National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1879-06-18
An OPEN LETTER


10 lDe commissioners Ol the
GENTLEMEN With CONSERVATION, because
of want of time to do my duty, l learn there is
movement led by earnest women to have me ap-
pointed trustee on the school board of the Dis
trict TO I'll the first vacancy which, in course
Of time, is sure to occur. 1t is believed by
these ladies that power will be given me to
fish from the depths of the primary depart
ment the invisible misery, aud bring the suf-
ferings of the little ones into full view Of the
public eye Above reach on the branches of
the iree.school tree hang tho high.scliool
graduates in all stages of premature growth,
dry rot and rapid decay forced to this un.
fortunate state by ambitious teachers, At tn e
same time psodded by u superintendent, who
must earn his salary though tho fruit falls
while in the condition Of Western per,im.
mon before touched by the lips of the frost
| Cropping in the shadows at the foot of tho treo
| of knowledge may bo found the innOcents,
packed like sardines in box ia the musty
| rooms Of old tonemcnts, or the easements Of
| unhealthy school houses, dcnicd light and
| exercise in spring time subject 10 draughts
and scorchcd furnace mir in midwinter, in
number from forty to seventy apportoned to
each teacher, is 1t not time, gentlemoi, for
! the rulers of the District TO call "halt?n
| lllc puDllC hGllDUl system, aA lOUIlleu DY our
fathers, was intended to benefit that class oil
children too destitute to obtain the rudimonts
| of an education in any other way ; but to-day
only the primaries are filled with the poor and
| from their doors emerge that long, sorr0wiul
| train that terminates on the battlefield in the
struggle for bread, The hand Of labor paws
| the taxes while Vanderbilt goes free and will
| this blOod-money Is built the higll.school pal
aces where the children of leisure in theii
| glowing teens clad in fine and costly raimont
| vie aud compete in the same branches OF edu
cation that is taught in the most costly iust
| tutions OF learning in the land. The poor child
has neither clothes nor support that he may bI
polished in the high schools, but he is on th,
! street, shut out of his apprenticeship by trade,
unions, fighting and starving for bread.
Whence comes the long line of criminals ant
paupers that fiji our iais aud almshouses, in
cluding that dense mass OF ignorance at the
polls that fills official life with the kind of met
that makes such injustice possible? From tn,
neglected horrors Of the primary school emerge
the Opaque gnOlancc--tho poor mental dwarf
cheated of his right TO have his characte
formed Tor is il not true that the man of tn
future is concealed in the husks Of the frs
dozen years?
1t is a well known fact that fine dress la
become such u necessity in the public school
that many Of the poorer children remain ava.
rather than endure the sneers Of their haught,
schnol,matos. A mechanics wife iutOrmc,
mo that her children, naturally fond Of thel
books, had TO be forced 10 90 10 school beGaus
their coarse shoes were subject 10 ridicule.
this the term inaton of the wisdom prajecte
by our fathers, who founded the public Schoo
system hardly moro than generation ago
Some Of our school officials declare they will 500
have the public schools on Il plane that sha
iavOrsbly compare with Harvard and Yale
Why not when these same officials have th
power 10 call school buildings out OF chaos an