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Show Roads And Schools The little red schoolhouse continues con-tinues its retreat before the motor age. Its rate of disappearance is definitely proportioned to the increase in-crease in improved highways. This is well borne out by a recent re-cent comparative analysis of school and highway data by the American Ameri-can Road Builders' Association. These statistics, dealing with fiv.' typical states, reveal strikingly the meaning of better transportation to improvement in educational facilities. fa-cilities. In North Carolina, the analysis hows, there were 2,989 one-room schools in 1924, and 1,714 miles of improved highway. By 1930 the first-class highway mileage had increased to 4,025, while the number num-ber of single-room schools had declined de-clined to 1,400. The state presents one of the most emphatic evidences evi-dences of the principle that th consolidation of rural schools is entirely a matter of efficient transportation. Indiana, in the Middle West has made the same kind of progress. pro-gress. In 1924 that state had 3-452 3-452 one-room schools and only 9i'i miles of first-class highways. In 1930 the number of schools had dropped to 2,050, while good road mileage had Increased to 3,137. Precisely the same trend is shown in the other three states covered by the comparison Virginia, Alabama Ala-bama and South Carolina. Commenting on the analysis, T H. Cutler, President of the "American "Ameri-can Road Builders' Association, says: "The states studied comparatively com-paratively may be taken as typical typi-cal of the situation which shws that S""hct.l consf.l.tintions are continuing con-tinuing to be made pt a rate definitely de-finitely proporticnod to the improvements im-provements in state highway sjs-tems sjs-tems In the old days- it was ne". esarv to take the school to the child because if, was impossible to! take the child to the school. :;ow that condition is reversed and 'he little red schcnl he use is definitely on Its way out of tho social pic-tur pic-tur of the United States." Better reads better schools - better opportunities. The threa go well to-gether. |