measures, as presented through the newspapers and as appended to the text of the measure in the offi cial pamphlet issued to voters by the secretary of state, very obviously avoids direct discussion of this con siderable increase in taxation anJ stresses the needs of what are called "the poorer school districts. The official argument inserted in the secretary of state's pamphlet declares that "the problem is to give to every child in Washington, regardless of the accident of birtn in a rich or poor school district, his American" birthrighf an equal chance in the public schools. Chil dren who live in poor communities are denied the educational opportu nities aforded children who live in rich communities." In this argument the remedy is said to be to "collect the money for school support wherever wealth is within the state; then distribute this money where children are." In view of the proposed law's provision that the school money shall be dis-' tributed, one-half on the children in school attendance and one-half on the number of teachers employed, the of ficial .argument evidently pre supposes that where the children are there the teachers will be also. Aid to Remote Schooolo, Plan. The whole argument in favor of the measure is based on an appre ciation of the educational needs of remote and thinly populated dis tricts of the state. Instances are cited of districts .which, having taxed themselves to the Tegal limit, still find themselves unable to pro vide convenient schools for the children of scattered families. The inference is that adoption of initia tive No. 46 would pool the financial resources of the state and of all school districts and put schools and teachers within handy distance of every home in the state. Opponents of the measure meet this argument by citing the fact that of the 2600 school districts in the state Ies than 3 per cent are in need of relief or can be classed as "poorer districts." They say that every advantage now enjoyed by the so-called richer districts can be extended to these poorer districts at an annual cost of less than $500, 000. which can be made available under the existing system of school taxation. Dr. S. B. L. Penrose. , president of Whitman college, one of the leaders of the opposition, has estimated that ail these advantages can be conferred on the poorer dis tricts within $350,000 a year. Holding- to such views of the cost of all necessary relief.- the opponents of the bill naturally question the ex pediency of increasing state taxes by so huge a total as $3,750,000. The support of initiative No. 46 is well andThoroughly organized and financed. The movement, from its inception. has been under the shrewd direction of a committee of teachers . headed by Ralph W. Swetman of Seattle. Sponsorship has been assumed by the Washing ton State Parent-Teachers asso ciation and the Washington Edu cation association, the latter an ex clusive teachers' organization. The measure 'has been indorsed by the State League of Woman Voters, the State Federation of Women's Clubs and the State Federation of Labor. The supporting argument is keyed to the general plea that nothing is too good for the schools. It is sen timental in the same sense that every argument advanced in con nection with the schools is senti mental, whether it be for higher teachers pay or for a bond issue for a new school building. Taxpayer Oppose Flan. The opposition, much less closely organized, consists at large of all the taxpayers' organizations and commercial bodies of the state which are striving: for reduced gov ernmental costs and lower taxes. Dr. Penrose and Mrs. Josephine Corliss Preston, state superintend ent of public instruction, are among the leading educators opposed to the measure. The taxpaying and commercial organizations warn against the proposed increase in taxation; the educators condemn the measure as both - extravagant and unnecessary. In addition to this opposition there is one other great difficulty in the way of the promoters of the so-io plan. This is the difficulty of con vincing the voters that an educa tional emergency exists in this state. Washington is rated rather high among the states of the union in educational facilities and in the very slight proportion of illiteracy. This rating stood even before the state's proportion of school taxes was doubled two years ago. That any sudden occasion should have . arisen since 1920 for another tax increase, amounting to 50 per cent or $3,750, 000 a year, is not easy