Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-27
CARE AND CONSERVATISM
CLAIMED IN THE FIGURES
Revision Sent to Congress Charact@.
lied as Unwise and Illegal,
OYSTER WRITES TO JUDS0H
District Executive Accused Of Ham.
pering the School 1AuthoritiasrPDo.
gram Of Reform With Petty
Meddling and Critfcixm. :.

Replying to the charges al
the District Commissioners THAI
it Disseminated against colonel
schools in compiling its last an
nual estimates, the board of edu-
cation today sent a ten-page leA-
ter to the Commissioners. As a
scathing arraignment of the Dis-
trict heads the communicative
probably is without a parallel An
local school history.
The reply of the board Is adr
dressed by Capt. James F. Oystes.
its president, to Engineer Com
missioner Judson. 1t attempts 10
fasten upon the Commissioners
the very charges of discrinina-
ton which were directed against
the school officials.
That the Commissioners acted
both unwisely and illegally in rs-
vising the boards estimates and
that the changes which they an-
thorized were not made limo.
Gently" are the principal charges
contained in the boards answes.
The right of the District officials
the revise the boards estimates.in
any case is denied.
The report makes plain that the
board is of the opinion that the
Commissioners are trying to
blame others for a. condition
which they have created.
The Commissioners' Charge.
a communication to President Oyster ask
ing the board to pursue different method
in the future in compiling its estimates
The Commissioners in revising the lase
estimates, it was stated, chopped on Items
from the bottom OF the list, supposfn0
that they were the least important. ThAv
charged the board with having arranged
its estimates in such q way that to
eliminate items at the bottom Of tho Mt
would work discrimination against col.
| ored schools.
| One of the statements of tho CommaD-
sioners which appears to have particularly
aroused the ire of the board members wa
that next to dishonesty. discrimination
| is the worst evil that can creep into M
nicipal administration"
L ID
dent Oyster in his reply. tntimates tha3
the Commissioners are the ones who afO
| particularly in need Of abiding by It. u
is quoted several places in the report
AS a final thrust the school omcAa
states:
Next to dishonesty tho board OF S6n-
| cation would have you 1nscrfbe upon the
| facade of the Municipal building In Ieefe5e
| Of gold, Discrimination is tho greakeoe
evil that can creep into municipal admin
| istration.'
Board Makes Countercharge.
| According to the board. the Cou1n11e
sioners did not eliminate items at ths
bottom OF the list in the manner fndi-
| Gated In their communication. RegardtnG
this feature. the reply is as follows:
| 1.-THE wind bloweth where It hsteth.'
and the Commissioners' blue pencil sdp-
| ped now here, now there, In our esti-
| mates. adding an entirely new ttem in
one place, reducing four or five items n
other places, and cutting out In . htt-or-
miss fashion altogether 81 per cent Of the
hoard OF educatdon's total estimates for
colored schools"
! Outside of tho countercharges. the
board defends its position, declaring that
It did not arrange Its items In hap
hazard manner. The reply devotes sew
| IN "a
the commissioners to change it9 esd
mates. It quotes from the school law u
support of its claim that the Comrn1sston-
ers do not possess such r18ht
."The law is so clear and explicit. CON-
rnues the reply, that tho board OF edu-
cation may we'll be pardonsd for asguun-
ing that the Commissioners 's would svsn3s-
| In closing the reply says:
.eIf the Commissioners viii for onoe and
all get clearly fixed In their minds the
fact that the present oosr% sra OF DC eo1osnor 70 r
and no apologies to make Tor doing it's
duty: II the Commissioners VIII In Culture
undertake to obey the letter and the spirit
of the organic school law, which the wis
dom Of Congress has enacted. tho children
of the schools will have cause to clap
their hands and throw up their caps and
shout. and the whole community Win b
thankful"
Reply OF the Board
Thu full letter Of the board - - -.
| lows:
.-Your letter Of July - reached m0 O
July 2l-a day after It was publishsd -
the newspapers.
..The request Of tho Commissionsrs for
| a change IN the arrangement Of the
hoard of education's estimates for build
ings and grounds will meet with the COZ.
dial response which our board takes pride
| i'm Giving to all appropriate requests from
| the Commissioners.
..f3ut when you say: TT must have been
well known to the board that the Com
tmissioners would be obliged 10 cut the
estimates which 1t submitted. am
Ibound to ask how can tho CommisAopsrs