The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-07-04
THE SCHOOL CONTROVERSY

teachers in the public schools of the city of New Haven. The teachers have submitted their schedules and the Board of Education has in turn sub mitted substitute schedules which the l teachers have accepted with the un- derstanding that they will continue to l agitate for a larger and more consist l ent wage. The Board of Finance has | agreed to find the additional money if the school commissioners will ask for l the larger wage. Citizens to a large number have slgnihed their approval of the teachers schedule by appearing before the Board of Education, by petitioning the Board of Finance and by passing resolutions at mass meet ing declaring for the teachers sched- uIe, these to be sent to the commits sioners of education.
 This brings the agitation to a point that deserves the most serious consid- eration of the Board of Education. We do not say that the school comnlis- sioners cannot afford to treat lightly this finely woven and tightly buttoned chain of events in crusade remarka- ble for its dignity and earnestness, but we can say with full realization of what the words mean that they should for the sake of the cause involved move in an adverse direction with ex- treme caution They should remem- Der that this is no hold-up on the highway on the part of the teachers because they have physical power. They are not asking for more wage for the sake of getting more wage They are moved by higher considera- tions than that. The fact that they have in the past served the school dis trict with but little thought of the eAfolument, and with much affection for the cause, ought to drive the com missioners to the appreciation of the fact that they are in all probability led to demand more because the sew ere conditions of every day life compel them to. There is absolutely nothing in the past of the teachers in the pub lie schools of New Haven to justify the suspicion that they are burdening 4ha 4a wpouaye oa YaloerIv ,rbtla tharo i- everything to warrant the confidence that what they have done they have { done reluctantly and because they had to. That much should be said at the outset for them.
 Nor should the school commissioners deliberately deceive themselves with regard to the organization of the Teachers League and lament griev- pusly the introduction of union methods into the administration of the school affairs. There is no better ground 10 base that view of the agita- ton on than there is in the case of the demand for more pay. Without att tempting to locate accurately the re- sponsibility for the movement which ended in the formation of the league, it can be stated without fear of contradiction that had the teachers been given reason for believing that their salaries were a sub. 5ect of profound concern with the board their organization would never have seen the light of day. The school com. niissioners ought not, if they are in. clined to hold the teachers responsible for errors in tactics and mistakes ir judgment, to forget that they, too, arc probably equally responsible for like weaknesses and that they are now in position to make a greater error il tactics and larger mistake in 1udg ment than has been made by any party to the controversy, Their pride may lead them to decline to bow to the wil of the teachers but their duty to tn taxpayers of the city should lead then to carefully consider the wishes of thos, who pay the bills. If there are thos, who object to the proposed increase il salaries, their voices have not beel heard abroad in the market place anc they cannot therefore be expected t have their voices count with the weigh of those ringing clear. The commission CTS are charged with the task of dlstrib uting the money appropriated fo school purposes and, on the whole they have done their duty intelligently but will it be said that stubborn re sistance to the will of the people them selves, adequately expressed in a vari ety of ways, is a part of the task Sc them? We cannot believe it,
 The commissioners of education ar nor only burdened in this instance wit theltask of acquiescing in the popula supAort of the citizens of the town, re