The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1912-08-12
CRUCE
RAPS DUNLOP
"You Have Nothing to Resign Says
the ExecutNe--History Of the
Boards Removal.

Oklahoma City, Aug. 12.-"I am not
asking you for your resignation; you
have nothing to resign, you ceased to
be member of the state board of edu-
cation of Oklahoma at 8 o'clock Mon
day morning, July 29, 1912"
Foregoing was the closing para
graph in Governor Lee Cruces letter
to State Treasurer Robert Dunlop, an
swering the communication sent the
governor by Dunlop last week regard
ing the status of the state board and
the recent textbook adoption.
The controversy over the adoption
and attending circumstances are
taken up by the governor in detail, as
well as the statement of the treasurer
that he (the goyernor) had ignored
the advice of Attorney General West
and had followed the advice of the law
! firm of which the governors brother
is member The governor says that
when the question Of appointing Dun
lop on the state board was UP he told
Dunlop that he did not believe an cleo
tive officer could serve in the appoint
ed capacity The law firm held in an
opinion that the state treasurer could
not legally hold place on the board,
while the attorney general held that
he could.
II took the attorney generals opin-
ion, and made the appointment" the
governor says, but you requested that
before I acted upon the attorney gem
erals advice you be permitted to con-
suit your attorney, and after you re-
ceived favorable reply from him,
you asked that the appointment be
made
Not only have | followed the attor-
ney general in matters that | have
submitted to him heretofore but In
removing you as member of the state
board of education, am following the
advice of the attorney general He
has given me an opinion that | have
the right to remove members of the
board of education, and that all acts
attempted to be performed by the
three members removed after the or
der of removal was entered in my Office
at 9 a. M, July 20, 1912, are absolutely
void"
In his letter the governor again ex
planned his reason for asking post
ponement of the school book adoption
as folIows
School and Politics.
II stated to the board that / had
: tried as hard as knew how from the
, time I entered the governors office
to divorce the schools from politics
and to keep politics out Of the schools
that felt that it was the duty of every
member of the board to do what he
could in that direction; that the ad
option, no matter when il took place
) no matter how honestly made, woult
occasion criticism; that under ordi
nary circumstances 1t would be large
ly confined to hotel lobbies in Okla
homa City and to disappointed bool
men; but that at the present time, il
the midst of heated political cam
! paign, when politicians were seeking
every sort of political advantage, tn
] criticism of these book men would b.
: seized upon by thousand speakers
and from every stump poison agains
i the boards work would be circulated
7 with the result that thousands of tn
school patrons would become dissatis
/ fed with the board, and that it wa
the duty of the board, so far as it la
in its power, to avert this calamity :
5 the schools. You and every othe
L member of the board know that my er
tire argument was along the line Q
pursuing the couse that would preven
your work becoming factor in tn
political arguments. The game of pol
u times, as it is commonly interprete
> to mefi is by no means an interestin
E one, and when played in the school
I of the state, as it has been in the pas
2 becomes absolutely obnoxious"
; Dunlop's letter of last week told th
governor that the latter told w.
Ledbetter, his attorney, that he (Dul
lop) would not be removed, and tina
r none of the charges against him ha
], been sustained. The governor correct
|, this idea and relates of the confe
!, ence of which Dedbetter held with hir
e regarding the proposed removal {
:, members. Before the investigation {
= last year ended, when the proof wa
s. piled mountain high, as the goyerno
lputs it, Ledbetter told him II he foun
It lit necessary to make changes in th
p board to let him (Ledbetter) know i