The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-25
REPLY OF DIR, BARRINGER
MAKES SWEEPING DENIAL
Takes Up of the Nearly Half Hundred Charges and An
swers il Detail and Dcfends His Course

stitute, has recently made erroneous
and misleading statements and UNI
warranted deductions. We propose to
let the following evidence submitted
as preferred charges against the pres
ent administration suggest to you the
probable origin and motive attached
to each.
Then follow q number of quotations
from DR. Barringers statements al
legged to be contradictory. Replying
to this, DIR. Barringer says:
The reader must not let this large
number OF disp ced and nisquoted
paragraphs disturb him. They were
mixed for q purpose. but the KEY s
very simple. Read the brief history
Of the course below given. ana then
remember that prior to June Is, 1903,
the apprentice course was a prep
aratory course, and after this GATE
it was not. Before this date It was
a two-year course, and after THIS IL
was one-year course. with these
facts clear, the quotations given VIII
be perfectly ineligible, because they
were true when written. Where the
October bulletin of 1909 Is quoted be
sure to read the context, and see
what year the quotations refer 10:
otherwise you will ne caught.
In explanation, / win say that we
felt it unwise TO continue to give
high school work at this institution;
III 1t could be avoided. From the be-
ginning we intended to eventually
eliminate this high school work, ana
thus silence the bitter criticism OF
this institution, such as were exhtp-
tied at Charlottesville during an ed
vocational meeting in the summer OF
1907, where 1t was charged that V.
ftxys Ftr1tr ITO
all Corners
Further on, Or. Barringer says;
! As to the claim tnal over half OF
the students in the present appren-
tice course are preparing for other
I courses than agriculture, l Will state
that the future intentions OF these APP
! prentices Is beyond our control. IT
I is enough for us that they enrolled
! as students in course purely agrl-
cultural, with the c-stinct under
standing that 1t was nos preparatory
work in other departments Against
| their view of the question. l Will cite
the statements of Prof. q. w. Walk
err, headmaster of the apprentice
school, recently given that only
twelve OF them are preparing for
engineering courses"
/ 90 l repudiate abso.uceIy the mo-
tives imputed to me here by the COM
piainants. The announcements In
catalogues, in letters to applicants
and in public statements were made
honestly. in due order. and there mas
been no ehtradiction.
tS) Here they claim rc qoute from
! my open letter" when in reality
they are quoting from page OF the
October bulletin--the very same arts-
Gle that they got the paragraph from
| yyh tnh ylo fnfn
obliged in self defense to give below
the article from the October buiietir
in full. -
Not Accurate In Figures.
The second charge is that THE
president has shown himself ever
less accurate IN the use of figure.
than In the use of English" and t.
sustain this comparisons are given.
The president replies:
In replying to this long list OF
mixed charges and deductions. wish
to deny the motive they aseribe tt
the article and the effect it was in
! tended to produce, and think a cleal
understanding OF Its nature will beaI
me out.
/ would call the attention of tn.
board to the fact that the article men
toned tsee above) was not in an,
, way an official announcement Of tn,
. college. nor WAS II Intended for State
I wide Observation-Disclosures -the=pHbai'
! / press, as it's critics would have yol
believe. 1t was an unsigned editoria
article, lalsely eonjectural in its ma
ture and discussing In general term
: the lesson of the new year. II ap
t peared in the October issue of tn
r college bulletin, whose circulation
/ confined entirely to the students. fac
) ulty, alumni of this institution an
our college exchanges. No claim q
certainty was made in the article q
being replete with such phrases as
Furnish a clue, show the drift
mot yet certain. the answer to tn
l main question; most difficult" an
leads us to believe" Such phrase
are not used where an article claim
' to- be authoritatiHe.D
/ was simply trying to show what
known to every educator, that
I larger percentage of well prepare
, men will remain and complete thei
/, courses in an educational institution
s than is likely to occur with the sam
S number of Ill prepared men. l ha
of necessity to refer to the record
/. prior to my own time. and this simpl
q happened to represent a previous ad
:. ministration.
V concede that the figures prepare
: by the committee appear more COZ
rect than those used. but the differ
ence is not marvelously great. l
a the preparation Of this article wa
! working in great haste, due to tn
urgent request of the bulletin com
: mitee, and l had to rely largely o
4 outside help. The percentages use
e were based on pencil memoranda fur
: nished me by the registrar, and as
e often done, left the preparation c
$ the artthmetical data to my secretar,
D II seem to have mistaken 16s 10
: 100. but such things have happene
: ! before.) did not have an oppol