Pullman herald. [volume], February 28, 1913, Image 2

About Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
THE INTERESTING ROMANCE
OF THE WASHINGTON SCHOOL
-
How the Educational System of the State
Has Developed from a Meagre Begin
ning to the Best in the Land
"W est ward the course of empire
takes Its way"—s-wlth the school
house close behind!
Seventy-seven ,years ago the flrßt
school in the state of Washington
was built by Whitman and Spalding
beside the sparkling Walla Walla
river at Wallatpul. One pupil in
this school, Mrs. N. O. Jacobs of
Spokane, Is yet living —the sole sur
vivor of the Whitman massacre. She
alone has lived to see the realization
of the purpose of Marcus Whitman
ln the "Saving of Oregon," the re
tention and settlement of the great
Northwest, and its wonderful devel
opment in Industry and education.
She has witnessed the building of
railways and manufactory's, tie hew
ing down of forests, the- breaking
up of the prairie' —she has seen ag
riculture take the* place of hunting
and trapping, and commerce th"
place of primitive Indian trading.
Lastly it has been hers, and hers
alone, to see the advent, the early
struggles, and tho present wonder
ful growth of that one Institution
which is the foundation stone of our
western civilization—the school.
Seventy-seven years have passed—
in the first fifty of which appeared
the little log sehoolhouse—ln the
last twenty-five of which came the
modern structure of brick and stone.
The first fifty years saw school en
rollment grow from 0 to 50,000 —
the last twenty-five years from
50,000 to 225,000. The first half
century saw the value of, school
property rise from 0 to $2,000,359
—the quarter century following saw
it rise from $2,000,000 to $19,089,
--112. The first period saw the es
tablishment of the State University
and a number of private managed
schools and colleges—the last period
the founding of the State College,
the three State Normal Schools, a
large number of business colleges
and Institutions of collegiate rank
of the sectarian type, and lastly the
great growth and development of
the high school.
When the State University opened
on November 4, 1861, the popula
tion of Seattle was estimated at 200,
hence the "U" was little more than
a pioneer, frontier school. In the
second year there were 51 students,
only one being above preparatory
rank. Statehood marked a new ep
o.fi, however, for in 1889 the site
of the University was changed to
the present beautiful campus of 355
acres overlooking Lake Washington.
Since that time, its growth and de
velopment has been in keeping with
the growth and development of the
state. It Ib one of the twelve insti
tutions west of the Mississippi which
the United States Commissioner of
Education has put in "Class One"
In his rating of schools of the coun
try. It publishes a dally paper which
Is everywhere acknowledged as one
of the best put out by any school
in the country. It has the third
largest enrollment in the United
States, and it owns as famous a set
of chimes as is to be found anywhere
in the world. It, like our own State
College, is "Founded to promote the
practical and liberal education of the
Industrial classes." In conjunction
with our Pullman school it is turn
ing out trained men and women who
can do expert work In the different
industries of the state, who are en
gaging in those manufacturing proc
esses and those building and con
structive operations which involve*
civil, electrical and mechanical en
gineering. From these two institu
tions come many of our lawyers,
teachers and newspaper men; our
modern farmers, our artisans and our
professional men; our home makers,
our legislators, our officials — m
short, a great number of our most
broadly educated citizens.
There are now nineteen regular de
partments of work In the Washing
ton State Collegeeach one having
its own particular field in preparing
future citizens, and in promoting the
practical and liberal education of
those who are already citizens. No
statement could be more true than
that of President Bryan when, in a
recent report, he said The Stat-;
College tries to fulfill the very widest
function, and in so doing to com.-
In contact with the Industrial life
of all the people of the state." To
make the services of the institution
available to the greatest number, ex
tension work has been established in
the form of winter short courses,
summer sessions of six weeks dura
tion, farmers* institutes varying
from one day to a week in length,
and demonstration trains which
cover entire sections of the state
within a week. Each winter "The
College on the Hill" gives short
courses In mining, forestry, sericul
ture, horticulture, animal husbandry,
dairying and home economics; each
spring it sends out 'i school on
wheels—a train equipped for the
teaching of agriculture, horticulture
and home economics; each year it
makes educational exhibits at all the
principal fairs and shows, and each
year it sends out farmers' institute
workers to preach the gospel of bet
ter crops, better farm homes and
better living.
