The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1917-03-23
BOARD OF EDUCATION.

BOARD OF EDUCATION.
The secretary of the city board Of
education is fighting manfully for the
retention of the hundred dollar year
sinecure which he holds. He Is the
only member of the board Of education
who draws any compensation from the
city, one Of the strongest arguments,
In the view OF The Herald, why the
board of aldermen and the mayor
should serve in Columbia without any
compensation.
The department of education has
been one of the most efficient, best
administered and probably the most
beneficial department of the city gov
eminent. 1t has been that largely be.
cause of the zeal and enthusiasm and
devotion of the members of the board
of education. They have given freely
and willingly of their time and SER
vices to the public. They have done
II without any hope Of reward, except
that which comes from a conscious
ness of duty performed Now If they
can do this why cannot, in all the city
Of Columbia, there be secured enough
patriotic men to similarly serve as
members of the board of mayor and
aldermen?
The Herald would be the last jour
nal in the country to do anything, or
cOuntenance any movement calculated
20 injure the public school system and
NO one knows this better than the
friends of popular education in Column
bia. in Maury county ana in the entire
state. 1t is recognized everywhere
throughout the length and breadth Of
the state as probably the most con-
sistent, ardent and unfaltering disin-
terested champion of the cause in Ten
nessee. Any effort upon the part of
the holder of little sinecure who is
serving the public schools at so mucn
Per. to make the contrary appear to be
the case is contemplate. Although
holding a salaried office in the public
school system he has never SO far as
any friend Of education is aware, ever
written or published a line, made a
single journey to the capital of the
state, or sought in any way to defeat
reactionary school legislation or to
promote and advance progressive
school legislation.
This writer becomes the champion
Of the school interests of Columbia
and misrepresents those who believe
IN q non-salaried board of mayor and
aldermen only when his sinecure is
threatened. The Herald does not ap-
prove and has never approved that
portion of the proposed charter which
provides for board of education by
tho ward system any more than it
approves the ward system in the elec-
fiOn Of the board Of aldermen. On the
contrary, it stated editorially that it
WAS opposed to the continuation of the
ward system. The Herald is an inde- |
1endent journal, serving disinterested-
~ the public interests, and being the
organ Of no faction or party, it has the !
right to criticise parts of either the |
old or the new charter. There are fea-
lures of both which it does not ap-
prove, some that it does.
About the most brazen piece of at
fsDntery that has come to public atten-
fi0n recently is the attempt by inuen-
DO and insinuation to convey the i'm
pression to the voters of Columbia
that The Herald or it's editor would
lend encouragement to any movement
that might injuriously affect the public
school interests of this community, in
the upbuilding of which educators uni
versaily testify they have been most
pstsnt factor.