The San Francisco call., 1899-02-12
THE TEACHERS
At LAST WIN
ONE VICTORY
Miss Georgia Morse
Gains Her Suit.
HER JANUARY SALARY AUDITED
JUDGE SEAWELL CUTS THE COR
DIAN KNOT.
It Is Believed That the Merchant
Creditors Will No Further Seek
to Block the January
Payments.
HER JANUARY SALARY AUDITED
JUDGE SEAWELL CUTS THE GoR-
DIAN KNOT.

The slow-turning mills Of the law went
little faster yesterday afternoon and
the teacher creditors won their January
salaries-that is, won a decision from
Judge Seawell that If permitted to work
itself out will bring one months money
to the impoverished School Department.
But nobody can anticipate and shut out
the usual injunction.
The decision was from the mandamus
case OF Miss Georgia Morse against Au-
ditor Wells to compel the issuing of her
salary for last month. The Auditor based
ms refusal on the ground that she had
been illegally paid $272 from the funds Of
4SSo-S5 Tor services which she had rem
dered In the fiscal year 1S97-sS; and also
on the ground that. there were unpaid
claims prior to her own-Miss Morse 8
school being the Webster Primary, con-
sequently her place in the alphabetic line
-W-Would be low down on the pay list
The first act Of Judge Seawell yesterday
morning was to remodify his modification
OF the day before. This last order re-
strains Auditor Wells from issuing the
NoVember-December warrants, but he
may use these demands to offset anv
claims which may have been illegally paid
those teachers. Mr.. Wells testified that
his predecessor had paid claims out Of
the, funds Of the following fiscal wear.
said claims being held back till such
dIld dn1us Is were on hand. and from this free
ana easy Interpretation of the one-twelfth
act deficit OF $4,000 showed at the he
ginning OF the present fiscal year. About
tWo-thlrds OF the teachers had received
ran out. 0'
The case dragged along in debates be-
tEo tWeen 5Attorneys Powers and Olney till
SeaWell checked Mr.. Powers in a far
reaching, discursive journey into the his
Tory OF school department financiering by
aeeiarlng somewhat briefly that he would
grant the prayer OF Miss Morse and or
ger the auditing of her January warrant.
IN erect he took the short road out of
Ine ianyTlnth around him and let her No
VemDer-December credits Offset her debts
ceedings till tomorrow
There may not be whole lot of law in
Judge Seawelps course, but there is a
world of moral right in it, and nobody
knows this better than he. The public
IS growing intensely weary of the every
gay gay shameful spectacle Of 1900 defrauded
teachers clamoring for their just dues.
Ihis city owes them probably $3.50, 900, and
the merchants about 900. and while
obligations public sentiment is on the side
of the teachers because all of them are
suffering the inconvenience of being un-
paid; many of them are destitute, and
some of them are hungry. This harrow
ing picture IS not overdrawn.
1t is believed and hoped that the mer-
chant creditors will not further seek to
tie up the pittance that is to fall to the
employees Of the schools of this great,
prosperous city. The latter have sacri-
feed S1sO,0OO and in all moral reason they
have done enough toward lifting the de-
partment out of its difficulty.
This financial tangle has not come upon
the school department unawares. In his
annual report for the fiscal year ending
June 80, 1897, Superintendent Webster
sounded the alarm.
AT July 1, 1885, there was "a deficit Of
$116,5SS caused by unchecked waste and
extravaganza" He says in his report
that this excessive expenditure in a will
full disregard of the provisions of the one
twelfth act was met by 1.-The very clever
scheme of depriving teachers of their sal
aries, so that the law providing that no
shall be paid out of the revenues of a
subsequent fiscal year might be evaded
and the deficiency be charged to those
salaries and not to its true cause This
method has been made to cloak shameful
extravaganza"
There is another lapse of law bringing
about a condition up against which the
Board of Education, 1t is claimed, is
humping itself. The State constitution
long has said that State school funds
shall be used only for the support of
grammar and primary schools, and this
shall be a separate fund for no other pur-
pose This city receives from Sacramento
$3.50 900 annually, which is Jumped in with
money from other sources, and from this
single fund all the school system is MAIN
tanned. The five high schools of the city
cost SIS per pupil-except the Polyteeh-
MIC where the cost is $57 50-while the
grammar and primary schools cost $S5.