The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-09-28
THE 0. +. I. SOCIETY.

We have received from the secretary OF
the Society for the Consideration OF
| Other Folks Troubles-more briefly and
famiIiarly known throughout the COM
munity as the o. F. Il. Society-a report
OF the last regular meeting Of that organ
ization.
We regret that we are unable TO use the
report tor the reasons that 1t is now two
days DID, having been forwarded by mail
that II is written on both sides OF the
paper and too literally annotated on the
margins and for the further reason that
until the Society for the Consideration
OF other Folks Troubles sees the wis
dom OF opening its meetings to represen-
tatives OF the press, this newspaper, for
one, does not care to give space TO its
proceedings for reports furnished by the
secretary, or even the president himself
or herself, as the case may be. We make
no doubt that the secretary has, in this
instance, done his best to furnish us an
accurate and honest report OF the meeting,
but such report must OF necessity be
colorless and we cannot see our way clear
TO serve TO our readers anything, the faith
fulness as well as the interest o. which,
we cannot guarantee.
We need only refer to the outcome OF
the discussion on the majority report Of
the standing committee on Abstract Re-
form to point out more succinctly what
we mean, and illustrate the duty that is
imposed on newspaper to be sure that
print the whole OF the truth and furnish
an impression OF the situation or con-
dition recorded that shall be full and i'm
partial.
According to the sscretary's report at
hand of the meeting of the o. f. L. So
ciety, the committee on Abstract Reform
has had under consideration for some
time the problem OF show to prevent
school children from washing their states
with spit" The subject was presented
to the meeting some months ago and re-
ferred to the committee named for inves-
tjgation during the summer months. To
Judge by the report furnished us in full
hu ha ha ttaa do a
conscientious study OF the vexed prob
lem. The report is elaborate and traces
the practice OF splitting on the slate, for
the purpose Of washing the same, to the
very earliest times, IL not, strictly speak
ing, earlier. 1t further recites the efforts
OF parents and pedagogues through many
generations to substitute a bottle OF
water and a sponge for what might be
termed the "natural method" and con-
cludes with an elaborate recommends
tion as to a system OF reform that it Is
believed by the majority of the COM
mittee will begin to make itself felt not
later than the third generation hence.
We have not the space at command,
this evening, to print this recommenda-
tion in full, but the point We wish to
make, lies in the statement in the secre-
tary's report that minority Of the COM
mittee dissented from the majority and
after discussion, the whole matter was
laid over to the next meeting"
This is the feature OF the report that no
newspaper could afford to print without
laying itself open to the suspicion of
suppressing facts-in this case suppress
ing them in the interests Of the recon-
mendation of the majority of the COM
mittee and so the prejudice of the mi
nority in the public mind. What men,
ber brought about postponement OF actor n
IN this important matter to the next
meeting? What was the nature Of the
discussion? Wherein did the minority re-
port differ from the recommendations OF
the majority on the subject OF prevent
ing school children from washing their
states with spit? We learn, sub rosa,
and on authority in which we repose
great faith, that the minority report set
forth that the only way to prevent the
practice was to throw the states away.
We also understand that the discussion
was most heated and that the postpone
ment of the whole matter alone saved
the whole meeting from breaking up in
row.
II the Society for the Consideration OF
Other Folks Troubles will open It's de-
liberations TO the press, we, for one, will
be very glad to publish report of their
proceedings, impartially and as fully as