The daily Alaskan., 1910-04-01
CITY SEEMS ID BE D00NEDSL BARD S NN NINE WORKERS WORKERS ON STRIKE

No doubt the citizens of Skagway re,
 ceived quite startling jolt when they read Mir. Britt's treatise on munich pal economy appearing in last nights
 Alaskan. With a simultaneous gust of hot and cold air the careless, ex- travagant and cratic official conduct of the city officers was laid bare to the critical gaze of the public, and a hint was offered as to what ought to be done according to the business acumen of Wm. Britt. Ancient his tory is interesting sometimes, provid- ed it has some semblance of accuracy providing it does not actually con cern a community where it has been the one absorbing topic of conversa- ton for months, and if it represents little honest thought and energy. No one questions MT. Britt's right to further his political interests; he has a right to make any kind of state ment he chooses to the public, and the public has the same right to ac- cept it or reject it, And no doubt the article in question would have served its purpose better had it sOms sembIance of originality.
 With one more year to serve on the school board l did not intend to make any further statements Te- garding school expenditures, but now that the subject has been laid open for discussion I wish to tell the peo- pie what Mir Britt forgot to tell them that we too were thinking of econ omy for the past year; that the ex- penses of operating the school this year was $9O5.OO less than last year; that we installed new boiler to keep the children warm in winter, and saved the city $23LSO in fuel alone in seven months time. He did not tell you the great amount of mon ey spent for repairs and improvement during the past two or three years was due to an cratic system of pip ing installed in the school building, as well as an unsuitable boiler that devoured the fuel and gave nothing in r.turn. He did not say anything regarding the general condition of the school building owing to the slip-shod manner in which it was originally constructed. and the money it has been necessary to spend during the rast two years in repairs, patching and altering the piping, in order to make the building tenantable for the children during extreme weather. It was a question of spending the none for betterments, or the parents of the children spending the money for doc tor bills.
 We believe in reducing school eX- penses. We have been discussing this subject for the past year On Mar. 1st, last year, wrote MT. Gavin and asked if it would not be possible to reduce the teaching force to three teachers for the coming year (that isl the pr sent year. and thereby save the city $1,OOO.OO. After careful con sideration he replied to the board tha such an undertaking would be hazardous, and that the teachers at that time had all the classes they could handle and do the children jus 6ce. All this correspondence is on file in my office. At that time we were paying $500 per month for teachers, same as at the present time, and the enrolment for the year was 1O5. then wrote to the Juneau school board. asking for information regard ing the expenses of operating their schools. to which Miss Emma Yule, principal replied. She stated that the