for voters to believe, even under the sway of impulse to do everything that ought to be done for the schools. METHOD URGED I OREGOil HISTORY Study State's Progress Is Advice to Teachers. . CHILD INTEREST GROWS Pamphlet Dealing With Early Days in Northwest Issued byjsoperintendent. S FIGHT FIRES SERMONS TO DEAL WITH PRE VENTION WORK. Week,of Propaganda to Be Kept Up Throughout 7 -Day Pe riod All Over City. Fire prevention weele in Portland will open today with sermons based on tie subject in many of the churches. For the remainder of the week , fire prevention -will be the principal topic, and every citizen will be urged to lend an effort to wards continuing Portland's estab lished record, the best of any city on the Pacific slope. Of principal importance tomorrow night will be an entertainment at the public auditorium, with excel lent musical features, some short addresses, a playlet which will show the Portland fire department in ac tion, and the presentation of the Thomas H. L. Ince cup to the Port land fire department by Jay Stevens, who is in charge of the fire preven tion bureau of the national under writers' bureau. Portland won this cup for having the best fire preven tion record on the Pacific slope dur ing the last year. -. School children will participate in the campaign. Each child attending school will get a questionnaire to be taken home and filled out. This form will deal with conditions in the home and past experience has proved that many fire hazards have been removed through the work of the youngsters. SIGNAL SYSTEM BLAMED Railway Inspector Reports on Re cent Spokane Wreck. SPOKANE, Wash., Oct. 7. The system whereby a switch engine was on the main line of the Northern Pacific track at Tardley. near here, on the night of September 7 last, when through passenger train No. 41 collided with it and was wrecked with a loss of six lives of company employes, is blamed in a report of state investigators received from Olympla today. The report, filed by C. F. Merry, railway inspector for the depart ment of labor and industries, holds also that the signal system on the main line at Yardley was not as effective as it should be. SALEM, Or., Oct. 7. (Special.) Teecn the history of Oregon rather than lead the child through a hoary remoteness to otrange and national fields, was the advice given by J. A. Churchill, state superintendent of public instruction, in a. pamphlet issued here recently for the guid ance of instructors in ail the schools oi the state. Oregon's history, as pictured by I Mr. Churchill, is one of the most in- tere-stmg and instructive courses now offered in the public schools, and should provide a comprehensive field of study for the boy or girl whu would know Oregon first. "A, long time ago somebody did something grand and courageous somewhere else," reads the leading article in the pamphlet contributed by Miss LI HI Schmidli of Franklin high school. Portland. "This is the interpretation that many of our boys and girls make of American history. ' The very word history suggests to them a hoary remote ness that puts the subject, once and for all, beyond the grasp of famil iarity. " Oregon History Intereatine. "One reason for this is that chil dren are carried afar for their first history experience, to glean in strange, distant national fields in stead of being directed from thetr family doorsteps to the bountiful home harvest of local history. "The Oregon story is a wonderful story. During the early years of our national life Indian tales of a rich western land bordering on the Pacific ocean, rumors of a mighty river of the west rolling through continuous woods to the sea, stirred the imagination of settlers east of the Mississippi. In poetry and in anecdote they called the region Ore gon. Then a Yankee captain dared to steer his brig Columbia over the bar -and give the United States a clcim to the country drained by the mighty river. President Jefferson, a pioneer at heart, sent out Lie wis and Clark to blaze the way west ward by land. Trappers and traders came, and white settlers followed close strong, stout-hearted men and self-sacrificing women. Long Trail Recalled. t'Three thousand miles they trav eled through the wilderness for the privilege of carving out new homes in the far west. Graves mark their trail. Only did they arrive in Ore gor when an unfriendly fur com pany: and hostile .Indians began to contest their right to call this coun try 'home.' But they persevered in the struggle against foe and