Our three normal schools, founded
at bout the same time that the State
College was established, and located
at Bellingham, Ellensburg and Che
ney, have had varied experiences,
but despite the ravages of fire and
the unfavorable wind of popular
opinion, which deplores the mainte.
nance of three institutions which du
plicate the work of each other, they
have grown and are doing great, work
in standardizing the degree of effi
ciency required in the teachers of
the state. We may get some idea
of the trend of education in the
Northwest today by noting the
courses that, are being emphasized in
tin- noma! schools. Manual train
ing, woodwork, agriculture, sewing,
cooking, and play—these are the
practical subjects which are being
taught along with the three "It's"
of our own childhood days. The nor
mal schools are aiding in the estab
lishment of the model rural districts,
where the proper correlation of
classes in an ungraded school, the
arrangement of a flexible program
for daily work, a limited amount of
domestic science, manual training
and agriculture, the hot lunch, im
proved school grounds, suitable play
apparatus, and the social center Idea
are being tried out.
The state is not narrow in its
conception of education, for it pro
vides not only for those whom nature
has endowed with unimpaired facul
ties for making their way ln the
world, but also ,for those who are at
a disadvantage because of some
physical defect. The School for the
Deaf and Blind is located at Van
couver, and the School for the Fee
ble Minded at Medical Lake. There
are at present 122 children in the
School for the Deaf, where the
course follows closely that of the
public schools. Not a single grad
uate of this novel and most beneficial
institution has ever bean in jail or
in the poorhouse record which
none of our institutions of higher
learning can equal.
At Chehalis is located the State
Training School, where boys between
the ago of 8 and 18 are committed
for unruly behavior. It has a farm
of 250 acres, scientifically manage
by a State Colege graduate, where
the boys find plenty of work to do,
and where much of the food for their
subsistence is grown.
The State Reformatory is con
ducted on the principle of the re
formative value of education, and
inmate work Is required em all sorts
of constructive work — barberlng,
baking, laundering, boot and shoe
repairing, nursing, and, in fact, ev
erything that pertains to the lite* of
those confined there. F. F. Nalder,
'01, was appointed director of edu
cation at the reformatory January
1, 1912.
Not the least of the educational
factors of th.- state are the large pri
vate schools, such as Whitman,
Gonzaga, Whit worth, and Spokane
College., and the University of Puget
Sound. The business college, which
has been the means of furnishing
night schools for many ambitious
workers, also occupies a prominent
place.
lt was only a little over a year
ago that the State Inspector of High
Schools, Mr. Edwin Twitmeyer, re
ported that "The school situation in
the state of Washington Is exceed
ingly full of hope and encourage
ment. With the character and in
telligence of her people and with her
marvelous resources now in a pro
cess of rapid development, there is
no reason why she should not rank
among the* very foremost education
ally."
Just a few weeks ago came the re
port of the division of education of
the Russell Sage foundation that
"The schools 0 the state of Wash
ington are the most efficient in the
nation." This bureau in making "a
comparative study of school systems
in the forty-eight states," places
Washington first, with Massachusetts
a close second and New York third.
This is the romance of the Wash
ington school—the story of its hum
ble beginning In a log cabin at Wai
latpul, until Its present standing as
the- best In the nation.
LOREN DUMAS,?,I4.
CO-OPERATION AMONG FARMERS
(By H. J. Waters, President Kansas
State Agricultural College.)
