Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-07

JAMES F.. OYSTER.
(Harris & Ewing Photo.)
Declaring that the Commissioners fig
ures are wrong. James F. oyster, presi
members of the board yesterday after
noon that he would produce statistics at
the proper time to prove exactly the op-
posite Of what the Commissioners set
forth in their letter to Congress several
days ago.
In that letter or report on the bill to
abolish the board of education, the
charge is made that the schools are ex-
travagantly managed.
Defense of Capt. Oyster.
Said Capt. Oyster:
The figures are ridiculous and mac
curate While l do not mean to go into
figures right here, Ihave some which ]
can use-at a better time. perhaps-to
prove that the Commissioners are en-
tirely wrong.
Let me say right here. though. that
am not so much in love with this work
that l will fight to keep myself here.
But ! do resent this charge of eXtrava-
gance and bad management,
THE schools were once under the Com
missioners. Congress took them away
from the Commissioners and placed them
under board Of education. Why did
Congress do that? Perhaps the Commits
sioners think they can run the schools
better than any one else.
Il can remember certain school build
ngs that were in bad condition. The
health officer made report after report,
saying they were not fit for children.
Gould we get the Commissioners to
make repairs? No. When we demanded
that something be done, what did the
Commissioners do? They hid behind
closed doors.
''They were afraid to meet the press.
They were afraid to meet the public Yet
for three years we have been trying to
get those buildings repaired.
Some Ridiculous" Plans.
How about the plans of the schools ?
Some Of them are ridiculous. When it
came to a good school. like the new Mott
building. the plans were drawn by some
one outside the District building. An
other splendid school building, l have 1t
from one of the Commissioners was plan
ned well, because the plans were copied.
How about that new school in Mount
Pleasant? The school Is four feet under
the surface. set in grade. The entrance
is down steps, and yet the coal is dumped
in from the terrace. We let the children
in through the cellar and take the coal in
at the attic, as 1t were.
"And yet they say we are foolish in
our administration. How about the wells
the Commissioners have dug for us? We
can't use the well at Garfield. nor the
one at Congress Heights. The Stanton
School we'll is the same way. Hundreds
of dollars have been wasted by the Com
missioners there
Comparison With Other Cities.
Capt Oyster glanced at some figures
in his hands at that moment and said
that of twenty-siX cities named by the
Commissioners in their comparison with
Washington schools twenty-five devote
larger percentage of their municipal
moneys to school purposes than Wash
ington does
II said some years ago., continued
Capt. Oyster, that if the District Com
missioners don't run their other jobs bet
ter than they run the schools, then they
ought to quit, and l say the same thing
today
I'VE are working for the children of
ers, / am thankful to say. / am informed
that school conditions today are better
than they have been for thirty years,
and yet the Commissioners have sent to
x
have made statements which are misleau-
ing.
Il thank the members of the board
for the confidence they have put in me-
Not a recommendation of mine has been
turned down.
Washington's Double System.
William Hoover said at this point that
in sending the figures to Congress COM
VI
mention has been made that Washing
toms school system is double, carrying
a complete equipment for colored children
as well as for white. He also said the
Commissioners had sent San Francisco
statistics, and that no one knows what
is the census of that city since the fire
and earthquake there.
Mrs Mary Church Terrell added her
voice against the Commissioners by say
ing that Maj. JudsOn had stood in the
way Of better school conditions in Brook
land by using figures in SO dazzling a way
as to prove that the school already there
is in the heart of the community, when
the community and members of the board
claim 1t is distinctly not in the center.
snag in Wall Case.
There was also some discussion about
the answer which the boards attorney
has prepared in the case of the Wall
child, excluded from white school. The
colored members of the board refused to
sign the answer yesterday. A deadlock
on that phase Of the controversy is the
result.
The boards attorney stated in his an
swer TO the Wall family's attorney tina,
the Wall child Is a colored child. The
colored members Of the board are firm
in their stand that the child of white
mother ia q white child. 1t is possible