The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1907-03-09

49, @~"~~-
went into office pledged to give jobs
to their friends, and they fought and
promised and worked for the nomina-
ton and election to a board that
offers not a penny reward for the
effort. individually there are "a few
good men on the board, but they are
standing on a rotten plank.
They opposed the school superin-
tendent and their leaders adopted the
only weapons they knew how to han
die, abuse, and his friends were not
spared. The declaration was made,
obviously enough for the benefit of
the reporters, by the present secre-
tary of the board in open meeting,
that he knew something scandalous
about a certain principal and teach
|er. There never was a resolution in
troduced by him to investigate the
case and to this good day nothing
more has been said. But the publ
cation of the SANDER has brought
more than one teacher and principal
into disrepute, and, oddly enough
some of those whose names are asso-
ciated with the base Islander are
friends of the secretary. Thus does
such mud fall on the just and the I'M
just alike. The pupils mooted the
story about the corridors of the
school buildings, and many an idle
tale is being banded around the city.
that emanated from the same evil
source.
Although there was a change in
the school board this year, the lead
ers were members of the old board,
and the secretary and others, who
have been most active in fomenting
discord, are personally responsible
for the election of Superintendent
Lieb. They elected him after they
had the advantage Of a years OBJ
Iservation of his work in the schools,
and they secured his services. accord
ing to their own "mouthpiece, be-
cause he had done SO much for the
schools. Having chosen him, they
scarcely allowed him time to under
take the contract they persuaded
him to sign before they began a sys-
tematic campaign of abuse. If SUI
|perintendent Lieb was as incompetent
as they said, then they must have
spoken falsely when they praised him
so highly at the time Of his election
If he was so bad that It became nee
essary for them to humiliate him by
every petty device within their
means, and they were warranted in,
not only ignoring his recommended
tions, but in ascertaining his wishes
and policy and then thwarting them;
they should have secured his resig-
nation. If he was not as incompe-
tent as they said, and not as bad as
they represented, then. of course,
they have spoken falsely Of him
since.
But whatever they may have come
to think of Superintendent Lieb.
granting that they were mistaken in
him, and that they are not men of
Sufficiently acute powers of observa-
ton nor of the mental calibre to
judge whether the schools were be-
ing properly conducted when they
elected him, having elected him and
being responsible for his position, as
men, they should have supported
him and his policy until the end of
the year. If they chose inadvisedly,
having the superintendent's record
before them, the blame is on them,
and a sense of the proprieties should
have kept them mum. But they have
treated him shamefully, and their
conduct brands them as utterly devoid
Of those essential elements of char
acter that make possible our civil
lied customs of social and CONNER
cial fair dealing between man and
man
These, remember. are not all the
Democrats elected to the board by
party majority on a platform of
"Paducah school jobs for Paducah
people" but members of the old
board, whose terms expire this year.
So, no charge of partisan politics can
be sustained against THE SUN in its
attitude.
One member in particular has Civ
en- out through the susceptible press
false and malicious statements CON
corning the superintendent and his
administration. and has verged close
ly onto the line of libel. so closely
that a warning from THE SUN
caused a cessation. One of these
falsehoods was the declaration that
the school board, of which he was
member, elected Superintendent Lieb
from August 1, 1906, to August 1,
4