forest, and after years of discouragement j ana sacrifice they won. Under the; 'Boston man s resolute hand the trapper's lodge and the Indian's hunting ground gave way to the home right of the pioneer settler. A final bloodless contest with Eng land, a terrible Indian massacre and O'JV Oregon became definitely a part of the United States. "The above is indeed a fragmen tary sketch of the story that every boy and girl in Oregon has a right to know in full. As our state in creases in population and prestige it becomes more and more the re sponsibility of teachers to make Oregon history a part of the expe rience of the children of the state "Prepare yourself to tell the story to the class in units; what people knew of the .far west when Wash ington became president; how the Columbia river was discovered and named; how Lewis and Clark opened a way westward by land; how Fort Astoria was started; how Dr. Mc Loughlin ruled tat Fort Vancouver, etc. Relic Hun'lnff Advised, "Stop here and there in the tell ing of each unit to ask Questions calling for thought or conjecture. Let individual pupils contribute points from their Oregon reading outside of class. Collect pictures and relics for the school exhibit. After the presentation of each unit take time for reviewing and pigeon holing the most important points, and when the whole story has be come class property celebrate the occasion with an Oregon pro gramme. - ' "In the seventh and eighth grades pupils may be assigned topics from the syllabus for independent prepa ration. Groups can work together on the larger divisions of subject matter, bringing the results of their investigations to the recitation. Eighth-grade pupils may also be in terested in preparing biographical sketches of Oregon leaders for telling- in the intermediate grades. The civics class may dramatize th meeting at Champoeg. Reminis cences should be collected from the pioneers of the community. These are but a few suggestions as to what may be done to make the work varied and profitable. Several Week Needed. In the high school United States history class Oregon history should receive several weeks' time each term. The Oregon syllabus will be found a valuable aid in furnishing direct information in lieu of a text bock and in pointing out source ma terial. In addition to the suggested reading, students should be led In a historical survey of their local community. The importance of con serving the records of pioneer life can thus be brought home to them. Interest can be focused especially on old letters, newspapers, photo graphs, etc "Aside from giving a chance for action and providing topics of con versation in the family and com munity, such work provides ele mentary training in method of re search, and often adds valuable ma terial to present historical collec tions. The aim throughout is to impress young people with the rich ness of their own state in its his torical background. Earnest, sin cere study of the effort made by the men and women who set them selves the task of carving American homes In the Pacific northwest can not fail to have an ennobling influ ence on the sons and daughters whose responsibility it is to carry on the Oregon story." In order that Oregon history may ba made one of the leading courses in the Oregon schools, the state library, under the direction of Miss Cornelia Marvin, is co-operating. The latest and best works on Ore gon are being sought, which, added to the present collection of books on this subject, will, provide, a wealth of information for the youth. CITY OFFICIALS RESIGN Two on l?i Grande Commission Quit Places; One Is Elected. LA GRANDE, Oct. 7. (Special.) At the reeular meeting: of the La Grande city commission this week nearly the entire personnel of the city's governing: body was changed. W. D. Grandy, chairman, took the chair and David I. Etodtiard, com missioner, resigned, having: moved to Wallowa recently. Immediately following- the acceptance of Mr. Stod dard's resignation. Dr. H. S. Brown ton was elected to serve his unex pired term. Chairman Grandy. then turned over the chair to Commissioner Williams and tendered his resigna tion, which was recultantly ac cepted. No one was appointed to ?U1 his place. Yosemlte Attendance Largest. YOSEMITE, Cal., Oct. 7. Yosemlte has won again, according to local authorities, in the annual race be tween the national parks for the greatest attendance. This year Yo semlte entertained more than 100,000 visitors, while Yellowstone park re ported