Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-06-24
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
An Attack Upon Secretary Lamar.

| a mask the nom de plume 'Escott Holt" is the
| Washington correspondent of the EIa.ain7r, OF
| New York city, q Baptist journal of influence
| and wide circulation, and one of his labored
efforts seems to have been to dsparage the
management of our public schools under the
late superintendent, ]. Ormond Wilson, esq.,;
who, to the great regret of this community, re-
Gently resigned his position. How any
one could be willing to deprive this
distinguished gentleman of his well-mer-
| tied high reputation, gained after almost
to the work of popular education education
| in our city, is a mystery past finding out. Had
Escott Holt consulted the fathers, mothers,
| teachers, and even the pupils of the schools, he
would have found that ]. Ormond w ilsOn stood
! i'll their estimation with the foremost in the
rank OF the public school educators OF the nine
"Escott Holt" not satisfied with his attack
upon our school management or superintend-
ency. turns his attention to the Department of
| the interior. and says:
who Visited Ta S sSHa WRe E. was I
| rotary of the Interior will remember the room adj
r macne rhs ropm ws Almost nsS "a
NJ. Lamar has had this room cleared thoroughly
orent. sofas, ottomans, divans Persian carpets and
city He has eontrved to lavish on ii more money
than was received from the sale of the horses and
Now, Mr.. Editor, the sum received for the
'horses and vehicles mentioned was "a little
''Escott Hollis statement made in his letter
| from which this extract is taken: while from
close personal examination which made
! yesterday OF this wonderfully costly, orientaly
| furnished boudoir, to which "Escott Holt
| directs the attention of the nation, it appears
old carpet, two old rugs and a few neces-
| sary articles OF furniture, including
common wooden back hair brush, cheap
comb, common towel rack and ordinary
| towel. This room before being refitted had
cross partition of mahogany, and it was deemed
proper. i'll order to meet the absolute necessities
| oi the Secretary and his assistants land which
was also deemed essential and even contem-
| plated to be supplied BY former Secretaries of
| the INTERIOR, a water-closet and bath tub were
| placed in one corner OF this room and simple
neat framework of cherry built to enclose the
vouchers, S469.65, exhibited to us, instead
| of more money than the little over three
| of undemocratic horses and carriages used
| by the officers OF the administration just
gone out of power. Why "Escott Holt mem
toned sofas, divans, OttOmans, Persian carpets
and rugs and ended up with the words 'Orien-
| tai style as flourish, no one can imagine. for
| there Is nothing answering to such grandeur in
| this little plain ante-rOum between the offices
| OF the secretary and his assistants. Comment
| as to the variance between the facts and .Escott
Holt statement is unnecessary, and
we will conclude by calling attention to
the fact that the Examiners correspondent
| seems to be out of joint with everybody and
| every timing; even the President, with all his
| national virtues and patriotism lac cannot fully
| NJ. Merricil our District judicial bench lie
referring to the selection of this eminently
qualified, highly esteemed, and truly pure man
as being one OF the mistakes of Mr.. Cleveland.
| Mr. Editor, we are pleased that your valuable
| paper has champoned with such earnestness
the interest OF public schools: and the fruit OF
! its work is seen in the announcement that Mr..
| cage, the supervising principal of the second
| pointment to the position now held by him.
| and in the same district. aud it is to b. hoped
| that you will SO present The facts that the public
Will demand that not only he. but all of those
| worthy and valuable teachers under him who
| have become alarmed shall be let alone. We
have known MIR. Gage long and intimately and
| we know, audit is conceded on all hands, that his
superior can hardly be found for the special
work assigned to him; and had the Commits
| sioner> of the District Of Columbia regarded the
| expressed will OF the people and noticed the
promises of the President of the United States
District offices. tiey would have immediateIV
ON Mr.. PaulS GecinatiOn to serve as superin-
| tendent appointed Mr. Gage to this position,
| provided the almost universal call for Mr.. j.
! OrmOnd Wilson's reappontment as superinten-
dent could not have been gratiiied.
Nor Escort HOLT"
''HOme Rule and the Public Schools.
To the Editor of THE EVENING STAR:
| communication in Sunday paper,
| although signed Fair Play is calculated to
create wrong impressions and continue q profit
| less agitation which should now be stopped. 1t
! is ostensibly written in the interests of "home
rule and in support of Mr.. Gage for superin-
! applied to the appointment of a school superin-
| tendent, is senseiess. A superintendent is not
| a ruler" and should never try to be one.
The same business principles which obtain in
| ordinary matters of life should be used in the
| management of schools. Do churches select
their pastors with reference to the ability of The
ton OF his temporary residence? Will Cornell
| university supply her vacant presidential chair
from the corps of local professors. or seek for
better man, wherever he may be founde Did
Princeton lower her standard of excellence
when she called DIR. McCOsh from beyond the
seas: is IL wiser to give one man a salary of
| $500 per annum because he lives in the Dis
trict than to give to 900 children the best
superintendent you can find: Is the annual APP
preparation of 50, 700 made to benefit the man
to whom it is paid. or is it for the benefit of the
twenty-seven thousand children who are seek
ing an education? Are taxes levied to give en-
ployment to men or to educate the children?
by the people of the United states. but to this
particular infractiOn of the principle of home
rule we hear no protest. Our city and our
The nation helps TO support them and very
large proportion of the pupils are children of
| Mr. Gage does not claim his legal residence i'm
the District, and the same can be said of the
most prominent of the male teachers now en-
| pIoyed. Most OF them were "impOrted" from
some part of the great nation which annually
helps us to pay our municipal expenses. TIE
| schools have not suffered by such methods ;,.i
| evidenced in the success OF Mr.. Gage.
1t Is true that most OF these importations
have heretofore come from one locality. Can
| II be possible that because the new superintend-
plants is now madee we are behind the west west
|
our Boosting. Even the great city of Philadel-
phia sent last year to Wisconsin for a new
superintendent and lost nothing by the ven
| ture. But the most complete answer to "Fair
Rays" project lies in the fact that
| Nh Gage himself has said that he would not
accept the position if it were offered him. More
| than this / will venture to say that he will
thank no one for using his name in connection
with the office. The new superintendent comes
here through no seeking Of his own. He had
not even an application on file. AS to his fit
ness, let him demonstrate. He comes here as
no mans man. He will be allied to no CLIQUE
If cliques exist. To do anything else than to
give him hearty welcome and cooperation
means disloyalty to the best interests of the
schools and to the thousands of children who
attend them. SCHOOL TRUSTEE.
Recreation for Clerks.
To the Editor of THE EVENING STAR:
| The movement looking to a general closing
OF business houses at noon on Saturdays
during the months of July and August is O
noble and beneficial one Yet some of our mer-
chants fail to comprehend it. They say that
their receipts for Saturday very large and
should they close their stores it would greatly
inconvenience their customers. Let it be
granted that Saturdays receipts are large, will
not the public have from Monday until Satur-
day at noon to do their purchasing? And should
TINS lessen the receipts OF Saturday the total
receipts for the week will average as before
Customers in general will favor such move
ment and cooperate with the merchants in
trying to establish this halliday holiday which