The Washington times., 1916-01-19

perform such duties as may be pre-
SSCrlned by the Commissioners of SAID
District"
Lloyd Asks Question.
is there any Gmand from any spc-
cic source for n chanZa in the present
method" asked Congressman Lloyd.
not that | know Of" replied Mr..
Newman.
Laughter was caused by the reading
OF letter from Col. c. c. Lancaster by
CONGRESSMAN Lloyd in which Colonel
s lancaster said he opposed the delivery
oi our lands. female teachers. and chill
ure, TO the lusts and political spoils
new method
DO you know to whom that refers?"
asked congressman Ragsdale.
TO me- replied Commissioner New
man. Colonel Lancaster was n mem
oor OF the home rule committee which
Rnfdinrtwo IR,n LOT Two wears TO have, me ousted,
Yer by Chairman johnson. who asked
IL commissioner Newman knew whether
Llcre vas any basis for such charge
against the Commissioners.
NO ! mink II Is Just eratuifous iu-
suit aiod at me-" replied Mr.. Newman.
congressman RaGsdale then pointed
out out mat the remark was CO ntained In
the resolutions OF Il Ciiize"s' associa-
while don't know about this par
ticGlar case, l do know that rcsolu-
ticns have been Passed. aimed at the
commissioners by associations. when
very small groups Of citizens wcro pres
cnt; replied Mr.. Newman:
Mr., Newman was asked whether or
not there had heen ary citicism of TIE
board. He replied there had not been.
but that. on the contrary, the board
vas REGARDED as cutie efficient.
Has there been any dissatisfaction in
the city? asked Congressman Mapes.
And your conception comes from the
PRESIDENT" interrupted Congressman
Focht.
mo. I havn studied the operations OF
municipal Governments in many cities
and I believed the principle of divided
authority in school matters is wrong
1f 1t were n question Of divided author
ity or having the oBard of Education
.Dremc authority ! should favor the
latter. However, 1t seems to me that IN
the Distr ct tho Commissioners are the
natural au"todans of school matters
at would be perfectly agreeable
to us that this chez ge be not opera
tive until all members Of the pres
ent board have retired"
Conrad II. Syme. Corporation Council
said he had gone into the matter OF the
responsibility for the annual eTpendi-
liI' ol WHICH ~ ''lt-
fourth of the entire District cxpendi-
lures. and has found the responsibility
very haZy. He 8kctChed the history or
tho relation of the school beard and tae
commissioners and said that while the
Commissioners were under bonds to in
sure the proper expenditure OF all Dis-
trict funds. tho Board Of Education
seemed to regard their capacity as pure.
ly minist, rial in school disbursements.
Brings Out Running Fire.
hinder tho organic act the Commits
soners could question the proprictv Of
any expenditure and then there would
he a deadlock" said Mr.. Symc with
the Commissioners under bonds. I can't
conceive that any court could mandamus
them TO sirN "-"chers for expenditures
thcv disaDproved."
Mr.. Svmc brought forth a running fire
Of questions when h" said that for the
last four years the Board OF Education
had made no report to tn" tOmrniSs!on-
"rs respecting school funds. M"mhers
of the committee questioned this. Mr..
Syma explained that under the act of
1!t6 the board did not seem to be r"-
auired to make such a report. and said
he merely called attention to the matter
as another illustration OF the futiIIty of
the present Arrangement.
chairman johnson asked Mir Symc
whethcre under the present mdnn'r Of
Gppcinting members Of the Board "t
fuuCation by tn" judges of tn" Supreme
possible for a case 10 come up where
the court would have 10 rul'! on the
acton Of its appointeeS.
Mr.. Syme said such case had como
UP recently, when the court ordered the
reinstatement of q married teacher who
hai been dcbarred after rndrrhsc by a
ruls of the Eoatd OF Edu 'aJon.
IF a question Of expenditure came
Ford Of EduCnt!"n and the Commits
siun"rs ! should regard The situation
~ much more croH&,. sh1 MIR, :, me.
Mr.. Syme Explains.
Mr. Syme was asked whether the ap-
pointment OF board members by the
supreme Court of the District did not
violate ruling of the United States
Supreme Court which declared that
I OngreSS could not saddle adminlStra-
tive functions on judicial body. Mr..
Syme explained that the Legislators nau
gotten around that point by assigning
the appOintiVe duties to the judges in
sort OF "N-Officio capacity. as nearly
as | can figure II out.
Mr. Syme sal lthat he regarded
the judges of the supreme Court Of
the District as tQp far removed from
close association with the people to
be representative of their wishes in
educational matters. This brought
forth another volley Of questions in
which Mr.. Symc was asked whether
life, were not residents of Washing
ton, were not employed as teachers in
various law schools and were not
seen at social functions.
In replying to the last question Mr..
Syme answered: Il doubt whether the
class Of people is the class OF people
who are most vitality interested in the
education Of their children"
Chairman johnson inquired whether
the judges were both residents and
citizens of Washington" Mr.. Syme
laughngly replied that that raised n
question Of definition over which there
had been much discussion. IF You
mean that "A mans home il where he
votes. believe five out - the six
judges vote in the States Mr. Syme
replied.
.CYCLONE DAVIS GIVES