St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-08-30

report itself came as a surprise to him,
and entirely without warning, and with
out the knowledge of the board. Mr..
Scheffer undertook to placate the doc
tor, and said that he had informed him
in a conversation of the course he, the
president, had taken. He reiterated
that it was not an authoritative move
ment, but he had considered it unavOid-
able In the best interests of the schools.
DR.. Smith insisted that positively no
information concerning the committee
had been conveyed to MIN. and he siren
uOusly objected to that method of doing
the business of the board. He did not
consider it proper to refer matter of
paramount interest 10 two members of
the board and then expect the board TO
act without an investigation. No body
of public officials can transact business
without abiding by certain prescribed
forms, he insisted. Tine chair had ut
terly ignored the organization of the
board. The matter should have been
considered by quorum of the proper
committees and by them reported to
the board.
Mr.. Pyle, to relieve the president. as
he stated it. said he would report the
resolutions as an individual member of
the board, owing to the emergency.
The schools are to open next week, and
he felt that poStponement by refer
ence would be inimical to the best in
terests of public education. He object
ed, then, to the proposed reference on
the ground of lack of time, and for the
further reason of lack of coordination.
The two committees. in all likelihood,
could not meet together,
DIR. Smith repeated that the proper
committees are better qualified to pass
specific recommendation affecting their
particular departments.
IL have been for some time. and with
out success. trying to find out what was
going on" he urged. 81 suggested to
the committee on finance that some
thing should be done, and | submit that
1t is just as easy to get the finance COM
mittee together to consider these queS-
tiOns as it is to get two individual mem
bers or the board, and, Mr.. President, if
You had no confidence in the regular
committees, suppose you possibly had
the privilege of appointing this commit
tee. But | shall positively not act upon
the report tonight, as the chairman of
the committee on fuel and janitors."
DR.. Bridgman was opposed to the
reference, and he moved to adopt.
81 had knowledge of this till this
afternoon" interpolated MIR. Auerbach.
A Little Sarcasm.
Permit me to congratulate you," was
DR.. Smiths sarcastic rejoinder, for
your having had two hours notice, while
l have had but five minutes"
Mr.. Pyle suggested that the news
papers had given considerable publicity
to the matter.
"Oh, yes" returned DR.. Smith.
"Now. if there had been no more sa d
through the journals of the city than l
have fhnrp yUnnId
said to the detriment of the schools.
You have brought III here a cut-and-
dried schedule that the board knows
nothing about, and l shall not vote
upon It,"
DR.. Smith then proceeded to explain
his position at length. He insisted that
the board should return to the system
of last year. and he asserted that the
board has $4,000 more money under the
council appropriation for school main
tenance than was available in 1891. He
argued that theS report proceeds on the
basis of a budget instead of on the basis
of the schools, and that there is ample
money to preserve the schools upon last
years bas S. The way to do, he urged,
is to first find out what the expenses of
last year were, and to proceed upon
that basis. Bring before the board the
actual school expenses and the pay
rolls. and make those the basis of ap-
portionment, and not proceed upon
some vague dream of the bust
ness. He discovered that the re-
port contemplates additions to the
system, and in order to provide them
certain things had been cut out. He
questioned the policy of permitting two
men to assume so much, and he MAIN
tanned that the methods should always
be considered in the light of their
specific merits. He declared that he
could take the pay-rolls of last year and
preserve everything intact with the eX-
penditure provided.
So the debate continued for upwards
of all hour. The kindergarten QueS-
ton brought out new feeling.
DIR. Bridgman insisted that they were
wise, and DR.. Smith conceded that
there were merits in the proposed inno-
walton, and he suggested that. by adopt
ing four or five kindergartens, the in
creased enrolment will bring largely
increased state taxes to the support of
the schools.
II am glad to note" quoth DIR. Brldg-
man, THAT since last spring DR.. Smith
has change of heart upon the subject
of kindergartens."
IL have always favored kindergar-
tens,' replied the doctor, but did OBJ
ject to the plan of the Sibley school-of
adopting the system in one school as
totality."
President Scheffer was not in full ac-
cord with the spirit and detail of the re-
port. He is sensitive upon the question
of teaching German, and he showed
that $500 pupils had taken the study
the past session, and, should the
new plan be adopted. 1900 of
these would be deprived of the
advantage, and all the money that had
been thus expended upon them would
have been thrown away. DR.. Stamm
was in favor of the report. He did not
believe in teaching German, French,
Italian or Latin below the seventh or
| higher grades that it could best be
taught. Then DR.. Smith insisted that
| it will be imp ossible to run
the schools without assistant jani-
tors, and he was told by Mr.
| Pyle that the report contemplates
| giving the janitors sufficient means to
| employ all the outside help required,
| and he emphasized that this plan meets
with the approval of the janitors. FL
| nally the question was put to vote and
adopted, DR.. Smith being excused and
Mr., Schetfer voting no. Messrs. Auer-
bach, Bridgman, KeaD. Pyle and
| Stamm voted for the report.
DIR. keane stated that he thought it
| likely that a number of the teachers of
| German will be unable to pass the regu-
lar examination, and he therefore moved
| that they be allowed to pass in the event
the superintendent considers them eff
cient. This was adopted, and Tuesday
was made the opening day of the
schools, owing to the fact that Monday
is Labor day.
To Have a Hearing
The cid troubles concerning Miss
| Taylor'S instant removal from the Van
Buren, school was one of the important
features of the meeting. She appeared
with delegation of partisans and
friends from the Dayton's bluff district,
and in a communication demanded
a hearing in the presence of
the superintendent and the prin-