Waterbury Democrat., 1901-02-23
FOR CHILDREN.
Baker Kelly Wants the Schools Equipped With Fire Escapes.

Is Trying to Have a Bill Passed to
 That Effect-Notes From a Pamphlet
 He Received From New York Par
 ties - Fire Escapes and Corporal
 Punishment.
 A few weeks ago Thomas Kelly an- nounced that he was going to have his neighbor, Representative Wallace Of Middlebury, introduce bill into the legislature providing that all school houses be equipped with fire escapes. Of course he talked 10 the reporter about it and the thing was passed from one to another until it reached a company in New York that deals in fire escapes and the management has forwarded the baker q neat little pam phlet entitled. "A Talk on School Law and Fire Escapes containing q lot of valuable inforlnat tiou accompanied by Il very nice letter. quoting prices. and concluding by hoping to receive his order for some fire escapes The book tells of losses and deaths in pri- vate buildings. public and private schools. factories and other places in different states. all on account of the fact that the buildings were not pro- vided with fire escapes. Here are d few sanlples:
 Trenton, Feb 1o 1900. Fifty thou sand dollar damage suit was brought against the city to-day by Eliza Wilson on the ground that the city failed to see that the Livingston school build ing was properly provided with fire escapes The plaintiff lost two chil- dren ana was herself injured.
 Chicago, December f, 1899. Thir- teen victims lost their lives in the fire at the St Francis school yesterday Twelve little girls were buried in the Boniface cemetery. The catastrophe was the worst that ever happened in Chicago, in the loss of life. and has thrown a gloom over the whole com munity.
 The book contains several items of this kind, all clippings from reliable newspapers. and is a very strong argu- ment in support of Mir Kelly's conten- ton that every school building in Wa terbury and elsewhere should be sup piled with fire escapes. Children and teachers as well. become panic-strick- en at the cry of fire and invariably rush to the windows when the main exit is shut off and jump to the ground and are killed or seriously injured while if there were fire escapes at these points they would be able to reach places of safety without much risk to life and limb.
 Turning aside from the fire escape question, the book gives some hints relative to corporal punishment in schools. We quote a few as follows:
 Cleveland. o. Corporal punishment is not allowed in the schools, with the exception of the schools for truants and incorrigibles.
 Chicago, III. Corporal punishment is prohibited by q rule of the board of education. It was abolished about if teen years ago.
 Worcester, Mass. Superintendent Clarence F. Carroll says the tendency is all in favor of doing away with cor poral punishment, and it Is rapidly disappearing as a means of discipline The best teachers never have occas- on to use it, and it is, as a rule, possi- ble to secure good discipline by other means.
 bIluSeDOIt. cOllu. Charles w. Deane writes in regard to corporal punishment: 'Weak teachers resort most frequently to corporal pun ishment It does not reform pupils; the fear of punishment does not deter the ordinary pupil from wrong doing. This mode of punishment has to be re- peated the same as the higher forms. While it may have a corrective lntu- ence on very young children. it arous- es antagoniSm in those beyond the prl- mary grades. Like every form of punishment. and to q greater degree, it flinders the child's education in self control.
 The book is issued by the fire es- cape department, National Iron com pany. New York city. and Reed City, Mich. Mir Kelly told a Democrat re- porter to-day that he believes tue bill will pass the general assembly and that whether it does or not he will agitate for the placing of fire escapes on every floor in all the school build ines in Waterbury. Asked what he thought about corporal punishment Ill the schools, he said that this was some thing on which there was lots of room for honest people to differ from each other. "But," he added. as he walked away, shifting his shoulders and plac- ing his hand on the lower part or ms back. corporal punishment was Ill vogue in the school I attended,