STATE AID FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The Cortland Democrat, Friday, February 28, 1890.

State Aid for Public Schools.

   A bill to increase the appropriations for, and the "district quota" in the public schools of our State has been introduced in the Assembly. The provisions of the bill are to make the "district quota" the fixed amount of $100. The purpose and object sought to be accomplished by the enactment of this law are not to increase State taxation, but to secure more of the revenue derived from State taxes for the support of schools, and to so apportion this fund that the rural districts and the weak school may participate more equitably therein than they now do.

   Outside of the cities, there are 11,253 school districts in the State, of which number 1,578 have an assessed valuation less than $20,000 each, and some of them not more than $5,000. The expenses for maintaining schools are greater now than formerly. The law now makes the minimum length of the school year thirty-two weeks instead of twenty-eight weeks, as heretofore. A higher standard of literary qualifications is now required of teachers than was a few years ago, and correspondingly better wages are paid to teachers now than then. The recent change in the school laws, by the conditions of which apportionments of public moneys are made on the basis of aggregate attendance instead of average daily attendance and number of children of school age residing in the district, is helpful to the large cities and correspondingly injurious to the rural districts. The Committee on Ways and Means is asked to increase the appropriations $250,000.

   While the proposed plan for equalizing local rates of taxation for schools does not remedy all injustices, it is a decided improvement upon the present methods and it should, as it undoubtedly will, become a law.

Thomas B. Reed

PAGE FOUR/EDITORIALS.

• Ben Butler says that he will have nothing to do in the future with political parties. Political parties are to be congratulated.

• John Jacob Aster, said to be the wealthiest man in America, died at his home in New York city, last Saturday, aged 67 years. His father was considered the richest man in the United States at the time of his death and left his property to his son.

• Last year the Board of Supervisors of Onondaga county stood 22 Republicans and 8 Democrats. This year the board is a tie. In Chenango and Broome counties, the Democrats have a majority of the board. Last year the Republicans had a large majority of Supervisors in both counties.

• Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings emerge truths which the wise and prudent are smart enough to keep their lips closed over. The Boston Traveler, in a burst of admiration over [U. S. House] Speaker Reed, says: "Millions are ready to back him." That is the way Thomas Brackett Reed got to be Speaker. He was selected by the men of millions as the man most certain to be useful to them. The railroad corporations that want legislation from Congress, the steamboat owners who want presents from the Treasury, the manufacturers who want the privilege of taxing the public, the claimants and lobbyists who want to get money out of the Treasury, all clamored for Reed. The Republican leaders are playing for a big jack pot and, as the Traveler says, millions are willing to back Reed.—Washington Democrat Feb. 22d.

• Rev. Albert P. Miller, colored, of New Haven, has recovered a verdict against the N. J. Steamboat Company for $500, for refusing to give him staterooms for himself and family on the steamer Drew running from Albany to New York. He had engaged berths, but finding them inadequate for his use he endeavored to secure staterooms but the purser informed him that they were engaged. Mr. Miller demanded his money which was returned to him. He sued the company for $5,000 damages on the ground that they had discriminated against him on account of his color, contrary to law. The law that prohibits discrimination on account of color is a senseless one and ought to be repealed. By its provisions, common carriers, which term includes railroads, steamboats, stage coaches and the like, are not permitted to refuse to carry colored people and they must furnish them the same accommodations and conveniences as are provided for white people. An hotel keeper cannot refuse to furnish them with board and lodgings, unless his house is full. Neither can the proprietor of a theatre or other place of amusement refuse them admittance to any part of the house, if they purchase tickets for the same. The proprietors of steamboat and railway lines and of places of amusement ought to have the right to conduct their business as other business men and institutions are permitted to conduct theirs, without being hampered by unnecessary restrictions. American capitalists are becoming more and more reluctant to invest their surplus in public enterprises for the reason that they cannot control their own business ventures, but are liable to be hampered by unjust and senseless legislation. The law under consideration was passed when the northern mind was inflamed against the people of the south and was undoubtedly intended more for the purpose of humiliating them than a desire to benefit the colored race.

FROM EVERYWHERE.

   The macadamizing of a piece of road in Ohio increased the value of the adjoining farms $4.50 an acre, while the cost was less than $1 an acre. Some one ought to go through the country preaching the gospel of good roads.

   The dynamo has been used several times in this city to extract bits of steel which have lodged in the hands and arms of men, inflicting painful and highly inflamed wounds. The machine took out the particles in a jiffy.—Hartford Times.

   The total production of the Fall River mills for 1889 was 8,660,000 pieces, or 225,000 less than in 1888. The weavers' strike last spring had a material effect in cutting the normal output down. Prices for the year have been profitable ones for the mills.

   In one city at least John Smith has to take a backseat. The directory of Minneapolis reveals the fact that there are in that city 2,000 Ole Olesons, 1,910 Erick Ericksons, 1,215 Nels Nelsons and 1,011 John Jonsons. Evidently Minneapolis is somewhat of a Scandinavian city.

   Sixty years ago railroads were unknown in the United States, which then had a population of 15,000,000 people, To-day there are in this country 165,000 miles of railroad, on which were transported last year 485,000,000 people and 600,000,000 tons of freight. Upon these lines over 1,000,000 men are employed, and their annual disbursements for labor, and supplies are above $600,000,000.

   The Syracuse University boys put up a job on Chancellor Sims recently by getting him mixed on a roll call. The name of one McGinty was surreptitiously added to the list and the Chancellor after calling the name once or twice, innocently inquired if anyone knew where McGinty was. The uproar that followed opened the eyes of the Chancellor and he dismissed the class with the remark that he did not suppose any member of the class was bright enough to thus get the best of him.

  

CORTLAND MARKET.

CORTLAND, Feb. 26, 1890.

FLOUR—Pastry, per sack, $1.60; XXX white wheat, per sack, $1.80.

WHEAT—White winter, per bushel, 90c.

CORN—State 60c per bushel, 90c [in Cortland].

OATS— Per bushel, 32c.

FEED—(Corn and Oats) per ton $20.

MEAL—Per ton, $17.

SHORTS—Per ton, $20.

HAY—Per ton, $10.

STRAW—Oat, per ton, $6; wheat, $8.

PORK—Per bar'l, $15; per pound 10c; fresh per hundred $5; hams per pound, 14c; shoulders, 12c.

SALT—Ashton's per sack, $2.75; common, per barrel, $1.

LARD—Per pound, 10c.

POTATOES—Per bushel, 45c.

TALLOW—Per pound 4c.

BUTTER—New, 18@20c.

Eggs—Strictly fresh. per dozen, 18c.

BEANS—Prime, per bushel, $2.00 to $2.25.

FISH—Mackerel, 15c; Mackinaw trout, 8c; white fish, 10c; codfish, 7c.

SUGAR— Brown, 7c; white, 7 1/2c; Granulated, 8c.

HYDES—Cows, 3 1/2c; steers, 4c; bull. 2 1/2c; calfskins, 4 1/2; dekin skins, 20 to 30c; lamb pelts, 65 to 75c.

WOOD—Stove, per cord, $1.75 to $2.00.

SEEDS—Clover large, 6.25; small, 6.00; and Timothy 2.25.