tration of a trustee or of a school board having the management
of the school in every respect. This board determines the length of
term; it hires and dismisses teachers, procures supplies and performs
all the functions authorized by law. It is a case where one school board
has the entire management of one small school.

[Illustration: A frame building and adequate conveyances]

[Illustration: A substantial and well-planned building]

[Caption for the above illustrations: TWO TYPES OF CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS]

=The Township System.=--The other form of organization is what is known
as the township system. Here the several schools in one township are all
under the administration of one school board. There is not a school
board for each schoolhouse, as in the district system, but one school
board has charge of all the schools of the township. Under certain
conditions it has in its power the locating of schoolhouses within this
general district. The board hires the teachers for all the schools
within its jurisdiction, and in general manages all the schools in the
same manner as the board in the district system manages its one school.

=Consolidation Difficult in District System.=--The process of
consolidation is always difficult where the district system prevails.
Both custom and sentiment cause the people to hesitate or refuse to
abandon their established form of organization. If a community has been
incorporated for any purpose and has done business for some years, it is
always difficult to induce the people to make a change. They feel as if
they were abdicating government and responsibility. They hesitate to
merge themselves in a larger organization, and hence they advance many
objections to the consolidation of their schools. All this is but
natural. The several communities have been living apart educationally
and have been in a measure strangers. They have never had any occasion
to meet in conference, to exchange thought, and to do business together;
hence they fear and hesitate to take a leap in the dark, as they
conceive it, and to embark upon a course which they think they may
afterwards regret. Consolidation frequently fails because of false
apprehensions due to a lack of social organization.

=Easier in Township System.=--It is quite otherwise where the township
system exists. Here there are no separate corporations or organizations
controlling the various schools. The school board administers the
affairs of all