Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-06-26
AS TO THE SCHOOLS.
Non.Partisan Spirit Should be
Preserved in Board of
Education.
AB0R TAKES ITS STAND


of the Present Members Infiu-
ence of Personal Animus In Precipi-
tatIng an Unwarranted Controversy
Which should Not be Countenanced.
Tomorrow occurs the annual cleo
ton for mem bers of the board of ed
ucation. There are two tickets in the
field, one composed of Messrs. c. b.
Marshall and K. A. Donaldson, the
present mem bers, and one that in
cludes Messrs. s. A. kerns and c. A.
Schoessel. School matters, near as
they are to the people, and much and
great as is the Importance that proper
attention be given them at all times,
especially where mem bers of the board
of education are selected, do not, as
rule, draw out the interest at the polls
that they should. This is true except
on extraordinary occasions. Three
years have passed since there was q
disturbing element in the affairs of
the schools The people then wiped
out that element, and the schools
have run along in the even tenor of
their way since. There have been
school elections in the meantime, and
while there have been rival tickets in
the field on each occasion, evincing
such healthy interest in school
affairs as is at all times desired, vet the
elections have been singularlv free
from bitterness. That they might
continue so has been the earnest hope
of The ARGUS, in common with all
friends of the public school system.
The hope that personal animosi had
been so thoroughly banished that it
would not reappear as recognized fac
tor n a school election, although earn
estly cherished up to the last moment,
was not TO be realized. No disparage-
ment of candidates or motives in can
didates need be made or intended in
noting the undisguised evidence that
personal interests have played the es-
sential part in completing the ticket
which entered the field last Saturday.
Bearing no i'll will toward candidates,
and having no interest in the contro-
yersy other than to see the rights
of all classes of taxpayers represented
on the board The ARGUS regrets that a
should have arisen to pre-
clude the possibility of the neutral |
position that it would much prefer to |
take on school elections. To raise no
voice against such a spirit as is back |
Of the ticket last named, if not on it, |
A spirit that knew no rest, though APP |
pealing in vain to dozens of citizens,
until the combination was perfected, |
I spirit that could have been but the |
of animus and personal vim
would be to disregard |
public duty. The ARGUS feels that |
The people have no time 10 listen to |
iisgruntie or to take up the troubles of |
hose who would plunge the schools
INTO an issue founded alone on per-
'onal prejudice. There is no. good
-eason why the public should follow a
that would trample under
DOT the non-partisian character of the
of the board of edu-
alton that has spoken for fair
representation, and make the school
ecure at all times, and il has no pa
fence in a disposition so thirsting for
evenge that it would place individual
.rievances as more worthy of recog-
ition than the time-honored custom
f just political recognition in the
makeup of the school tickets and in
he makeup of the school board. In
his view of the case, which it is be-
.eved is fair one, The ARGUS can
ut express its sympathy for the
ause to which the retiring members
f the board, G. b. Marshall and
\. Donaldson, responded when they
onsented to stand for reelection.