The Evening critic., 1881-06-28
SCHOOLS AND sTATIoN-HoUsEs.
The Trustees Interview the Presi
dent on the Subject.

A delegation of ex-schOol trustees in
Guiding Messrs. Hovey, Browne, Reyburn,
johnson, Hart, Cragin, Robinson, Scott,
Wolf and Murtagh, had an audience with
the President to-day. Gen. Hovey acted rs
spokesman and read the following address:
We are here, Mr.. President, to ask your
Intervention to prevent what we deem to
be great wrong, now about to be pcrpe-
trated against the school children of the
District.
The Commissioners of the District of CO.
lumbia are proposing and preparing to take
the playground adjoining the Henry and
High school buildings, and to build thereon
u permanent and costly police statiOn-house,
81 feet long, 3 stories high, to be cmbcl-
lished, we are told, with all the graces of
architecture. Back of this ambitious and cx-
pensive structure, and next to the school
houses, they propose to build a Jail and u
stable.
The place referred to- Mr.. President, is the
lot on Seventh street northwest, between o
and p streets, originally purchased of Mr..
Corcoran for II market.
On this lot the Commissioners have
erected the Henry school-house, with ca
pacity for 700 pupils, and are about to erect
a High-school building, with capacity for
800 or 1000 pupils. These buildings will
occupy the whole of the east end of the lot,
leaving the west end, along Seventh street,
for n playground for the two schools. There
is absolutely no other space in that locality
available for the purpose. The adjoining
streets are business thoroughfares, each one
of which has horse-railrOad.
And now come the Commissioners and
propose to wrest this playground from
the school children and appropriate it to the
Police Department as site for station
al:
the streets for recreation and exercise.
Against this unfriendly act toward the
public schools we have respectfully remOn-
strated to the Commissioners, and have re-
ceived no response, except such as comes to
us through the public press
This purlOining the only possible space
available rs II playground for two great
schools, though perhaps the worst, consid-
ering the use proposed for it, is not the first
unfriendly act on the part of the present
Commissioners toward the public schools.
They undertook, by their Estimates" to
divert the usual and much-needed appro-
priation for school buildings, recommended
by the school board, to the streets; but
Congress declined to become party to any
such discrimination against the public
schools, and restored the appropriation.
/ Mr. President, we complain of this sta
| ton house scheme rs hostile to the public
schools.
! We denouncc it as tending to corrupt the
manners and morals of school children by
familiarizing them with crime and crimi-
nails and all the sights and surroundings of
a city police station. They cannot help see
ing and hearing what is brought before
their eyes and within reach of their ears
We have heretofore, in our letters to the
Commissioners characterized this station
house scheme as g little less than mon.
strous," and have protested against it, but
so far rs we know, without result.
We now come, asa last resort, to you, the
responsible head of the District govern
ment, and pray you to interposc and prevail
upon the Commissioners to stay their hands
and spare the public schools this latest
blow, so manifestly injurious and offensive.
The President asked one or two questions
MS to his authority in the matter, and said
that they seemed to have u very strong case.
He would look into the matter, see what
was to be said on the other side and do what
| he could