The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-02-26
TEACHERS SALARIES;
 IMPORTANT MEETING
ABOUT FOUR HUNDRED TEACH FRS MET YESTERDAY
 AFTERNOON

cusseu the SdAary Vuesb"n AA"A
 Teachers Standpoint-After an Inter-
 esting Debate Organization Was Ef-
 fected and Temporary Officers Elected
 Future Operations of the Organi-
 zation.
 About four hundred school teachers of New Haven met in the high school auditorium yesterday afternoon at 4:15 to consider plans for presenting to the board of education their side of the sal ary question. The temporary chairman of the meeting, William H. Hackett' read the call for the meeting, which was as follows:
 A meeting of the teachers interested in the increase of salaries is to be held in the high school auditorium Monday afternoon, February z5, at 4:15. Will liam H. Hackett, of the high school, will preside. All teachers are urged to be present.
 Explanatory of the above notice was the following, also read by Mir. Hack ett;
 In the notice just read your attention must have been called to the fact that supervisors and supervising principals were not included. This oversight, if you care to consider it such, was inten- tional.
 In the first place, I think we all know that the supervisors and supervising principals have an organization or club of their own, and if they wish to secure an increase in their salaries they have an organization already perfected through which they can present their case to the proper authority; possibly they have already done so We have no such organization as yet.
 It seems strange that such a simple notice should arouse so much anxious solicitation in some quarters. Last Wednesday Mir Beede called upon me to inquire about this meeting. l ex- plained to him that I had received per mission from MT. Hewlett to use this auditorium.
 MT. Beede said he should have been consulted about the matter l replied that, as the meeting place was a mat ter about which the janitor of the building should be informed, In my opinion it came under the jurisdiction of MT. Hewlett, and so asked permis- sion of MT. Hewlett. Had l known that Mir Beede was the proper persor to consult I would most certainly have applied to him. Mir Beede said ht wished I had, as he felt that he coulC have presented the matter to me 1T such light that 1t would be deemed expedient not to call a meeting.
 Perhaps MT. Beede might have sue ceeded in so persuading me, but doub 1t. for the under-current of dlssatisfac ton which for some time past has beer developing among so many of thu teachers was bound to find expression in a meeting of this kind.
 We teachers are citizens first ant teachers afterwards, and we have no forfeited any of our civil rights by be coming teachers.
 The constitution of the state of Con 0GGLlCuL, dIlIClG SCSblOil v, oNHINS
 Every citizen may freely speak, writ
 and publish his sentiments on all sub
 jects, being responsible for the abus
 of that liberty"
 Article 1, section 16: "The citizen
 have a right, in a peaceable manner to assemble for their common good an
 to apply to those invested with tn
 powers of government for redress c grievances, or other purposes, by peti tion, address or renlonstrance. Therefore, as citizens we have per feet right to meei and discuss matter for our common good So l wish ever teacher present to understand that W have a right to be here, and are at lie erty to consider any subject that ma
 seem proper to us.
 5 Another thing seemed to have trou bled some of our supervising principal } | I am informed that at least one super vlslng principal felt called upon to ad , wise his teachers to be very cautions g this meeting.
 I regret that association with th @ teachers of New Haven has made ot . supervising principals feel obliged , caution these same teachers how conduct themselves at meeting of an kind. Many of the teachers presel 70 were schoolmates of mine; many mol l were former pupils of mine in the hig f school, and in behalf of them I wish
 say that it was an uncalled-for refle . tion on the intelligence, good sense ar . character of our teachers to sugge . that they would do anything that WI { not conservative, dignlfied and in keel
 ing with their own self-respect. i. Think of it! Advising New Have ?. teachers to be cautious! I doubt d outside of New Haven you could me $ body of teachers more cautious, mo
 timid, or who stood in greater awe
 their superiors.
 I feel keenly about this matter
 personal reasons also; it has been n h privilege to act as chairman at mee
 ings called for various purposes, and have yet to preside over gatheril '' that did not transact it's business in It becoming manner.
 1f Under these circumstances the pre- le ence of supervisors or supervising pri ie cipals is apt to prove embarrassing
 them and to serve as an uncalled-t IS restraint upon the actions of the teac er CTS, and, while we have the greatt T. respect for their judgment we feel p' r. fectly competent to handle this matt le without their assistance. 1 therefC
 most respectfully suggest that if tht IS are any supervisors or supervisi le lprincipaig here they withdraw. e, In my interview with MT. Beede y informed me that in bis annual rep