Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 19, Number 14, DeMotte, Jasper County, 4 March 1949 — Are The People Capable Of Self Government [ARTICLE]

Are The People Capable Of Self Government

The 'following was submitted by Keener Township Trustee, Mr. Andrew Sipkema, who feels, as we do, that it is well worth your time to read. By Adelbert Neese Ex-School Teacher and Trustee, Worth Township, Boone County, Indiana “Let the people know the facts and the country will be saved.”— Abraham Lincoln. “Townships are the most democratic of govenmental institutions, since they are so close to the people. Their work is done unde-n the eye of the citizen to a degree not true of other governmental units.”—Oka Flick, Head of the Social Studies Department of Arsenal Technical School in Indianapolis, author of “Indiana, The State, and Its Government.” This is the largest high school in Indiana. A number of newspaper articles have appeared in a few of our newspapers in large cities condemning Township Schools and Trustee management. Let us look j"at the facts. I want to speak in 1 defense of Trustees who have been ; referred to as a group of “Ignorant and incompetent public officials.” We have about one and onehalf million voters in Indiana. All of these people have the privilege of voting for a trustee in the township in which they reside just like they have the privilege of voting for county, state, and national officials. Certainly no one would admit that a trustee iis so intelligent that he can fool all the people of his township. Certainly no one would admit that there are no intelligent voters in every township in Indiana. It must never be forgotten that the difference between our form of government and that of dictatorship in the privilege of the voters in the United States to elect those whom they desire. Of course, if the people are so ignorant and so incompetent that they are not able to and elect i those whom they desire, then, it is high time that we bring about the needed changes so that the few well-informed may take over and do as is done in Communistic Russia. In that country the masses are considered too ignorant to select and elect from among the people because no one from among

the people is . intelligent enough to be selected. ..j The ; second complaint, is that the . township trustee employs inferior teachers. Are not the teachers in the township school in Indiana trained in the same colleges, by the same porfessors, by the same taxpayers money as the teachers in the city schools? Let the cities tell the public how many of their teachers are not college graduates, and maybe the ignorant public may be able to make a just comparison. Third, we are told that school buildings are in a .deplorable condition in Township Schools. Some are and should be replaced. Others should be repaired. That is true of Indianapolis, Marion County and also of Monroe County. Manual Training High School in Indianapolis is being rebuilt at another place. And as pointed out in an editorial in the Indianapolis Star a few days ago some of the grades buildings in Indianapolis need remodeling and rebuilding, the same as some school in Monroe County. Let us compare the school buildings in Marion County outside of Indianapolis with those inside the corporation limits. Indianapolis is located wholly within Marion County. Warren Central, Pike Township.- Decatur Central and other schools in Marion County would be on a par - with any in the city and certainly very superior to most of the city schools buildings in Indianapolis. Certainly Indianapolis is not the only city in Indiana that needs repairs and new buildings. The way to find out is to go to the various county seats and talk with the people who have children who are under city school management and see how many are clamoring for improvements of the school buildings in their cities. The > fourth complaint lodged ngainst the trustee management is that it is .too expensive. I challenge anyone to show that centralization has not always increased cost of operation in schools. We are told as a fifth count ■ against . township management' that children of the rural communities do not have an equal chance with. the children of the cities. Two things should be remembered, namely, that the most important positions in government, in business, in farming and in the professions have come and are coming from these rural areas. It might be well to find out where the farmer President of Indiana University as well as the present President of the United States received his schooling in the rural areas. Well may we ask, can “Any Good Thing Come Out of Nazareth,” a statement with a rural setting? The wise of Jerusalem asked the question. After two thousand years all know the answer. Tet us look at some of the recommendations. One is that a nonpartisan board of five to be selected for each county. Does anyone believe that could be done? Is anyone so innocent ? How could we expect a people who are so ignorant that they do not have the intelligence to select desirable trustees be expected to become intelligent enough to select a nonpartisan board of five members? Does belonging to a party mean that people are ignorant ? We pride ourselves in this county on our party system. It has its faults, but it still is far superior to communistic, Nazi, Fascist, dictatorship. In an article recently published in an Indianapolis paper it stated that the peope were ready to stand up and be counted. That is fine. That is the Township Trustees’ resolution as adopted in their state convention in December 1948. The Resolution reads

