Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-03-29
A pisgraceful Proceeding.

A Disgraceful Proceeding.
Our report of the school meeting was
necessarily brief. While the vote would,
at first sight, indicate a victory for the
opponents of Professor Davis, superin.
tendent of our Graded schools, yet the
methods employed, when considered,
give the mordt victory to the side of the
present management of the schools.
The campaign of the anti.school party,
under the leadership of Livingston, Dar-
ling and Company, has never seen a par
allel for dishonOr and mendacty and for
insincere and scandalous methods. The
meeting was in no sense a candid expires.
sion of the calm Judgment of the people
who have the best interests of local edu-
cation at heart, not because the people
meant to vote wrong, but because they
voted upon false representations. A
small clique of little politicians, nearly
all of whom have fought Professor
Davis since he first came to Bennington,
have secretly canvaSsed nearly every vot-
er in the village, and particularly those
having no living interest in the school;
those who could be moved by the prom
ises of something in return at the hands
of the little politicians all who could be
induced to feel that now was the accept
ed time to pay off some slight disagree
ment with the head of the school because
their child happened to stand below
neighbours boy; and that large, restless
element which delights to use it's vote to
produce change" To mass this vote,
scandalous stories were set ahoat-Stor-
les for whose origin no scamp has vet
been found mean enough or with cour-
age enough to take the responsibility.
Some of these rumors were set afoat last
spring, mot because we believe them,
but because we want to drive Mr.. Davis
out of the school," On this occasion
they were repeated with variations to
mass the disgruntled, the sour, the igno-
rant the vicious, against the head of our
school, They gained the credence and
support of some good men who should
have known better The gag law and
questionable political work did the rest.
True, the influence of strong man or
two brushed the ''gag-law aside, but
think of the men who strOve to enforce
it! Prof. Davis was heard in his first
public utterance in reply to six years of
unjust criticism. He refuted the flimsy
charges brought against the school, and
dared his opponents to repeat openly the
things they had said against him in Sc.
cret. No man of them had the courage
to accept the fearless challenge.
The regular reports printed in the
BANNER during the past six years are a
refutation of ali the open charges or of
the alleged deficiencies IN our schools.
The trustees report, in another column,
made out by Clerk Gibson in the usual
way, shows the progress of our schools
by comparison. BY the same high hand
ed methods that carried the election in
fifth ward, this report was "laid on the
table, Mr.. Gibson was "sat down upon
simply and solely because his report cou-
tanned few statistics taken from the
daily register, and which happened to be
greatly favorable to the school. The
trustees who sought to keep proper facts
from the people by suppressing the clerks
vented the publication of manual and
course of study for the sole reason that it
would show to parents the prosperous
ondition of the school.
The Clerks report, which Is printed in
full in this issue, was made out late, the
Auditors not completing their labors un-
til p. M, Monday, hence there was lit
tie time to complete the Trustees com
parison and submit to the Board. Why
was the Auditors report accepted, and
the Trustees, by the authorized hand of
their clerk, "laid on the table?"
A personal issue in school matters is
always deplorable. When it is senseless
and vicious, as in this instance, it is a
calamity. Led on by the Reformer, the
cause of education in this village has
been set back, PEI haps, for years, in fact,
no one can estimate the deplorable re-
suits. Tney will be felt for years, and
the leaders in these proceedings against
a man who has brought up our schools
second to none in this State, will live to
see the day when they will bewail their
actions of the past few weeks, culminat-
ing in the disgraceful meeting of last
Tuesday. Professor Davis is stronger
to-day than he was before the attempted
overthrow.