The Evansville daily journal., 1858-08-11
Communicated.

there is an article from the pen of Mr. Horn
brook in reply to the petition which was
given to the public through the columns of
the Enquirer and the Tolksbote. sIr. II.
seems to be desirous to make the affair
personal one between me and the Trustees.
The issue will not accept, because it is one
between the trustees and the people, apd Nr.
Hornbrook's own good sense ought TO have
disposed him to SO regard it.
Mr. Ilornbrook has declared, unequivo-
cally, that the charge that the peoples pc
ttiOn was treated with the utmost contempt
is false. What Mr.. H. may conceive to
constitute contempt | cannot say. but when
petition, like the one in question, is re-
spectfully presented to the proper persons,
and those persons deem il unworthy of their
serious attention, and when reply to it is
demanded and none given, | think those
persons may justly bc accused of supercil-
iousness, and their action may be properly
designated as contemptuous
But Mr. Wheeler, to whom the petition
was presented, was not only disdainful but
insolcnt and insulting, inasmuch as he in
dulged in personal reflections against the
motives and characters of men, respectable,
industrious, influential and honest. whose
signatures were attached to the petition. II
such deineanor is not contemptuous. and
if such conduct does not constitute CONTEMPT.
then my comprehension is immeasurallv at
fault.
Mr.. IIornbrook assigns the financial en-
baf'rassments of the city, as an adequate
justification of their course of action in the
fixing of the teachers salaries, and in the
superceding of myself as teacher in the male
department IF the Park school. Retrencli-
mcnt in the expenses of the institutions of
the city, educational or otherwise, is doubt
less a prudential, excellent, praiseworthy.
and necessary measure, but can that be
called retrenehment which takes from one
te icher a portion of his corp n at 'ol, and
adds TO the salaries of other teachers? Will
such a proceeding lessen the expense? VIII
it not rather increase IL? Besides, is not the
position i'm question worth the remuneration
attached to it? Is the duty and service
which it imposes, overpaid at 5000 per an
mum? But when the people who contribute
the means out of which the rccompcnse is
paid, do not consider themselves aggrieved,
and are extremely willing to pay the amount,
hinder them from Obliging themselves
The rate of compensation attached TO the
situation, was established before the two
cities were consolidated, and when the school
fund was Infinitely less than it has been
since. Why, then, undertake TO reduce it?
The position which Mr.. knight held is not
more difficult, not more responsible and ar
duous, than the one in question, and as it is,
why not equalize the compensation?
rs for the slur which Mr.. IIornbrook
throws at me about breaking engagements,
it is, TO say the least, disingenuous and scarce
~ deserving notice. The Trustees were salts
fed to Shsoive me from my contract, and
told me that they could do better than tC
acccde to my demand, but how they made
out is well known. If Mr.. IIornbrook i,
only half as conscientious in discharging his
duties, as some n,en, his sclf-complacency
would appear becoming.
As for the teacher employed in my place
have not much to say, and although Hon
Horace Mann is respectable individual
yet, cannot see why his Recommendation
should outweigh the experience which the
Trustees have had in the teachers which
have filled positions in our schools for years
! But this is not in discussion; the question
is, are the wishes of the people to bcregard-
ed, and is the law to be vindicated? Viii
the Trustees, whose pleasure, as well as duty
it is to please the people, act in defiance o.
their emphatically expressed requisition p
viii they render themselves obnoxious tc
the charge of being, not public servants
anxious and jealous for the promotion o.
the public weai, but public masters, actuatet
by caprice and animated by vanity, partial
ity and prejudice.
Mr.. Hornbrook has declared that the peo
| pic OF Lamasco were humbuggcd. To dis
abuse him | append the following:
We, the undersigned, citizens of I.amaSco
| aud signerS of the petition TO the Schoo
/ Trustees of Evansville, assure Mr. Horn
brook that when We signed the said petition
we were perfectly aware of the force anC
application of our action, and we are au
4 thorized to declare in behalf of the othe
persons whose signatures accompanied ours
that they were no less sensible of what the
were about when they signed it, and ",
would furthermore respectfully beg of tn
| school trustees that our prayer shall h
heard and our request granted.
! JoHN SPEER, JOHN y. REITz,
/ CLEMENTS REgTz. JoHS GAvlsH,
THOMAS BOLTS, JR.