The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-09-02
A SORRY MESS.

A SORRY MESS.
The pathetic appeal of MAJOR ToMLIN-
son, a gentleman who IS known through
out several southern states as a philan-
thropist; whose purse strings are always
open, and who has given more to charity
in a week thar any other man ever gave,
| should be needed in the matter of giving
aims to poor children who are unable to
purchase school books.
The recklessness of Mr.. ToMLINsON's
liberality has never in any age, in any
time, in any cline, been equaled. He
| does not wait like some jaundiced, equity
| and avaricious Shylock would wait for an
| other man to head a subscription, but he
himself says let all come up and give
| their money through the philanthropic
| firm of T. J. GATTIs & Son, colporteurs
| to the queen, and to the king and jack,
| and they will sell you books at a per
| cent but little higher than you would pay
| at any other book store in America.
We boldly say that the citizens of Dur
ham should, without delay, banquet MR..
ToML1NsoN. They should buy him snuff
and school books, for who is there who
would not sneeze?
But the long and short of all this bust
ness should be hulled out in a very few
words, and they are these:
If, as Mr.. ToMLINsoN says, and says
officially, that many laboring people
are out of employment, they will be un-
able to provide their children with the
necessary books for the coming session"
| then, it occurs to US that it is manifestly
| the duty of that board of which Mr..
ToMLINsoN is a member, to curtail ex-
penses from within rather than solicit
| aims from without.
For an instance, the superintendent
salary, which is out of all proportion
with those of the other teachers-the
teachers who do the real work of the
| paid-but in these times amply paid, is
to be in no way reduced, notwithstand.
ing the fact that MIR. ToMLINsoN admits
that it is a terrible time-so bad in fact
that the children cannot even get books.
Yet he ignores the fact that these same
| pCOplC "uOLu IC Calls Ou lO1 CudllIdU1C
contributions have already contributed
their full share toward maintaining the
school in the tax levied to support
high-salaried superintendent, whose ser.
vices could be better dispensed with than
those of any other member of the faculty
In all business enterprises, and espe'
| cially the railroads of America, where the
highest salaries are paid, the financial
stress has caused the cutting down o.
salaries in every direction, especially in
cases where they amounted to over a hun.
dred dollars a month. The larger the
salary the greater in proportion has been
the reduction, and in every we'll managed
business establishment there has been al
attempt to curtail and keep down ex.
pense.
Under the circumstances, while Dur
ham has never had to buy books for the
children, if they must be furnished, why
not scale the salaries of the teachers 81
as to leave a surplus for this purpose, in
stead of calling on the people who have
already paid to maintain the school? II
this way the burden would be shared by
all the tax payers alike, and would lool
like business.
In other words, let the school boart
have some business about it and attemp
as individuals are doing, to meet the oc