Page 125 - Cornelius Hedges Story

For This And Succeeding Generations Gardiner 112

An extract from Superintendent Hedges’ 1884 report, which
appeared in Lesson’s 1885 History of Montana, alludes to the two
years of progress made during his term:

“There are at present about 200 school districts in the
Territory, those in larger places employing several teachers and
continuing the terms during nine months, but the larger number
not more than four months, making the average between five
and six months. The number of children of school age in the
Territory is about 14,000, and about 54 per cent of that number
is enrolled as scholars. If the enrollment were reckoned on the
age of actual attendance - 5 to 15 years - the per cent would be
over 70, and the per capita of money expended in education
would be as great as that in any state of the Union. There are no
normal schools in Montana for training teachers, and relatively
high wages are paid to induce their coming from other states,
the average of teachers’ wages for all grades, per month, being
$60.”370
On March 3, Governor B. Platt Carpenter re-nominated Cornelius
Hedges as Territorial Superintendent, but he, was rejected by the
Council on the 5th. On the 6th, Hedges wrote, “Governor agreed to
send in my name again and gave me chance to see the members.” But
again, he was rejected, and on March 10, he commented, “Realized
fully for the first time that I had been sold out by all the Republican
members of the Council.” On the 11th, he added, “Seriously thinking
what to do to increase income -Wife takes it very hard.” On March
12, Professor W. W. Wylie was nominated and confirmed, and
Hedges turned over the effects of his office to Wylie on March 18.371
Still, true to his concern for the best interests of Montana education,
he attended institutes after leaving office.372 Cornelius Hedges was
also active in the Montana Territorial Teachers’ Association and was
elected its second President in 1883 at Deer Lodge.373
Although Judge Hedges’ most concentrated efforts in Montana
education were directed to the promotion of public schools on
the primary and secondary level, he was also vitally interested in
promoting schools of higher learning.
On June l2, 1882, a proposed University of Montana was
incorporated in Helena, and Hedges was among the nine elected as
trustees. Among the others were Governor B. F. Potts, Chief Justice
Decius Wade, Helena’s Mayor E. W. Knight, W. F. Sanders, and