(Continued from last week)
Another way In which the breed
ers might co-operate to great profit
would be to lay aside their prejudices
and breed one class of stock ln a com
munity. That is, instead of one farm
er in a community breeding short
horns, another breeding Herefords,
another Angus and another Gallo
ways, let all concentrate on a single
breed of each class. If this were
done, there would be enough short
horn cattle, for example, produced In
the community that specialized in
this breed to establish a reputation
throughout the state for that com
munity as short horn center and
buyers would be attracted without a
large outlay for advertising or show
ing.
Another source of great loss in
animal breeding is the sacrifice of
sires before their value becomes
known or before their usefulness Is
ended. The owner seldom is able to
dispose of a useful sire at more than
common stock prices, even though Its
value is known to be very great.
Every year hundreds of very valuable
sires are slaughtered at the packing
houses long before their usefulness Is
ended and young and untried sires
take their places at the heads of our
herds. By such a co-operative
arrangement as is here suggested, a
breeder having an impressive sire
could notify the college authorities
and a member of the staff could visit
the farm, inspect the get of the sire
and record him for sale* according to
his actual merits. The Agricultural
College of each state should become
a clearing house for its farmers,
helping them to sell their products
and to buy what they need.
To illustrate the value of such a
bureau, this fall Kaunas had a large
apple crop and it was certain that
many of our farmers would have dif
ficulty in selling their apples to ad
vantage. A member of the College
Extension Staff is an experienced ap
ple merchant as well as a successful
orchardist. It was made his business
to find buyers for Kansas apples.
Over 400 carloads were sold through
this means. In the main, these sales
were for small growers, men who are
least experienced in selling this crop.
One morning a letter came to the
College from a man In Leavenworth
county requesting a buyer for a car
of Jonathans. The same morning a
telegram was received from a mer
chant in the farmer's town not three
miles away inquiring where he could
buy a car of Jonathans. The two
were brought together, the sale made
and the apples and the money both
were* kept at home.
Co-Operative Stores
A co-operative store is a very com
plicated business and a majority of
the attempts along this line have
failed. I believe that the establish
ment of proper relations between the
farmers and the townspeople, where
by both work toward the develop
ment of the country and the upbuild
ing of the town, will prove more
profitable to the community as a
whole than an attempt on the part
of the farmers to operate their own
store.
Nevertheless, if it is desired to es
tablish such a store, and doubtless
there are communities where such an
establishment would do a great good,
the career of the most successful of
the co-operative stores is commended.
The Rochedale Stores —The foun
dation of all successful co-operation
In this line is what is known as the
Rochedale stores. The first store was
organized in 1844 by 28 poor, op
pressed, half-starved weavers In the
English town of Rochedale. Their
original capital was $140. Now it
is the most powerful system of stores
in the world. There are fourteen of
them and their yearly business is
something like 350 millions. They
do both retail and wholesale busi
ness. They operate furniture
stores, butcher shops, savings banks
and sell practically everything that
people want to buy, and furnish
practically any service they may re
quire. In Edlnborough alone, the
Rochedale Stores have more than
40,000 members. In Leeds, they
have nearly 50,000 members.
Johnson County Co-Operative As
sociation— On.* of the most success
ful co-operative stores in the United
States is at Olathe, Kansas, and is
conducted by the Johnson County Co-
Operative Association. It is a Grange
store and was founded in 1876 with a
capital of $385 and with 77 members.
Its present capital is $100,000, and
its membership 900. Its first year's
business amounted to $36,840 with
a profit of $1,334. Last year the
aggregate . business was over $250,
--000 and the profit was in round
numbers $14,000. Since the store
was founded, it has done a business
of more than eight million dollars
and its total profits have amounted
to more than $500,000. The same
society now operates a bank with a
capital stock of $50,000 and a sur
plus of $50,000. It also operates a
farmers insurance company, carrying
risks of more than six millions at an
average yearly cost of $2.26 per
thousand. .
