St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-06-15
LOUD CALL FOR REFORM
In the System and Methods Employed by
the Minneapolis Board of
Education.
Dangers Possible With Contracts With
and Purchases From Members
of the Board.
Public Demand that Mysterious Ex
ecut1ve Sessions be Thrown
Open to the Light.
Irregularities in Auditing Claims
Physicians Certificates are
Forthcoming.


for this week to take action in relation to
the charges made by the committee of arch
fleets, builders and plumbers and published
in the SUNDAY GLOBE. A. G. Austin
will probably call for a meeting and insist
upon an investigation. as his judgment and
intelligence, and not his integrity, are i'm
peached. 1t was developed yesterday that
there were several additional grounds for
complaint against the board and a general
public sentiment in favor of an overhaul
ing OF all and a change in many Of the
methods in use. There are entirely too
many executive sessions to please the pub
lie, which has no way, beyond the press. of
knowing what the board is doing. There
is entirely too many clerks and secretaries
to please the public and increase the mysti-
fcation. Ed NJ. johnson has been retained
another year at a salary OF $1,000, and
Clerk Pierson has been elected to what
seems the same position. A. G. Austin is
secretary of the board, johnson is Austin's
secretary and Pierson is sort
of sub-secretary. There has al
ways been difficulty in getting
at the minutes OF the board,
or, until the annual report is printed, of
knowing how the board disposes of the
$500, 900 which annually passes through its
hands. The public want to know about
these matters and recently expressed itself
| in decided language, upon the former exec
utive sessions of the supervisors Of the
poor. Why should the board of education
shut itself behind closed doors, keeping
from the public the public's business?
BUYING FROM MEMBERS.
It is also a noticeable fact that much of
the lumber used for building school houses
and much of the hardware employed is
bought, respectively, from Nelson, Tenney
6 Co. and Miller Bros, & Fletcher. This
may not be because 3. F. Nelson and
George Miller are members of the board
but doubtless that is the reason. This
lumber and hardware may be bought as
cheaply there as otherwise, but the public
has no knowledge of it, as there seems to
be no competitive prices offered the board
or the building committee. Ii not an ac-
tual, there is an unwrtten, law for
| bidding members of such body
| from being interested in it's purchases
or contracts. and it is manifestly wrong that
they should be. B. f. Nelson and George
Miller are gentlemen of known honor and
integrity, but the question arose. shall we
build new school house, their votes might
possibly be insensibly influenced by the
fact that if the new school were builded,
the one would furnish the lumber and the
other the hardware. These are some of
the points upon which the tax-paying
public is stirred up, and if nothing is wrong
so far the agitation can only do good.
VENTILATION NO OBJECT.
1t Is apparent, and will not be contra
dicted, that the arrangement of some Of the
schools, as pointed out by the committee,
is simply horrible as far as sanitation and
ventilation are concerned. A. r. Ankeny,
a new member of the board, and conse-
quently not responsible for any irregu-
larities, said yesterday that he knew that
this was so, but held it to be ignorance and
nothing more criminal. Many of the
school houses have no sewer connection, and
there is simply cesspOoi at the bottom
from which the ventilation pipes run into
the building. The only ''pure air'' con-
duit, as teacher says. ''haS to be shut off
on account of the horrible odor." AS fast
as the sewer connections can be made they
will be, but in the meantime the presump-
ton is these hundreds of children must be
subjected to this ''black- hole-of- Calcutta"
system of ventilation, and the city health
officer may as well increase his stock fever
cards for immediate use.
Mr.. Ankeny has inaugurated one or two
reforms since his term began, and has ex-
pressed the determination OF continuing the
good work. The matter Of auditing claims
by the finance committee he found very If
regular. For instance, a stock of bills from
Nelson, Tenny & Co. had pinned on them
slip Of paper certifying to their correct
ness, signed by Supt. Britain. Another
lot from Miller Bros. & Fletcher We're not
certified as correct, and even Mr.. Britain
could not tell where all the goods had been
used. ''These bills" said MI. Ankeny,
were simply laid Oh my desk, with pen
full of ink, for me to indorse as
correct. The result was they did not
go through that meeting, and since
then, bills are properly certified" Mr..
Ankeny is member of the committee on
claims, with Mr.. Austin and Maj. Hale,
and it seems Mr.. Austin had been quietly
running this branch of the board business
to suit himself.
OPPOSED TO SECRECY.