Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-05-23
IT rs NOT SHAKEN,
School Issue Cannot be Mis-.
understood.
IT Is PRINCIPLE, NOT PRINCIPAL.
That 10 What the Teachers Stand by In
Their Present Position Attempts to Be.
Guile Them wnl Not Avau-Ament or


Their Present Position Attempts to Be-
Guile Them VIM Not Avail-Ament or
Ant.Ament.
The Union says, speaking of the
school controversy, that it is mot
specially concerning itself about the
election since it failed in its efforts
to secure the cooperation of the
teachers in the plan of the
board to ascertain the nature of the
grievances, whether OF words or their
resolutions. and these to determine
intel.igently whether the sweeping
condemnation was just or the re-
verse"
And then the morning paper goes
on to say that these resolutions are
strong evidence of feeling which The
ARGUS knows it must maintain ..re-
CARELESS of the new light or a sense
of fairness"
Ever since the appearance Of the
Ament defense, the Union has been
harping on the new light" for the
teachers. ard fair play. The only
.'new light" for the teachers con.
tanned in that memorable document,
although really DOW out of the con-
troversy. since it was only a subter-
fuge-as the superintendent is in the
fight in his own behalf and on his re-
tention more strongly since it ap-
peared than he was prior thereto-is
this pointed reference to teachers in
general:
when the examination of the
Carroll teachers came Off. the board
was Mortified to find that they had
teachers employed in their schools
who could neither read, write nor
speak the English language correctly
"a thing that 1 beg to say is true of
your own schools today. Aud no
matter how vehement their denial,
my well known views on this matter
have had more to do with the teach
ers' efforts to throw me out of my
Office than any other one thing"
And the main charge of unfairness
toward him was his declaration of
how futile it would be for him to at
tempt to turn the public sentiment
created by 100 self interested women
and an INSCRIPTIONS newspa per"
The Teachers Understand.
Yet the Union is attempting to
make the teachers believe now there
is nothing in the present issue since
the board has dropped two Of the
more prominent members of the
corps and two others on the ground
OF economy, and that now the con-
troversy is between the superinten-
dent and the two principals, who
would not care to serve under the
superintendent. -.should he be called
into service" That "should he be
called into service" is significant
Does the Union take it for granted
that there are any of the other teachers
who would care any more to serve
under the uperintendent s.should he
be called into service" than the ones
who have been deposed? Is there any
possibility that they would get a
chance to serve very long, "should
he be called into service?"
The very proposition is preposter-
Gus, although it happily reflects a
little more of the cut-and-dried pol
icy OF the board, but over ard above
that the suggestion that the Union
makes that any OF the teach
ers would. as a result of the
bait thrown to them by the board. be
so to lost moral courage as to desert
those singled out to special persecu-
ton, is an insult to them. The teach
ers need no new light" from the
superintendent. They have seen him
in his true light and the true charac-
ter of which he boasts so much.
| They have seen him as superin-
tendent and a man. They have
formed impressions Of him through
the experiences of the year which
cannot be swept away by the dash of
pen or any form of discrimination
on the part of the board. The teach
ers are not TO be swayed by an issue
OF veracitv between the suparintend-
ent and one of his principals. nor
can the pub!ic's attention be directed
to it to the utter disregard CT all else
at stake. THE ARGUS has no mis-.
givings about the determination OF
the teachers to remain at their posts,
although under fire. The thought of
their deserving because any OF their
numhe have been attacked is far
thest from the mind of The ARGUS.
but this paper does not propose to
view without protest the attempted
preparation of Kinvon-Ament
sche me To hoodwink or beguile them.
| Stick 10 the Issuc.
stick 20 the Issue" is the motto
of The ARGUS in this controversy.
The ARGUS bad hoped that the pub.
lie would be spared further discus.
sion OF this subject with the antici'
Pated withdrawal Of the superintend.
emit, but it seems not.
Let it be said, therefore, that the il.
sue will remain Ament as long as he
Is IN any way connected with the
schools and no design of whatever
kind can diminish, detract from OF
destroy that issue.