ren should be performed
by reliable and responsible drivers. This is important and most
necessary. Under such conditions there would be no danger of children
being drenched with rain in summer and exposed to cold in winter, for
the vehicles would be so constructed as to offer protection against
both. There would also be no danger of the large boys bullying and
browbeating the smaller children on the way, as is often done when they
walk to school over long and lonely roads; for all would be under the
care of a trustworthy driver until they were landed at the door of the
schoolhouse or the home.

=Cost of Consolidation.=--The cost of consolidation is always an
important consideration. Under the district system one district may be
wealthy and another poor, the former having scarcely any taxation and
the latter a high rate of taxation. It is usual that, in such cases, the
districts having a small rate of taxation are unwilling to consolidate
with others. This is one of the difficulties. Consolidation will bring
about uniformity of taxation in the whole territory affected. This is an
advantage in itself. If the old schoolhouses are in good condition there
will be somewhat of a loss in selling them and in building a large new
central building. This is another situation which always complicates the
problem. If the old buildings are worthless and if they must be replaced
in any event by new buildings, then the time is opportune for
considering consolidation.

Even after the reorganization is effected, and the new central building
located, the cost of education, all things considered, is not increased.
It is undoubtedly true that a larger amount of money may be needed to
maintain the consolidated school than to maintain all the various small
schools which have previously existed. But other factors must be taken
into account. The total amount of dollars and cents in the one situation
as compared with the total amount in the other does not tell the whole
story. For it has been found that, everywhere in the country, there is a
larger and better attendance of pupils in the consolidated school, that
more pupils go to school, that they attend more regularly, and that the
school terms are longer. Therefore the proper test of expense is the
cost of a day's schooling for each pupil, or the cost "per pupil per
day." Measured by this standard education in the consolidated school is
no more expensive than in the unconsolidated schools; ind