The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-09-11
THE GERMAN QUESTION.
a Word 10 the Public.

In eACu Vi Lne ulOTHiHS papeTs vi ILLS
city there appeared last Thursday let
ter which was headed "The German in
the Public Schools" but which would
have been much more appropriately pre-
sented as THE German Editor Black
| guarded" because there was very little
said about the former. and very much
done of the latter The remarkable epis-
tie was perpetrated, or at least signed,
by Mr. r. IL. Cochran, and contained
nothing else but u series of slanderous at
tacks against my personal character
| The assalant descends this time so far
below the ground of decent and gentle
manly controversy, that l do not desire
| to follow hun into his new regions, and
until he rises again To more respectable
system of warfare, l shall not feel inclined
10 answer any of his letters.
thought 1t even not necessary to de-
fend myself before the public, Tor the ma
lignsncy and contemporaries OF the as
sailant is too openly shown in his attack;
but rs my friends hint that silence on my
part could be taken as acknowledgement
OF outlines, | address to my friends and
| all those who still take interest in this
them TO bear in mind that | do not col
controversy the following lines, and l beg
descend TO trickery, distortion of SEN
fences, Misrepresentation of words or
facts or any Of those Unfair means to
which my assailsnt had to resort IN order
| 10 defame me. | will stick 10 honesty and
truth.
do not think it necessary to retute
| again OF the false accusations that l call
him and those who differ with me in opin-
ion Infamous" that L wrote, will "klck'
him or anybody else as often as l can,
that said "mark" him or them, that |
advised the Germans to stop business in
tercourse with him or any one else. All
this l never wrote or said, these are al,
his own inventions and that he repeated
them Notwithstanding my REPUTATION, and
notwithstanding my declaration, that
there is no vindictiveness in my heart,
shows clearly, that his object is SANDER.
Mr.. Cochran abuses me for having
said that the Board of Education in
adopting the resolutions of the majority
report "folsted upon the public farce
This, truly, l have said, aud l stand by
it. Let the people judge.
The majority report, in order to show
how little could be accomplished in Ger
man under the former system, said:
Each pupil is allowed thirty minutes
Zach day to German, or from eighteen to
twenty school days IN each year. AT
TINS rate he would get, in ten school
wears of regular attendance, little less
than one year in German
At the conclusion of the same report
the resolution is offered;
That until high school is established
the German language shall be taught
only To pupils attending the A division
and grammar class.
While in the mind of the authors of
this report ten years OF school attendance
would not be sufficient TO give the child
rem a knowledge of German, they re-
stlict il now to two years or forty school
,{avs in German. Is not this mockery?
The Board of Education, by majority
vote, expelled the German from the low
or classes and put the Primary teachers
into the Grammar classes, At the same
time aboIshing the office of Superin-
tcndent without investing anybody else
with hts duties; so that practically there
is now no organization IN the German
department. Is this the way TO make the
study a successful one, or does 1t make
farce out of it?
MIR. Cochran claimed that German be.
longs to the high branches OF study, to
be ranged with Latin, Greek, AstronO-
nv. etc, and in the same speech he as
serted that, the teachers OF this nigh
branch are paid too much, and moved
that they be paid the lowest salary which
English PRIMARY teachers get. To his
notification, he was informed that
rart of the German teachers were paid
less than the English Primary teachers.
| Did not this give evidence OF the spirit
| N which he trested the matter, and now
much his information in this question
| amounted to!
! Mr.. Cochran emphatically exclaimed
that he was prompted by the law and by
! mis- oath to advocate the discontinuance
Of the study of German in our public
schools. and at the same time helps to
establish fraud in these same schools,
which fraud is offered in his report ''in
spirit OF compromise.
The friends of German instruction and
the friends of the public schools are very
much obliged for such bone of conten-
ton.
All the above are no inventions of
mine, but facts which l can prove by the
minutes of the meeting and by q dozen OF
witnesses; and having been myself wit
ness of these proceedings and other Incl
dents significant of the spirit of the op-
posers to German instruction, and hsv-
ing at heart the popularity OF the public
schools with the Germans, who can won
der that l went home and called these
men "kAow-nOthings.'
The new charges made by Mr.. Coch-
ran are, that in an article in my paper OF
Auoust 18th committed breach OF
etiquette by bringing private interview
before the public, and l tscitly ac-
mitted to be an enemy OF tree schools,
free thought, free speech, etc, and that l
called our public schools degraded free
schools
The article referred to appeared the
dsv sfter the first letter Of Mr.. Cochran,
and advocates, IN an inoffensive way, the
djscontinusnee of the German depart
ment in the public schools, as nothing
could be accomplished In its present
form. Referring, at the conclusion, to
Mr.. Cochran's letter, it says:
ave hold 1t unnecessary to answer
here, IN this paper, the personal attack
of Mr.. Cochran. There will be time
when liberal views will sgain gam the
, victory over intolerance, and II Mr..
Cochran, as he assured us personally
. some time ago, honestly and earnestly
will give his better conviction the prefer
ence over inherited prejudice, then we
hope to see him on the winning side.
All imputations that we were aiming st
, creating hostility, war of classes, threats,
&c, we reject most emphstically. Upon
the accusation that We are enemies OF