The Right-Relationship League—
The most extensive co-operative store
enterprise in this country has its
headquarters in Minneapolis and op
erates chiefly. In Minnesota, Illinois,
Wisconsin and lowa. There are more
than one hundred stores in this
group with a membership of more
than 10,000 and a yearly business
above two millions. It is patterned
after the Rochdale Stores. One un
varying policy, however, is never to
establish a new .store In a commu
nity, but always to buy out a suc
cessful store Instead, and hire, if
possible, the former owner as man
ager and his clerks as salesmen.
They have a wholesale store to act
as purchasing agent for the retail
stores. The retail stores act as ship
ping agents for their members. None
of the stores operated by this league
has failed and all have been profit
able.
Co-Operation In Selling Meat
Animals
Kansas' chief live stock business is
producing meat animals. No attempt
so far as 1 know of has been made to
co-operate in this matter.
The Meeks County (Minn.) live
stock shippers organized a shippers'
association and employed the best
live stock man in the county as man
ager. The first year they effected a
saving of from $30 to $80 a car.
At Centralia, Missouri, last winter
the stock feeders felt that it was
costing them too much to market
their cattle, sheep, hogs and horses,
and organized a live stock shippers'
sssoclatlon covering four counties
cornering at that place. They asked
for membership In the live stock ex
change at East St. Louis and were re
fused at first, but finally were ad
mitted. They now have a local man
ager at Centralia and a sales agent
in East St. Louis.
Co-Operative Butchering and Curing
Associations
Nearly all of our meat comes from
the central packing plants at Chi
cago, St. Louis, Kansas City and
Omaha. The farmers of Kansas last
year bought from five to seven mil
lion dollars' worth of meat from the
butcher shops while they were ship
ping millions of dollars worth of live
stock out of the state.
Co-operation in eliminating this
waste has reached its highest de
velopment in Denmark. The Danish
bacon Is celebrated the country over.
In that little country, about one-fifth
the size of Kansas, there are thirty
five co-operative curing plants with
ninety thousand members. They kill
annually about one million and a half
hogs. These curing plants are owned
by the farmers who produce the hogs
and are conducted by the men whom
they hire, thus the farmers own the
bacon and hams when they are cured.
At that point a co-operative export
association takes charge of the pro
duct and sends it to markets like
Liverpool, London, Paris and Berlin,
to be sold direct to the consumer, and
ance is remitted to the men who
raised the hogs.
Co-Operation Between the Farmer
and Consumer
The farmer will not make much
progress in shortening the road to
consumer until the consumer himself
becomes interested and meets the
producer half way. Obviously, the
consumer has no particular interest
in where he buys or from whom he
buys, unless he can buy at a lower
price, or can get better goods at the
same price. In a word, the advan
tages of direct selling must be shared
by both parties to the transaction.
We are now trying to educate the
farmer regarding the benefits to him
of co-operation In production and
marketing. It is Just as necessary
that the consumer be educated re
garding the advantages to him of co
operative buying. Our present sys
tem of buying is essentially wasteful.
When we were producing more food
than we could consume, there was no
particular reason for economy. Food
has since become scarce, yet we con
tinue these wasteful methods. Form
erly, the village or town lived large
ly off the surrounding country. Then
the local market was the farmer's
chief market. The town and country
were inter-dependent. Now the farm
er ships wheat he has to sell to a
central market like Kansas City, Chi
cago or New York. Now, the town
and country are Independent. ,'h
It is said that Troy, New York, re
ceives Its milk supply from New
York City. With a favorable season
and a bountiful harvest in Kansas,
Minnesota cabbage, Washington ap
ples, Texas onions, New Jersey peas
and corn, Wisconsin butter and
cheese, are staple articles of diet in
Manhattan. ?/,?
lowa does not produce as much
wheat as her people eat. Yet, she
ships out of the state one-fourth of
what she produces and buys back
several times this amount.
