Some explanation is necessary of the method of procedure in compiling material for this thesis. The first step was really taken seven years ago. At that time the writer interviewed state officials at Sacramento, California, in the hope of obtaining state aid for educational finance in the Tule Lake section of the Klamath Irrigation Project. The Governor, the department of education, and the finance department were all consulted, but no legal way was discovered of using state money for the erection of school buildings in the district mentioned. Some county money was available for payment of teachers’ salary, but none for building purposes. Chapter V will relate in some detail how that particular problem was solved.
The main study began in the fall of 1934 and was carried on up to mid-summer, 1935, Letters of inquiry were sent to all states that had or still have homestead lands. These letters contained a statement of the financial problem peculiar to homestead areas during the period of “proving up” on homestead entries. They requested information as to whether any study of similar nature had ever been completed in the United States. They also requested a list of sources of information. Without exception, replies to these letters indicated that no such study had been made. While some replies contained suggestions as to sources of information, none gave any direct solution to the problem, or pointed to any source that did. These letters of inquiry were sent to state departments of education, to state universities, to historical societies, to the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, and Office of Education, and to individuals noted as specialists in school finance.
WHile awaiting these letters, the writer searched general histories, stories of pioneering in the West, histories of education, and periodicals of magazine articles relating to homesteads. In this research the librarians of the College of the Pacific and of the State Library at Sacramento gave all the assistance possible.
At no time, however, during the whole years’ study did the writer obtain any information dealing absolutely and directly with the problem at hand. It seemed best, therefore, to obtain as accurately as possible a general picture of methods of financing education in homestead states during those periods most likely to have been affected by lack of finances for a building program.
IN addition to this general study, a specific study was made of homestead areas now going through those five difficult years. This was done by means of personal visitation, by assistance of pamphlets and letters from superintendents of irrigation projects, and from educators now struggling with the perplexing difficulties of financing education in homestead areas. It was from these school men and from the writer’s own experience that information was received dealing directly with this special problem.
The writer regrets that he could not visit the great homestead states east of the Rockies to obtain first hand a more direct knowledge of how the problem was handled there forty to sixty years ago. It is likely that pioneers still living could tell how the problem was solved, or was not solved, as the case might be. Also private letters, school minutes preserved, and similar unpublished documents might give valuable information. It is to be hoped that this research may be made and the material found summarized before available sources have passed out of existence.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pacific.edu/oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-1324 |
| Date | 01 January 1935 |
| Creators | Turnbaugh, Lester |
| Publisher | Scholarly Commons |
| Source Sets | University of the Pacific |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations |
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