Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-05-26

superintendent Reply to the
Teachers Last Resolutions.
INCONSISTENCIES AS TO SCHOOLS.

to MIsrepresent the Stand OF His
Corps.
James F.. Ament, who recently re-
signsd his Office as superintendent of
schools in Rock Island, has come out
with another statement to the pub
lie. in which he seeks to, misrepre-
sent the position of the teachers in
their opposition to him. and says.
81 would beg that no accusation
against me be needed, unless the ac-
cu.er has the courage to put his
accusation over his own signature.
and the fearless honor to face me
with It," my opponents continually
assure me-" he concludes. THAI l
need have no hope of winning in this
contest" and that while that may be
true, he wants the expression of che
people. etc. As far as the latter de-
sire is concerned. Mr.. Ament NAV
rest assured he wilt receive it. The
contest that the superintendent talks
about winning in, after stating that
his resignation and all his recon-
new board. may not be clearly I'M
derstood by all, since in the first
place the superintendent resigna-
tion put him out of it until the new
board is'elected. However, the fail
ure of the attempt to convert the
issue, even after that. into one be-
tween the superintendent and
two especially selected princi-
pals, which, however, is abandoned
now in view of the teachers brave
termination Saturday to stand by
tn ir fellows, and the perintendent's
attack upon the teachers today brings
the issue clearly to where it belongs
the superintendent against the
teachers. The plea that the teach
ers' accusations be not needed is
merely an evidence Of assurance on
the superintendent part. The pub
lie took its stand on this question
when the superintendent got the
board into the star chambe session,
and the l in the presence OF a stenog-
rapher attempted to break the teach
ers down one by one by calling them
before h m without shadow of q
chance OF defense. The fact that he
has belittled them, has been rude in
his conduct toward them and has
sbecred at, rather than encouraged
them, is sufficient cause why they
should oppose his ee!ection.
Tho False Statement of Economy.
Finding that he had failed in the
scheme undertaken oward the teach
ers at the start, the next plan was to
drop the teachers out of the contro-
versy entirely by reappointing them
aud singing out their alleged lead
ers. Discovering that this subsidiz-
ing process was unavailipg and that
the teachers were not to be beguiled,
the superintendent now comes forth
with an attack upon the teachers as
q whole, under the pretense that their
hostility is due to his ideas on sala-
ries and examination. and he presents
statistics to show that Rock Island
pays higher standard of salaries to
its instructors than other similar
cities, and then alleges that he
would resurr. CT and enforce the
rule as to teachers passing salts
factory examination by the superin-
tendent or a committee employed by
the board, aud these are the reasons
"why have lost respect" 1t will
be distinctly recalled that Mr..
Ament has quite recently attempted
to show that the opposition OF the
teachers to him started before ne
ever met them or expressed his views
or ideas to them and therefore he held
he had no; fair show from the start
1t need only be- said her. in passing
Lei l.
definite policy to the teachers or
suggested TO them any course OF
action having for its object their OWE
i'm provement or the advar cement OF
the schools, they might not have lost
. res pect for him. Their loss OF re-
spect is due to the self-adulation tc
which he has mainly confined i'm. ell
on all occasions before them. wher
he was not either belittling them o,
ridicnling their past superintendent
= An official who has sought to enter.
tain his subordinates by impressing
upon them his own superior great
nsss-thc expression "shoald a sparl
Of the mental activity of nv brain
fail upon you it would startle YOU
being but ore of many such CON
cei,ed emarks-should not. if the
egotism Of his composition has moi
entirely excluded room for common
sense, ask why there has been any
loss of respect for him.
False Position .s to Salaries.
But, aside from this. the hypoc
risy exhibited in his representation:
as to salaries OF teachers is a sufii
cient cause for public condemnation
In his document appearing in THU
mornings Union, Ament declares: 81
hold that TO pay common teachers a
high as s75 per month is favoritisn
aud an outrage upon public senti
ment. l have recommended that ,
regulsr scale OF salaries be adopted
and that Lo grade teacher be paic
more than $50 q month. am awar,
that this recommendation is no
likely to secure any popularity
among the teachers" What a PLAY
was that on popular prejudice. Con
temptibly small as is the implied re-