The farmers of the South ship live
cattle from 300 to "but! miles to St.
Louis, and buy back beef sides ship
ped in refrigerator cars with icing
charges added.
The farmer has lost whatever in
terest he had in the town and the
city man his interest ln the
country. There is nothing truer than
that the country and the town are
independent while they should be ln
ter-dependent. The man ln tbe town
should be as much Interested in the
development ot the country, and in
providing a good market for what is
produced locally, as he Is in develop
ing the streets, parks and schools of
his town, and as he ls in establishing
new Industries in the town.
In Kansas City they are conducting
'a campaign to educate the people of
that city and of the regions round
about to use Kansas City-made pro
ducts. Do you suppose they have
thought the proposition through far
enough to include in that campaign a
suggestion that their own people give
preference to those things that are
grown in these regions? In short, are
they willing to meet us half way, by
buying our products if we buy
theirs?
How much of the yearly business
of the local grocer originates in the
locality in which he does business.'
How much of it comes from a hun
dred miles away, and how much
from five hundred miles away? It
would surprise you to know how
small a part of what is consumed in
your town is produced in your
county, and I know you do not re
alize how much of what is locally
grown is shipped out of the com
munity; and of similar material
grown elsewhere is shipped in. This
is not wholly and perhaps not chief
ly the fault of the merchant, but it is
really the fault of the producer and
the consumer quite as much as of
the merchant.
We are all creatures of habit Con
venience weighs heavily with us. The
local merchant or the local consumer
has no inherited objection to patron
izing the local producer. In fact, If
his attention were called to it, he
really would prefer to do so, all
things being equal. But the local
producer cannot expect the merchant
or the consumer to put himself to
too great inconvenience, merely to
discharge what he may clearly rec
ognize in the abstract as his duty
to the local producer. The farmer
must plan to have his supply come
as regularly as possible, and, above
all things, to keep it up to the stand
ard in quality and to have It so
packed and handled that it Ib at
tractive to the eye and easy to sell.
In short, the farmer must cater to
his market Just as the merchant
does. Unlesß he will do this much,
he cannot get the business and does
not deserve to have It.
Burdens of the Consumer Lay Upon
the Merchant and Farmer
As stated before, the consumer is
as much in need of education as Is
the producer. We give little thought
to the effect our purchase may have
upon the development, of local or
state Industries. We are just as
happy with a broom made in Michi
gan, the brush for which perhaps
was grown in our own state and ship
ped six hundred miles to have a
handle attached, as we would be with
one made In our own community. We
buy western apples by the peck and
let better apples rot in the neighbor
hood for want of a market. A neigh
bor kills a beef or a few hogs and
part of the meat wastes because he
cannot use it all In his own family.
In the meantime we have patronized
the butcher shop, the meats of which
come from the city.
The consumer buys in small lots
usually over the telephone and in
sists upon Immediate delivery. He
has gotten out of the habit of buying
In quantity. Formerly the winter
supply of apples, potatoes, onions,
etc., were laid in in the fall. Now
they are purchased as needed from
day to day, and usually ln quantities
not to exceed a peck. This prac
tically prevents the farmer from sell
ing direct to the consumer. He has
not the time to deliver daily and in
such- small quantities. The remedy
is to be found in the consumer being
encouraged to buy in larger quanti
ties, or in establishing local co-oper
ative markets where the farmers' rep
SPRAY CALENDAR FOR 1913
,
The State Agricultural Experiment Station at Pullman, Washing^ |
has just issued Popular Bulletin No. 52, "The Spray Calendar for 1918. I
prepared by Professors A. L. Melander and H. B. Humphrey.
This bulletin, like former Spray Calendars, gives ln condensed tabul* j
form the latest and best remedies for the insect and fungus pests wW j
infest orchard, garden, and farm crops, which have been discovered ..' j
the Experiment Stations or ln actual field work. This partlc-i 1* I
"Calendar" Ib more complete than any former one and contains sugg*^
remedies for practically every pest which has been found to occur in *' -
state.
