Evening journal., 1915-02-08
INErFIcIENCY's ASSAULTS UPON EFFIcIrNCY.

John H. Mendinhall. formerly Lieutenant Governor of
this State; Andrew Marvel, OF the most promi-
nent business in Sussex county Mrs. Ella c.
Emery. Sussex county of unusual attain
ments and soundness of Judgment Mrs. II. e. Wat
Kent county woman of unquestoned standing;
Miss Emily p Bissel, of this city, who is known the
length and breadth of the land a social welfare
worker. and Ireneo DUPONT, who is well and
prominently known in the business and social world
that his carries weight with II in whatever
nection it is used That the statement not signed
by Benjamin A. Hazel, of Kent county. and jeremiah
Coady of this county, the two remaining members of
the commission, occasions no surprise, in view Of
the fact that partisan favor for William Gibbons.
the deposed State inspector and partisan and personal
against those who deposed him, inspired them
to seek TO wreck a commission that they could not
rule The statement gains added strength through tho
fact that their not appended to IT,
Friends Of Gibbons have sought to make it appear
that from the time OF the organization Of the com
mission up to the present, the commission has been
racked by dissension and in condition to do effec
tive public service.
The statement just issued shows that the only frc-
ton that has existed has been by the official
ineffciency of Gibbons and the efforts of Hazel and
Coady to and uphold it, In other words, since
Gibbons manifested his inefciency. there have been
two distinct factions in the commission One, compos
cd of Mr. Mendnhan. Mr.. Marvel, Mr. DUPONT, Mrs
Emery Mrs Watson and Miss Bissell, has been fight
ing for the public interest The other, composed Of
Mr.. Hazel and M. Coady, has been fighting for the
Gibbons interest In other words the faction led by
Mr.. Mendnhall has been struggling to uphold eff
cheney. while the faction led by Mr. Hazel has been
struggling to uphold nefclency which threatened to
nullify the Child Labor Law and to emasculate and
dlscredit the Child Labor Commission
Gibbons is out OF an Office to which he never
should have been elected Hazel and Coady still oc-
cupy Offices to which they should never have been
appointed Events having demonstrated that fact
clearly, the proper thing for them to do is to resign
and to make room for two men who place the inter-
osts of the childhood Of this State and the standing
of the Child Labor Commission above overweening
partisan interest the political fortunes of sordd
and inefficient Democratic job hunter With Hazel
and Coady out Of the commission and with Gibbons
out of the inspoctorshp. it would be possible for
il to do the work il appointed TO do looking to
the conservation Of the child life of this commonwealth
In fact with NJ Mendinhall Mr. DUPONT and the other
members standing shouderto-shoulder in the public
interest the retirement of Commissioners Hazel and
Coady is not absolutely essential although it unques-
tonably is desirable.
Governor Millers administration has heon distn-
guished by its interest in the childhood of this State
The Governor has worked, early and late to provide
better educational facilities for the boys and girls o
Delaware He inaugurated the movement in behalf
of the Womon's College of Delaware; he took ac
tive part in bringing that admirable institution into
being; he did big and practical things for the en-
largomont Of the usefulness of Delaware College; h
brought Dr. Charles A. Wagner here from Pennsyl
vania to become State Commissioner OF Education
to put the public schools in rural districts upOr
I a plane OF greater efficiency; he urged the conso
daton of many of those rural districts that the boys
and the girls living therein might enjoy better educa-
tional facitos and two years ago he signed, with
every apparent evidence OF personal and official pleas
uro the Child Labor Law and the Child Labor Com.
mission Law which bore vitality upon the educational
moral and physical interest of thousands Of Delaware
! children. In fact it has been said and said truth
fully that interest in the welfare of the childhood
the State Delaware has been the keystone in the
official arch which Governor Miller has reared in the
first half of his official term. He will pass into th
history of this state the executive friend of Della
ware boys and girls and surely finer tribute coulI
be paid to any Governor.
Unless a special session be called between now ant
the expiration OF Governor Millers term, his admin
istration will be made marred by the work of th
present session of the Legislature, rather by tina
portion of It that receives his official sanction an,
approval. II is not in the nature Of things that
Governor who has displayed such profound and prac
tical interest in the moral mental and physical wei
fare of the boys and girls Of State will give ehe
countenanco support to William ]. Gibbons ant
Commissioners Hazel and Coady in their scheme Il
strike at and destroy the majority members of tn
Child Labor Commission, whose sole ofense has bee
that they insisted upon efficiency by the State nspec
tor who appointed to work under their direction
1t is not in the nature of things that a Goyerno
who has displayed in countless instances his love 70
and interest in the boys and girls of this State vii
permit them and their most vital interests to b
made the payhings of the Gibbons-Hazel-Coady caba
in the state House or elsewhere Nor is it in the ma
ture Of things, that Governor who acute bus
ness and public servant, knows the value OF eff
cheney will be found the side of ineffciency whe
it is endeavoring throttle the Delaware Child LabC
Commission and the work that it appointed
perform.
The issue at stake in this struggle is much in
r portant than that of whether the Governor Il
courts shall appoint commissioners and whether Il
" commissioners the Governor shall appoint the sta
inspector. The real question involved is whether eff
: cheney and patriotic devotion to public duty shall
u trampled unde~ foot by nonicency and sordd pa
Is tsan sef-seokng in the halls OF legislation and