The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-03
THE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION.
The Other side OF the Troubles at
Cumberland Island.


OF the teachers on Cumberland who DO
not agree with President Quinn in his
statements. and one high in authority on
educational matters and well known
throughout the state. has given out the
following interview. which tells thorough
ly their side Of the case. He says:
There has been no malice in what the
so-called "disgruntled' have said about
the unfortunate predicament of the Geor-
gia Teachers Association, and no attempt
TO do the association injury. There has
been nothing but a relation Of truth,
based largely upon the public statements
Of the very persons who have enacted
stormy scenes, passed denunciatory reso-
luuOns, and hurled anathemas down at
Cumberland.
Not one Of the so-called "disgruntled"
has tried TO rule or ruin" on the con-
trary, the effort of the so-called dis
gruntled' TO elect an Entirely new board
Of general officers was for the purpose
Of saving the association from ruin.
Review the facts which follow:
/. When Capt r. Z. Park, president
Of the Cumberland Island Hotel Company,
delivered his address of welcome, he en-
phatically and repeatedly charged the Of
! fcers and the board of directors OF the
| association with having fixed the date OF
| this years meeting of the association at
time when the hotel people could nor
| possibly properly accommodate the teach
| ers. He said that this had been done In
the face of his protests, and that IL was
| done because the officers Of the assocI-
alton wanted to go to the meeting or the
| National Educational Association at Dem
| yer, early in July. one hundred and ntty
| people, including the officers Of the assoc
/ citation, heard Capt. Parks charges. No
| nd nv urqu Of
! 2 While a large number Of teachers
| went TO Cumberland, comparatively few
| attended the daily meetings of the asso-
| citation in the auditorium, and on last
| Thursday evening only about $50 had paid
| their membership fees. Wednesday morn
| ing, at 9:45 o'clock. was programmed as
the time for the delivery Of President
| Guinn's annual address. At that hour
| not more than a dozen persons were in
| the auditorium.
The address was postponed until about
| IL o'clock, and was then delivered to an
| audience Of possibly 100. Many OF the
| teachers were in the surf at the time,
while many others had gone on an ex-
cursion to St. Simon Island. Through
| out the week the audiences were small,
and at no time were there as many as
400 persons present
! 3. The printed programme of the meet
ings shows that from Tuesday, June %,
| persons were to deliver addresses or read
| papers. Actual count reveals that only
fifteen were present and discharged their
| duties.
4. Whatever statements the .so-called
| "disgruntled" have made concerning the
| debts of the association were based upon
the written reports and the verbal utter
ances Of the general officers. Wednesday
| morning it was announced that the asso-
citation owed something less than $1,000;
that despite all efforts to collect subscrip-
tions made last summer, only'two or three
hundred dollars had been realized; that the
| association was in "a desperate condi-
ton" that it was threatened with dis
grace and ruin.
From his place on the stage. President
Quinn made this open, emphatic state
ment: IAN the honor, all the pleasure, all
the profit have received from being elect
cd president of this association can never
compensate me for the loss / have suf-
fered by reason of the associations failure
to protect it's credit In one city, Bruins
wick, l fear l shall never recover what
have lost" He then proceeded to explain
that he could not even purchase small
quantity of lumber in Brunswick, because
of a bill made last year that remained
unpaid.
Capt Park announced that the president
of a lumber company to whom the associa-
ton owed $500, had written to him and to
President Quinn, letters of the severest
| nature, condemning those who composed
the membership of the association.
Notwithstanding resolutions and an
athemas, unless the hotel company pays
the debt on the auditorium it will be sold
for the benefit of the creditors; for If
out of 81, 900 or 81, 200 of subscriptions made
last summer only $500 or $500 have been
collected, how much will be collected by
the first of next June, out of $500 Of sub
|
One other thing: If the officers of the
association did not wish the facts here
recited made known, why did they so
urgently so loudly, so publicly denounce
the facts themselves? Why did they say,
ruin and disgrace" on one day, and on
the next pass resolutions and hurl an
athemas because somebody else repeated
what they had said?
). For several years past it has been
the custom of some Of the general Off
GERS of the association to act as the
agents of railroad companies in drum
ming up parties of teachers to go from
the meeting of the Georgia association to
the meeting of the national association.
The consideration has been free passes.
Nobody denies the right of these officers
to do this sort of work; but it has long
been known that from this sort of work
injury has resulted to the association.
For instance wrong times and wrong
| places nave D6tn nAtu lOI biA0 AlCclii 50
of the association. Now, there lies in
front of me gaudy circular urging Geor-
gia teachers to take the lines of GER
tain railroad company in going to the
national association meeting in Denver
next week. Minute Information as to
rates, train schedules, etc, is given. At
the bottom of the circular appear in big
type the names of several of the general
officers of the Georgia association.
6. AS a final fact in this series Of facts,
let it go on record that the articles which
appeared in the Brunswick Morning Call,
Constitution and the Morning News, call
ing attention to the troubles of the associa-
ton were absolutely true, in every essen
tiaI particular, and there are hundreds Of
teachers in Georgia fully prepared to sub
stantiate all that was stated in those ar
ticles.
In conclusion, the so-called "disgrun-
tied" have no feeling of ill-will toward
any of the officers Of the association. They
have none toward the president-elect.
They sincerely desired the associations
success, and they worked in that direction
without asking or hoping for reward in
any way. They favored Mr.. Jere NJ. Pound
of GAINESVILLE for president, because they
Lxpauy him RI he n pvpf1y rpgnect fitted IN