a total of 98,000. Some day osemite hopes to entertain 200,000. possibly 300,000, people each year This will be when an all-year motor highway into the park Is completed. Rose City Sailor Dies. ASTORIA, Or., Oct. 7. (Special.) A wireless message received this afternoon from Captain Magenn, master of the steamer Rose City, due here tomorrow from San Francisco, stated that Alex Peterson, an able seaman on the craft, dropped dead from heart disease today. Captain Magenn said the man's home was believed to be in Astoria. Engineering School to Open. SALEM, Or., Oct. 7. (Special.) The state school of automotive en gineering, operated in connection with the Sm!t,h-Hughes act, will open here Monday, it was announced tonight. The Instructors are gradu ates of Oregon Agricultural college. The cost of the course is 1100, half of which will be paid by the state. Phone your want ads to The Ore gonian. All its- readers are. inter ested in the classified columns. TJ10R the convenience of our patrons those of the bobbed hair as well Jj as tne long, we have inaugurated a new service in our Hair Goods Department. Through: it, the beauties of formal hair-dressing are made available for every-day wear without the expense or the time hitherto neces sary for composing the "dres" coiffure. The effectiveness of this service depends on the deftness of our hair-dressing experts in originating artistic coiffures which, by the adjustment of a curl, the " placing of a side wave, or the twisting of a wisp-like switch, produce a smart, attrac tive arrangement of the hair. The Deft Touch is the name we have given to this service, which we render to our patrons without charge. Just ask the manager of our Hair Goods Department to devise an artistic arrange ment of your hair simple enough to warrant your adopting it as a permanent style yet sufficiently ornate to give you that well-dressed look you prize so highly. You will be surprised to learn how easily a nice coiffure can be arranged how wonderfully becoming a side wave, a curl, or a weft transformation can become when properly placed. - The service is free. Your acceptance thereof assures a refreshing touch to your fall costume. With your hair becomingly arranged, you can enjoy, every day, the same sense of being well groomed that ordinarily comes only with the glance into your mirror the nights of the dance, the dinner or the theater. HAIR GOODS SALONS FIFTH FLOOR prj Th Quality Storb -r I , I L or Portuakp e J - - - -i SHERIFF.USES PHONE TP DUMIT LAWYERS Extradition of Prisoner Is Accomplished- Quickly. TELEGRAPH TOO SLOW Montana Officer Gets Action at Astoria and Also Fugitive by Beating Court Order. VANCOUVER. Wash., Oct. 7. (Special.) By the use of the tele phone the sheriff of a Montana county outwitted a Clarke county attorney, who used the telegraph, and the prisoner at stake had been gone for nearly two hours when a local attorney appeared at the county jail with a temporary order to hold the prisoner in this state. Edward Nelson is wanted in Daniels county, Montana, for arson, alleged to have been committed four years ago, and he recently was found in this county, taken to Port land, where he was arrested, and after being shunted back and forth across the Columbia river several times he was in the jail here, though he had put up a $400 bond to pro tect DanieLs county from the ex pense he had caused, in case he loBt. Montana Sheriff Geta Han. Sheriff Martin in the meantime had procured from the governor of Montana extradition papers and he took these to Olympia today, where they were honored by . Governor Hart. He had left a deputy sheriff at the Clarke county jail with an automobile m waiting. As soon as the governor had honored the extra dition papers. Sheriff Martin used a telephone to the sheriff hare, ask ing the release of the prisoner to the deputy. Nelson was taken In charge by the deputy sheriff, placed in the waiting machine and driven away, probably to overtake the train that passes through the city In the morn ing. Attorney !.? Hla Fight. John W. Wilkinson, attorney for Nelson, who wu objecting to the release of Nelson to the Montana sheriff, filed a telegram to his local office Instructing it to get a tem porary restraining order to keep the sheriff from securing the pris oner. W. R. Haddock, court commis sioner, granted the order and in due time It was served at the sheriff's office by Cedrie Miller, who was in formed that the prisoner had been taken away full 90 minutes before and