BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1906-05-10

I 1nE GTIOIS COnId1uEu III the state
ments made by our Governor to the
Committee Of InsulaI Affairs are of
an astonishing nature and of the
utmost importance.
They have not been, as our readers
have no doubt observed, trivial inac-
curacies which might be charitably
Overlooked. They are grave and
| serious inexactitudes, vital errors
which are defended, and censurable
abuses which it is attempted to ex-
cuSe.
Referring to the failure of public
education, Mr. Winthrop has attempt
ed to prove before the Commit e of
Insular Affairs by means Of a letter
from the Commissioner of Education
and some dexterous verbal explana
tions, that the criticisms of this CO.
lossal failure of redemptionism were
nothing more than misera bic calu1n-
nics.
Aud yet, all that has been said has
only family portrayed the extent and
the cost of the disastrous failure of
public education in the colony.
But when high functionarieS, those
from whom justice shoul3 be expect
ed, make themselves partner in
error and proclaim with an astound-
ing lack of conscience that what we
all know to have been adismal failure
has been a success, there is no other
remedy than to assert the truth cand-
idly and without reservation,
Of
convincingly refuted by Governor
Winthrop that apologize official has
not been able successfully to combat
any of them; reasons have not been
opposed with reasons nor figures with
| figures. In the statistical report cont
aimed in the letter of the CommissiO.
ner Of Education read by Mr.. Win
throp i'll the presnce of his examin-
ers, figures and statements are lug
glcd with a cleverness peculiar TO
Iredemptionist statisticians. as if it
were the object to show that even
arithmetic, when employed by the
reverend congregation, is susceptible
to variation.
Thus in the matter of the return
OF the ten thousand dollar bond of
the Vandegrift Construction Compa-
ny, for which Mr. Willouqhby
appears to be morally responsible.
Governor Winthrop-with his charact-
erlstic charity-seeks to find some
excuse.
The Governor has not had a single
word Of censure or condemnation for
the functionary who appears to have
been hoodwinked by the seekers of
franchise for the above concern, he
has not uttered word in rebuke of
the bureaucracy, he has not wanted to
criticize his wise counsellors. those
favored pets Of redemptionism.
Just as in the matter of the return
of the Vandegrift bond, the Govern
or has in his reference to the burn
ing Of school books, shown his indul-
gence for the errors Of the conpreq-
alton.
He has said that the text books are
no longer burned, that those which
are useless are specially marked with
and distributed.
But he has not refuted the gravest
OF the accusations, which has been
absolutely proved: that the frequent
change Of text books for the schools
makes useless a greater number than
were formerly burned.
Now there is no necessity for bur
ming them. They change the text;
the effect is the same; other
books have to be bought and they
have to be bought every year;
the amount named by Mr.. Falkner
as being spent for this purpose is not
correct, it is larger, infinitely larger
than the one stated by the defner Of
Education and Democracy in his mis-
leading, inaccurate and inexplicable
letter to the President of the Comit-
tee of Insular Affairs.
So the books are no longer burned?
And what difference does that make.