New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-08-04
BoLD DENIAL OF A FICTION.

In an article referring to public school mat
! ters in general and Superintendent Skinner IN
narticulsr. 1.-THE New-York American said on
Sunday:
Skinner is particularly incensed over a letter
| in Vice-C Chancellor Reds newspaper charging
him with having assessed normal semo4l fo tho
intendents $3.50 each to provide iund LOT , Ine
campaign against Odell and the Regents 4ast
winter.
"Tbe American" then reported Mr.. Skinner
as making these comments on the foregoing
statement:
That is absolutely false Not one cent was
asked or received by me from these saperlhT
tendents during the last legislative session.
fa1,a been informed that some of the superln-
tendents contributed to the Repuphcan say &c
campaign fund last fall. That was proper' II
they saw fit to do so. But there was no CO.
ercion.
Pursuing the subject q step further, Ihe
American" yesterday quoted Senator Platt as
saying the day before:
Mr.. Skinner visited me the last week and sat
;sfed me that the charges against him mace
in Regent Reds newspaper were not warrant
ed. The charges consisted manly OF sCatei ei
made by man named Barueeh. VINO a-Ie5e0
that Skinner assessed normal schooi SupefAi-
tendents to help him in his campaign against
Injurious legislation last session. MI SkiAncF
assured me that Bardeen was liar. I'm IN
clined to agree with Mr.. Skinner. II any money
was collected by Mr.. Skinner from school super
intendents, 1 guess you viii find it was turned
over to the Republican State committee, ahd
was used for legitimate campaign purposes, ana
not in the interest of Mr.. Skinner personally or
officially.
Those citations show how queerly things
sometimes get confused in the newspapers and
I'm the utterances of public men. The Tribune has
brought no charge against Mr.. Skinner in reda-
tion TO the assessment of his SubOrdinateS Tor
politicaI purposes; nor, so far as we are aware,
has ANYBODY ever accused him of collecting
contributions from them for use in the legis-
Iative controversy last winter. What we have
done is to print the following assertion pub
ushed last spring by Mr. C. w. Bardeen, OF
Syracuse, publisher of 1.-THE School Bulletin:
Three years ago it was suggested to the nor
NAL principals of the State that it would be a
nice thing for them to contribute sou each 10
Mr.. SINNERS campaign expenses. some OF
them are Democrats, some of them don't partic-
ularly like Mr.. Skinner, some OF them nave sew
eraI places where they could use SZJo 10 aoVah-
tage, but they all paid up.
Now, we cannot think it was kindly or judi
cious act on the part Of Mr.. Skinner, when he
found that THE American" was labor1ng under
a delusion as to the nature Of the charge which
Mr. Bardeen brought against him and The
Tribune quoted, to confirm our contemporaries
blunder and gravely assure 1t of the falsity OF
an accusation which nobody has ever made.
His conduct would have been wiser and more
becoming if he had corrected THE Americans"
misapprehenson, and then dealt decisively with
Mr. Bardeen's real and odiOus charge concern
ing contributions to Superintendent SINNERS
campaign expenses extorted from his subordl-
mates three years ago, when he was a candi-
date for reelection.
II Mr.. Skinner had adopted that course he
would not only have served himself better in
the general estimation, but would have saved
Senator Plat from falling into an error and
taking the trouble TO discredit an imaginary
accusation. The Senator says he is inclined to
agree with Mr.. Skinner that "Bardeen is a liar"
That brings us back, though by devious path,
to the point on which we have repeatedly in
sisted namely, that Mr.. Skinner ought to lose
no time in proving that Mr. Bardeen is liar.
But it is the actual charge he made relating to
Mr.. SINNERS candidacy for reelection, not the
spurious charge relating TO the last session Of
the legislature that demands refutation.