Waterbury Democrat., 1903-02-05
EDUCATORS AT ODDS
New York Regents and Public
 Instruction Board Clash.
A HEATED DEBATE AT ALBANY.
Merritt Bill Proposing a Change In the Distribution of school Funds Meets With Strong
 0nuOsitiOn.

ALBANY, N Y.,. Feb. 5.-After a truce of two legislative sessions the
 controversy between the state board
 of regents and the state department
 of public instruction was resumed at
 hearing before the assembly ways and means committee on bill intro
 duced by Assemblyman Merritt pro- viding for the distribution of about $135, GOO from the state school fund
 among certain schools admitting non-
 resident pupils to their academic de- partment.
 The regents opposed the bill on the
 ground that it permits the state de partment of public instruction to inter-
 fere unduly with academic instruc-
 tion The state department of public instruction contended that the law
 gives it ample right to supervise aca- demic instruction, but does not permit it to expend certain sums for that
 branch of education unless the Merritt act becomes a law.
 Bishop William Croswell Doane,
 chancellor of the state university, de clared that he wanted his ecclesias-
 tical title dropped and that he would argue the bill as just William Cros- we'll Doane. He denounced the pres ent laws governing the regents and the department of public instruction as illogical and involving a cumber- some system of double inspection. The proposal to permit the department to pass upon the question whether $135,- 900 should be distributed among schools, especially under the super vision of the state board of regents,
 would only complicate matters. Referring to the friction between the two departments, the bishop likened
 the position of the regents to that of the stationary stick which primitive i peoples used to plant in the ground and rub with another stick to produce fire. The friction was caused he said, by the stick that did the rubbing. Then, turning to Deputy Superintendent
 Ainsworth of the department of public instruction, he declared his suspicion
 that he could justly be made the sub ject of the words of Elisha to King
 Ahab of old, Thou art he that trou- blest Israeli
 | At this stage MT. Ainsworth, who
 seemed throughout to regard the entire attitude of the bishop and the regents as an attack, with inferences of im- proper motives, upon the department of
 public instruction, turned to Bishop
 Doane and cried, shaking his finger at l him:
 Bishop Doane, whose scalp are you
 after when you use such statements as 1 you have? Are you after Superintend-
 ent Skinner's scalp? Is he an improper
 man for the place and the distribution
 of school money? Who is he? An as- semblyman, congressman, many
 years devoted to the problems of pub
 lie instruction and for nine years past superintendent of public instruction.
 Are you after my scalp? My resigna- ton has always been in Superintendent
 Skinner's hands. How can the regents
 be expected to know what is best to do
 with school money-regents who like | St. Clair AfcKelway or Chauncey NJ. Depew or others of the board are in
 Europe part of the time and the re-
 mainder too busy with their private pursuits to give that attention to any kind of education, high or low, which such an important matter demands P Superintendent Skinner followed Mir. l Ainsworth, defending the proposition.
 The committee room was crowded