» Directions are given, not only for the method of applying the t_* j
materials or other remedial measures, but also for the preparation of •** ]
of the more common of the washes or solutions which , are used W i
spraying purposes. ?
Copies of the bulletin may be obtained free by writing to ** J
Director of the Experiment Station, Pullman, Wash.
resentatlve may take orders and __\ I
deliver the material for all the _?_ •
hereof the association. „•■■* I
A merchant in Emporia, Kan*,
told me that It cost th. retail m*
chants of that city of ten thousand 1
habitants thirty thousand d 011... ;
last year to deliver their goods fro"
the stores to the homes of their ci
tomers.
Why Should Not the Farmers (_,
Operate?
The farmer is the only class 0 < i
large economic Importance that i !
not compactly organized for its 0 _
protection and progress. He buys aw
sells, and conducts all his busmen
as an individual without any regard
for the welfare of his fellow farmer ;
He accepts without successful p-^.
test the price fixed by others 08
what he produces. He pays the prl* l
fixed by others on what he buys. ■
does not fix the price upon either
what he buys or sells.
Economically the most important
member of society, the farmer, ha.
nothing to say about the terms under
which he will work. Co-operating _.
might easily remedy this situation
and become an efficient business mat
as well as an efficient producer.
Co-Operation Will Help »<» Bevel,.
Leaders
The great need of the rural districts
is capable leaders. This is the firs;
real step in rural progress. These
leaders must be found among the
rural people. There has been i
notable lack of leaders in the coun
try, not because men and wome
capable of leadership have not bet.
developed among the farmers main): 1
because the farmer has refused to .
led. The laborer in recent years h.
been easy to organize and easy ti
lead. The farmer has always bee:
difficult to organize and difficult tc
lead. The laborer has been ready tt
reward his leaders and has been in
tensely Interested in the cause o!
labor. The farmer has been preju
diced, suspicious and in no parties
lar degree Interested in the cause i
agriculture. Politically he has bee
inefficient. His devotion to party ii
general has been greater than his de
votion to occupation. The govern
ment thus far has failed to formulate
an agrarian program because tit
farmers have been divided political,;
and content to vote mainly on city
problems.
A characteristic of the manage
nent of our great railway system:
and of all successful big business I
that of recognizing merit within it |
own ranks and rewarding this mer;
with its prizes. By this means _
railways and other big corporation ?
have been able to attract and to hoi
the best talent of the country at coir
paratlvely low wages merely for t_
chance at the larger opportunity
ahead.
We must not, however, lose sigh:
of the fact that the largest and mo;
important task is to encourage tlf
country people to help themselves
This strengthens; to help them de -
stroys. They must be taught how t<
render effective community service
Up to this time the farm has beet
looked upon as merely a place te
making a living. It is too much c' 1
a factory and not enough of a home |
The farmer has regarded the tow:
or the city as the place in which I
spend his money and his leisure.
Institutes must be established '
the country that will satisfy the re
qulrements of all the members of tt
family. There must be communis
tasks if we are to interest and hoi
the best people in the country. Witt
out a task a community is a decadet
rural village. Oberammergau, wit
the Passion Play as a communi:
task has held its best people, M
has commanded the attention of tl |
world. The annual rendering of tl
"Messiah" at Lindsberg, Kans*
has been a community task lart
enough to hold the best stock (
that community for more than '- |
third of a century.
Special prices on Dry Cleaning.
Until March Ist, ladles' pi*l
skirts, dry cleaned and pressed, IV
ladles' plain suits, $1.50. Met
suits, dry cleaned and pressed, $1-5'
dyed and pressed, $3.00. We pay"
turn postage. Write for Dry CleU
ing and Laundry price list. Mob'
| must accompany order.—ldeal Lam
dry Co., Spokane. feb 7-'