The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-06-26
NO oursIpE MAN NEEpEp.

ENtT blHCe tue It5ItldDl6 anu uH-
timely resignation of Prof. G. N.
Grisham from the p%rincipalship of the
Lincoln High school there has been
much speculation as to whom is to
be his successor. Not only has there
been speculation but jockeying and
wire pulling and almost innumerable
interviews with the members of the
Board of Education and other school
authorities. The question now seems
to have resolved itself into this prop
osition: Shall the new principal be
a home man or an outside man? The
town is divided on this question but
it is evident that a vast majority of
the Negroes of the city prefer a home
man. Those who are clamoring for
an outside man are greatly hampered
by lack of argument, and they have
been unable to convice the public that
their motives are totally devoid of
personal animosities, and that they
are looking solely to the good of the
educational interests of the Negroes
of Kansas City.
No n has had the temerity to sug
gest that there is no one in Kansas
City capable of filling the position.
Such an argument would be so pal
pably absurd as to answer itself. Prof.
Grisham, who knows every Negro of
conspicuous educational standing in
the United States, recently declared
publicly that there would be no need
to go outside of the city to find a
competent man. Those who want an
outside man are unable to explain in
what way the school would be pecu-
liarly benefited by having him. Their
argument reminds one of the song:
I'VE are here because we are here,
that's why w are here" They say
in effect: I'VE want him because
we want him, that's why we want
him.
Do they expect to find a wonder
by going outside of Kansas City? Well,
they will not find a wonder, because
there isn't any. If an outsider is
brought in he will be merely an ordi-
nary though possibly well educated
Negro, such as we have right here
at home. Moreover, those outsiders
whose names have been mentioned so
far not wonders. They are no more
fit than men we have here, and no
one of them has set the intellectual
world on fire yet. We say this with
all due respect to the gentlemen. 1t
is a constitutional mental habit with
some people to feel that that which is
far away must possess more virtue
than anything close at hand. Among
l the stock criticisms we have been
T hearing for several years in refer
ence to the high school is that home
talent was not sufficiently recognized.
Every time the principal would send
East or South for a teacher that howl
would go up. Some of those who are
now clamoring loudest for an outsid-
er were bitterest in their criticism of
the former principal for not recog-
nizing home talent. Beautiful con-
sistency. Now that we have an OPP
portunity to give home talent a chance
to show what it can do, they yell
their heads off for an outsider. Sup
!. pose we get this outside man, what
chance will home talent have then?
What sympathy will he have with
the traditions and ideals of this com
munity? Will he not spend the next
h few years in transporting his friends
1 from back home to Kansas City? Why
do we need to invite a foreign colony
J. to come here to educate our children?
Are we not capable of educating our
own children? Everyone knows that
we are. Strange that the same ar
gument is not employed in reference
S to the other professions that they try
to employ in refence to the teaching
profession.
Suppose the city government should
5 decide to give a position requiring
r great legal ability and learning to a
Negro lawyer. How would it appear
for delegations of Negro teachers, doc
tors and others to begin immediate.
ly bombarding the city officials with
a arguments against appointing any OF
our local Negro attorneys and insist
r ing that an outside man must be
r brought in? That would be manifest
ly unfair to our local lawyers, who
are fully the equal of Negro lawyers
anywhere. Sometime ago a depart.
r ment of the city government decided
n to place a Negro physician at the head
6 of a department of the city hospital
Was there a howl that no local physi.
clan was competent and that an out
side man ought to be imported? Such
a suggestion would have been regard
ed as absolute nonsense. And there
are other physicians connected with
the city health department. Are thtey
efficient? Are they discharging theiI
duties with credit and fidelity? Are
they not doing fully as well as an out
! side man would have done? But why
V should they be any more capable and
i worthy of advancement in their line
than the local candidates for the prin
cipalship of the High school-men whit
II have enjoyed the very best educa
q tional advantages, who have taught
for years, and who are thorough an6
|, profound students of educational the
DRY and practice? The crude joke o.
the whole affair is that while the
home talent haters were going arount
smtating that no local man ought tt
p be appointed, a local man, Prof. VIM
H. Dawley, was right then discharg
ing the duties of the position with
distinguished cce Why not le
L.