Pleasantville weekly press., 1910-08-13
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Support for the School Probers

From Newark News
In the investigation OF the school af-
fairs throughout the State by the special
committee headed by Senator Freling
huysen a crisis is approaching. Men III
volved i'll questionable deals and crooked
transactions are fighting i'll every way
possible to hinder the work of the prob
ers. One of the charges they are max
ing is that the investigation is a political
one, aimed to discredit Democratic Of
ticials, and that therefore Democrats are
| justified ill trying to prevent the manu-
facture of political capital.
Nothing can be farther from the truth.
The investigators first inserted their
probe in Republican county and city
and struck a rotten spot, They followed
this up with hitting more bad conditions
in another Republican community. Ex-
posures of irregularities and corruption
were made without regard to the party
affiliations of those officials responsible.
This is shown by the records.
When, however, the mtteemen be
gan to uncover an astounding lot of
crookedness in Democratic communities,
involving men high i'll the confidence Of
a Democratic boss, then the cry of par
tizanship was raised and the efforts 20
block the investigation were begun.
These efforts cannot be successful if
all of the authorities concerned are de-
termined to do their duty. Co-opera-
tion with the committee by the local
and State officials charged with prosecut-
ing those responsible for criminal acts
must be brought about to guarantee that
the investigation shall be thorough and
effective.
One of the defects discovered in the
work of the committee is that when the
sessions were first held there was not a
quorum present. The resolution calling
for the appointment of the committee
designated three Senators and the mem
bers of the State Board of Education as
committeeman. The State board appoint
ed committee of three to serve upon
the committee. 1t has been held by com
petent. authority that this was not. ,suf-
ficient, and that it was necessary to have
ia quorum of the whole board present 10
make. the; acts of the committee lawful.
iUnder these circumstances the members
of the board should respond to the. eall
| TO attend the future sessions of the COM
| imttee, and they should be eager to be
| present.
There is every reason why the members
of the State Board of Education should
| go hand in hand with Senator Freling-
huysen and his associates i'll the hope and
| expectation that much good will result,
| not alone to the schools and the school
| children, but to the State as a whole.
Already the Frelinghuysen committee
has brought to light much of value in
the way of showing how State school
| moneys have been foolishly, carelessly
and ofttimes fraudulently wasted AS
| the State Board of Education is suppos-
| ed to exercise at least limited jurisdic-
| tion over the schools and school districts,
| as well as local school boards, it should
be the obligation of the members of the
| State Board to join heartily in the ef-
fort to bring about reforms and safe
guard the school funds from being vast
ed in the future.
The Frelinghuysen committee has al
ready made good start in the direction
of discovering why there has been an in
crease from $9OOO,OOO to $l7OOO,OO in
State school expenses in the past five
years without correspondingly proper
tionate increase in school population. 1t
should be encouraged to persist in its
work to the end.