The log cabin Democrat., 1916-07-17
EXPLAINS WHY COACH
 CANNOT BE EMPLOYED
Superintendent WOmack Gives Req sons to Boys of Conway High
 School Athletic Teams.

Democrat, as I have no other way of
 reaching you. l was approached by two or three of your representatives about the time the school closed, but did not call meeting and discuss the
 matter fully as 1 should have done perhaps. The fact is, when school closed, l thought had plans by which you could have a coach. I did not know any better until it was too late to see you.
 want to assure you at the outset that l am in thorough sympathy with your wishes and would gratify them if it were within my power. But you must remember that I do not handle the purse strings, and even if I did, it is extremely doubtful if I could get what you want. Some say that I am opposed to athletics. They could hardly make statement further from the truth. If I had my way, there would be athletics from Miss Muth's room through the senior class in the high school. Not only so, but every boy and girl would have a thorough medical examination once a year and then especially trained ex- perts would direct all games so that every boy and girl in school would get the physical training he or she needs. And we would have dozens of games going at the same time with all sorts of apparatus to make the games interesting and helpful Here is what l am opposed to. l am opposed to pupils who are big and husky having a special teacher train them at public expense so that they can go off somewhere and win a game if they can off of another favored bunch of boys. It is not fair to the hundreds of boys and girls who can not make the team. It is like keep ing doctor paid to look after the we'll children in the home and letting the weakly ones go without treatment. Honestly, now, does it look fair to you?
 It costs more to keep a coach than it does to keep the class in cooking or sewing going. It costs more to keep team up than it does to pay Miss l Maggie to teach agriculture and physiology. It costs more than to maintain bookkeeping class. We might leave off the cooking or sewing or bookkeeping or geometry, or higher arithmetic or botany or any other two high school courses and keep coach instead.
 Boys, l have been doing a little fig urlng. l have been Investigating little to see if your fathers pay enough taxes to warrant us in making special provision for you. What do you suppose I find? I find this: All the school tax they all pay would not pay the salary of coach even if the district educated you and your broth CTS and sisters free of cost. I do not say this with any intention of reflect ing on them, but to meet your ar gument that you have a right to a the same as the boys at Hendrix and the State Normal have When you l remember that it takes $17.70 a year to pay the actual expenses of keeping " SAi6AS CiiS VI JOo III oShOOl d CdI l think you will see that the district does good part by you in keeping a good school open for you without adding more than ten dollars apiece to give you coach.
 You can have good time without a coach. Do the little boys and girls have to have paid director with them to show them a good time? If you boys had to hoe or blow or cut wood or burn brush twelve hours a day for nine or ten months in a year as thousand of young Americans do every day, you could play when you had chance and have a good time, 1 too.
 l hope you boys will play the man and face the situation as man would. What does man do when he wants new buggy and feels that he can not afford it? What does he do when he wants to take layoff and go fishing but finds he has an overdraft at the bank and that bills are piling up. I needn't tell you for you know we'll enough. And when you face similar situations you will do as they do. You will say, "I cannot af- ford it; l will forget it."
 Now suppose you forget your grievance. Arrange to come back to school and help the teachers and me make the school the best ever. That would me the manly thing to do, the patriotic thing.
 To save answering questions one at time l will tell you how you can get into the Normal. I will give you permit to go if you are 19 years old and are preparing to teach, if you have been out of school six con- secutive months, or if President Doyne sends me a written request that give the permit Some of can get permits on one of these bases, but you are the last ones want to lose from the school. And when you reflect on what the school