The Saint Paul globe., 1897-06-06
RIVER AT & A NJ.
SCHOOLS AND CHARTER.

ana eIeYatlOn. r f.--yOuS1 OpScl HSi'
SCHOOLS AND CHARTER.
The issues which are to be considered
at the meeting to be held at the Com
mercial club on Tuesday evening are
broad enough and great enough to de-
mand the attention and the ardent sup
port of every true citizen of st. Paul.
1t is no mere question of temporary or
local policy that is involved, but the
preservation of an educational sys-
TEN to the making of which years of
time millions of money and the devo-
tion of thousands of lives have been
devoted; and the provision Of a method
by which such an emergency as this
may not again arise. It is time, in the
name of education, in the name Of
common sense, and in the name Of the
city Of st. Paul, which is suffering
daily by this continued agitation, that
the people themselves should speak. We
have gone up and down and cross
wise and diagonally and in every di-
rection over this whole school problem,
immutably.
This is that the economies, which
are absolutely necessary in order
to keep school expenses within the
limits which the charter rigidly fixes,
cannot be made by the Topping off Of
an excrescence here and there, or the
excelsior of some branch or department
of educational work By this method
the method involved in the closing Of
the Mechanic Arts school, we shall do
permanent damage. The amount that
is to be saved is too great to be saved
by clipping off a corner here and there
To make it up, something essential,
something vital, must be eliminated.
The selection of the Mechanic Arts
school as the sacrifice is most Justly
opposed by the great body of our citi-
zens who realize and know it's nearness
to the practical wants of the people
and to human life as it must be lived
In this community. Let the knife be
applied to any other portion of school
work where a similar amount might be
saved, and a similar protest would
arise.
1t appears to US that all this dis
cussion, which, by the way, has
done infinite harm, has resulted
only in showing conclusively that our
school expenses cannot be reduced to
the point required by the process Of
elimination. If this is true then there
remains but one thing to be done.
which is to save our standard and our
system as it is and to reduce the
length of the school year sufficiently
no realize the required reduction in ex-
pend1ture. We believe that this is the
wish Of more than three-fourths of our
people. If it is to be substi-
tuted for a different and less
wise policy, they must speak
quickly and emphatically. Upon the
meeting Tuesday evening and it's re-
suits will depend the cause of public
education in this city and the value
of our schools for years to come. No
one who is not Indifferent to this vast
Interest can afford to keep silence.
1t would be foolish and short-sighted
to stop with determination Of this
particular exigency. We do not want
this agitation over again next year. We
must not permit the reputation of st.
|Paul and it's standing as community.
with which others will desire to cast in
their portions. to be jeopardized by re-
fainipg an act of government that is
now proved unequal to our needs. All
these difficulties, all these discussions
In public bodies and in the newspapers,
jail this embarrassment, which the out
fside public does not understand, and
(which rebound to our detriment,
Espring from the iron bound provisions
In certain particulars of the Bell char
fer; a charter which we cannot amend.
FAbolish, improve or alter in any par
tHcular, either now or, as far as one
Fpan see, at any future time, except in
the one way.
& We must have new charter We
Nan keep all that is desirable in the
Epld and modify it only in those par
gticulars which, under the circnn-
Etances, such as the reduction in our
ESssessed valuation. make it inappli-
Geable and impossible to live with. 1t
Us easily within our reach to frame and
Bdopt another charter as ideally per-
fleet as we choose to make it. This
lrests upon our own action. and the
method is practically free from dan
ger. Under the home rule legislation
ID new charter may be framed By a