his whereabouts at that time were unknown. The case attracted much atten tion. Nelson said that hs wanted to delay going back to Montana un til after the first of the year, when the new officers take charge. He said his friends, non-partisans, had swept the county and that If he ohould go back after the first of the year the charge would be dismissed. Normal Soclttes Initiate. MONMOUTH. Or., Oct. 7. (Spe cial.) The Vespertine and Delphian societies of the Oregon normal school initiated more than 200 new students Into each of these organ izations last night. The ceremonies, which were public, were largely attended. Miss Helen Michaelson, a senior, whose home is in Portland, acted as installing officer for the Vespertine and Miss Kathryn Pe terson of Portland, also a senior, officiated for the Delphian. . Gunboat Zaragoza Sails. VERA CRUZ. Oct. 7. The gunboat Zaragoza has sailed for Tuxpam with 500 soldiers to reinforce the federal military in the oil region where renewal of rebel activities is reported. Phone your want ads to The Ore gonian. All Its readers are inter ested in the classified columns. RED CROSS MEET MONDAY CONVEXTIOV IS CAXLKI BY PRESIDENT HANDING. Soldier Service, Health, Child Welfare and Other Prob lems to Be DlnruMkrd. ' Hon. Junior 1X1 frees . riviLst bom service and other sn.lects. "Formal pr rmn svt s l.i t- de parted from f-r li more ln.l debate and arnup nini " '' I Jenvrs L- Kieser. : h ri-nn I t charge. "The ln-re in " ' nce and tn inter, hanae of opin ion throi .lcerins I prove of Ingress. ne slue tn th pro motion of both ...cl and Mln-nal programmes. WASHINGTON. D. C Oct. 7. Solving of soldier service, health, child welfare and other national problems will be discussed at the annual gathering of the representa tives of Red Cross chapters St the national convention, called by Presi dent Harding., to be held hers Oc tober S. 10 and 11. Early reservations from chapter delegates indicate that a highly, representative gathering from the JS chapters of the nation will b present. The convention sessions will be held In the Continental Memorial hall. Prexident Harding will address the convention at the opening slon Monday morning, October . I During the remainder of the day the ! delegates will consider tne interests of former service men and their families. Addresses will be made by General Pershing. Colonel Albert A. Sprague. chairman of the national rehabilitation committee of the American Legljn.-.nd Colonel Forbes of the Veterans' bureau. Chief Justice ' 'llllam H. Taft will preside at the Monday evening ses sion, which will be addressed by Herbert Hoover, secretary of com merce, and Kir Claude Hill, chairman of the International league of the Red Cross societies. Neighborly co-operation with other American countries 111 be planned at a group conference to be held In the Pan-American building, where Emlllo del Torres, chief Justice of Porto Rico, will preside. Represen tatives of the Red Cross from Bra zil, Cuba, llaytl. Costa Rica and the Ltln and Central American repub lics will be present. Other group conferences will be held on publio health nurMng. home hyriene and care of the sick, nutrl- INDIAN BASKETS UNIQUE YoM-ntlio Xstlonal Tarh C-t Notable Trrurr. TOSKMITP. Cal. "'rt. " A'txt ef the Mitchell ollertlon of '.;( nia Indian lfkrt, h mad- h museum in ttie Yo.emUe tia'lnl park one "f th notable. trure houses of me Cnlt'd ! "r t' preservation Of In! hetldlreatt According to 1k-I authorities nme of the specimens here cannot b du plicated anywhere, not even in t ho Smithsonian Inn! It ul '.on. The Mitchell htekets. a co!lctlen of M f',n lket. r ln Mr and Mrs. K Mitchell of Vlil. Cal.. who refused many large off'te to sell 'he cellecimn "' 'he state. They declined trie effr be rause they wanted tne baskets to re main In California The feature of th roiled loo Is a Tulars frteruleh.p basket which, m f,r as known. Is the only one of H kind tn existence. The .smitrisoslait mstltution endeavore'l to buy tne basket aad made a bid of t'. with out succese. Conoln of MrKlnlcjr Ivrari. PASADENA. Cal.. Oct t Wl'llam. McKinlcy. TJ years old. cousin tv the late President McKlnley. d'el of heart trouble here whlis satd In a barber'a chair. U came from Ohio with his family a number ef years ago. 11 Is survived by h widow her, a son. Oeorg MrKltlr. at Plcton. la. and two daughters. Mrs. tieorg Gibson of South Pasa dena. Cel.. snd Mrs nssl Brown of Grand View. Wash. 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