as follows: -a Resolution No. 11 ' Be It Resolved, that the Indiana Township - Association go oir record asrfacvoring 'legislation to the-end that tberconsolidatk>n of tovm ships .• ‘school trrqmships and schools shall be accomplished in the most democratic manner; namely, upon the vote of the people affected thereby, by way of referendum. If the people vote for iaztion they should have it. This whole problem, like other problems of government, should be settled by the voters. The great majority of the trustees have in the past and will continue in the future, to try to carry out the wishes of those whom they represent. The proposed change has taken place in Floyd County. This has been publicized as an object of admiration according to an article { in the Indianapolis Sunday Star of December 5, 1948, transportation costs increased in Floyd County from $46,317 ot $54,229 under the County Unit System. Is this a saving? The tax levy increased 60 cents. Now Floyd County is in the south part of the State. We should all turn our faces southward toward Floyd County under the County Unit System. Then we should continue southward where the County Unit System prevails, even to the deep ; south of Florida, where the Chief of the Study Commission, namely, Dr. Morphet,- comes from to advise and counsel the people of Indiana on how to set their educational house in order. Now, let us make a comparison of the township school trustees with other men, first as to education. Some school trustees are college graduates, some are high school graduates, some are eighth grade graduates. This pattern is just like that of the President of the U. S.; just like that of the Congress of the U. S.; just like that of the Governors of Indiana; just like that of the bankers of Indiana; just like that of the business men of Indiana; just like that of the farmers of Indiana; just like the editors of Indiana. t Second, the occupations from which the trustees of Indiana are drawn are farmers, business men, laboring men, insurance men and school teachers. I, myself, am a former school teacher. Two of my colleagues in Boone County are also former school ' teachers. Other counties have school trustees who are teachers and who were educated in the same colleges by the same professors as the so-called and self-styled eduated city reformers. Since I am a trustee in Boone County let us look at the facts and see what has been done in Boone County under the Trustee System. The County at one time had 117 schools and 117 teachers. Today, it has 16 schools. This is a reduction of 86.32 per cent. The people of Boone County started changing their schools in 1898 when the people consolidated two of their schools. The process has been in operation for more than 50 years. Now, it seems fair to believe that the people will continue to make such changes as time and experience warrants. Aonther thing, these articles do not mention is, that the community spirit would be lost in the County Unit Plan. This spirit is very vital in community life and in our form of government. It is very gratifying to note that the study commission have at last become interested in what the public has been doing for more than half a century. Third, the members of the General Assembly of Indiana have all voted for a trustee in 1946. That statement applies to both the members of the 1947 State Legislature and the members of the 1949 State Legislature. Certainly no Legislator would admit he or she has not

sent every section, of Indians. However, they are asked to .believe that they selected and. elected “irresponsible people” who are too “ignorant” and too “indifferent” to -manage the schools of their community. The people of Indiana have heard reference made in public discussions of the County Unit System in West Virginia. It is true that West Virginia has the County Unit System. According to the State Directory it has 56 counties and 55 county superintendents who completely control the schools and their counties. There are no city superintendents in West Virginia because there are no city school systems. The county in which Charleston, the state capital, is located, has over 1,600 teachers and more than 46,000 children, all under the county I superintendent of schools. Maybe that should be done in Marion County. Maybe Indianapolis School Board should be eliminated and have a group of five people selected from the county at large, to select a county superintendent who would be the county superintendent of all the schools of Marion County including Indianapolis. The school trustees of Indiana being well informed as to county unit procedure in West Virginia and other states, passed the following resolution in the state meeting in December 1948. This resolution is in harmony and keeping with the county unit. It reads as follows: Resolution No. 12 Be It Resolved, that the Indiana Township Trustees Association go on record as favoring legislation to the end that upon the adoption of the county unit system of schools in any designated county, such centralized unit system of schools shall include the entire manaement and operation of all

such unit aytasn shall be gwenK ed by the County Board -of Education existing in such county at the time of such adoption. In the beginning God gave man the right to choose. That right is the hasis of our American Democracy today. I am asking all voters to read the first two quotations. I believe that the

dmM h m Uni* Godgiven right to decide by their fob, whether they want the Cotmiy Unit Plan or not. Mrs. Fay Curtin and Grace Cheever attended the Red Cross dinner at Rensselaer last Monday night. Mrs. Fay Curtin is the Red Cross chairman for this town* ship.