Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-01
Isolation of the Schools.

AooAoIloAA VI tAlC SShOoiS.
Thr Senate District committee turned
a deaf ear to the plea of the community
for chance To state its views on the
Dolliver bill and voted to report that
measure. Perhaps this is intended not
as departure from the previously main
taired standard of legislative equity. but
as special means to reach the end of
swift action upon this particular question.
Il is therefore necessary now for the
District to appeal from the committee to
the Senate and to the House and to rep
res Mt, with all respect. that it has not
been sufficiently consulted in matter so
vital to its welfare.
The subcommittee on schools whose re-
port stands as the view of the full COM
mttee. excuses the radical departure from
the basic principle of District govern
ment on The ground that it is necessary
To vest the appointing power in source
removed from fractional strife and local
political prejudices" in order to give the
schools surcease of turmoil. 1t selects
for this purpose the federal commissioner
of education. "a man entirely outside OF
and N no wise amenable to any of the
loca: conditions or traditions.
1t is legitimately to be questioned
whether the federal commissioner of edu-
cation will long remain immune from the
so-called fractional strife and local po-
litical prejudices'' of which the support
crs of this measure are processing them
selves to be so afraid when the District
Commissioners are in view. 1t may be
predicted that the ink of the Presidents
pen will not he dry the statute before
the Omp1iSSipnpr of ic ha
set by the forces which have made
so much factional trouble in the schools
for the past few years. comparative
stranger to Washington, his very unfa-
niiarity with local traditions and con-
ditions will render him susceptible to the
persuasive but malevolent influences
which have in the past caused bitterness
and wrangling in the school system.
1t was argued two years ago, when the
present law was in process of enactment.
that by vesting the appointment of the
school trustees in the District judges there
would be an end TO all wire pulling
II was urged that the judges, by the ma
ture of their position. were immune from
public sentiment and unreachable by fac
tons. That the very reverse proved true
is alleged by the subcommittee report
and is suggested by the results The re-
organization of the schools effected in
1906 was the acme of faction. and todays
troubles are but the legitimate outcome
of that experiment in separating the
schools from the local government.
OF the objection raised against this de-
parture, that it takes away rights of the
District. the subcommittee reports that
il is more manufactured than real" The
distinction is not obvious nor is the rea-
soning persuasive. If because of troubles
In the schools. caused largely by congress
sional ineptness in the past, the local
educational system can be divorced from
the municipal organization, where is the
guarantee of security from further dis
Indignation of the District administration
into series of federal bureaus? Who
can assert with confidence today. if this
bill is passed, that some slight difficulty
in the ranks OF the police may not cause
Congress. in a moment of impetuosity, to
turn the whole business of policing the
District over TO the Secretary of War?
Who can be certain that the building in
spection work will not be given to the
supervising architect of the treasury?
Who is assured that the health depart
ment of the District will not be made a
bureau of the marine hospital service. or
that the fire department will not become
a subordinate branch of the irrigation
service?
This is not manufactured fear. 1t
is entirely justifiable. Congress can split
the District government into a dozen
federal bureaus and scatter the admins
tration through the departments. No
court can stay its hand in such an enter
prise. Once let this precedent be estab-
hshed and there is no telling where the
spirit Of change will carry the legislators.
The report declares that the teachers
are III a nervous condition" but instead
"f recognizing that this nervousness
springs from apprehension lest congress
siona legislation shall place them again
al the mercy of DIR. Chancellor or some
body resembling him. and deciding that
the rest cure is needed if the patient is to
avoid nervous prostration. the subcommit-
tee proposes to cure the nervousness
caused by the reorsaniZing legislation of
l:st by administering on the homeopathic
princple-that like cures like-a still more
drastit. dose of reorganization medicine in
los. Congress in 1906 wrenched the
schools from their proper relation to the
municipal government and divided re-
sponsi5ility for the local educational sys-
tenn between the Commissioners the local
Judges. board Of education. appointed by
the Judges and responsible to nobody. and
a superintendent. who turned out to be a
man lacking tact and knowledge of local
conditions and who antagonized everybody
The unsatisfactory conditions prevailing
in the schools the natural and in
cvitable results Of this discord- fostering.
wrangle- breeding legislation of 1906. Con-
Sress should frankly admit it's mistake in
disintegrdtinS the system of municipal ad-
ninistration by separating the schools, in
a fractional part not clearly defined, from
the jurisdiction of the Commissioners
Whatever Congress in its wisdom NAV
undertake to do, whether it preserves
the board of education or concen-
trates the administrative authority in a
director or superintendent: whether i,
leaves untouched the system of subordi-
nate supervision substitutes for the
supervising principals a corps of assist
ant directors. it should not unnecessarily
and arbitrarily isolate the schools from
the District organization. OF which in the
best adjustment of affairs they are an
intimate and integral part.