Milford chronicle., 1919-11-07
CRUSADE WACED
FOR BETTER SCHOOLS
PIERRE S. DU POINT OF STATE SCHOOL
BOARD, FIGHTING FOR IMPROVED
EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES.

Pierre S. dupont who as vice presi
dent of the new State Educationa
Board is leading the fight for educa
tional reforms here, has given $500.
600 to be used in building new school.
for white children He has offere,
to stand the total expense of the re-
building of all OF the negro schools il
the State. He has also established
sixty free scholarships in Delaware
College for the training Of teachers
providing for the payment of their ex-
penses from the time they leave their
homes until their courses have been
completed
And for all of this he is today being
reviled and slandered at publ meet
ings' in private conversation and in
newspaper articles from one end of
the State of Delaware to the other.
Enemies of Delaware's new school
code, which embodies the plan for ed
ucational reform, are asking, Whats
behind all this? There must be some
reason why DUPONT gives away all his
money. What's he got up his sleeve?"
These efforts on the part of the head
of the dupont corporations and chair
man of the executive committee of the
General Motors to better conditions in
his own States and the fierce opposi-
ton which is being launched against
them present a case almost parallel
to the theme of Henrik Ibsen's drama,
IAN Enemy of the People"
Many Receive Benefits
Certainly if Mr.. DUPONT had chosen
frivOlity and wasteful extravaganza
for his sphere; if he had dedicated his
fortunes to his personal pleasures in
stead of to the beterment of cOndi-
tions in the schools of Delaware, or if
he had attended strictly to his own
business enterprises and refused to
interest himself in the affairs of the
people at large, thousands of Delawar-
cans would not today be heading ana
thema upon his head.
But to Pierre S. dupont such a life
had no charms. The story of his gifts
to public institutions would be a very
lengthy one, although most of these
gifts were made anonymously, as he
has always shrunk from the spotlight
of publicity. Columns might be writ
ten about what he has done for tie
r,en in his employ. There are stories
Circulated N Delaware about great
sacrifices which he made during the +
war to help his Government at a time
when many people enormously imagin-
ed that he was cleaning up" war
profits but he has persistenuy oppos-
ed all efforts to place the wreath OF
public commendatiOn upon his brow.
1t was largely through the great
boom in her industries occasioned by
the European war that Delaware has
awakened to the need of educational
reforms. With the great DUPONT con-
Germs engaged in pouring forth sup
plies for the Allies a new spirit came
to Wilmington. There was a desire to
place the State on an educational foot
ing with the rest of the country and
it was apparent that this could not be
done under antiquated laws which re-
quired children in many instances to
attend school but three months year
and provided little or no facility for
learning during those three months.
The selective draft law gave a Sc
we're Jolt to the educated residents.
Examinations made by boards in the
southern part of the State showed that
20 per cent of the youth Of certain sec 4
tions over the age of q years were
unable to write their own names.
Draft officials also found that this il I
literacy was not confined to the poor. {
but was quite common in the landed /
families of Sussex and Kent counties. !
Disease RageS Unchecked
The influenza epidemic brought an
other and awful phase of this situa-
ton to light. The uneducated dis
played during the reign Of that terri
BILE disease a total disregard for all 7
laws OF sanitation and health.
1t was apparent to those who inter
ested themselves in the affairs of the
people that this condition must be y
remedied and the only way to change
it was through reforms in the school
law. Among those who so felt and
who set themselves to bring the re- {
forms about was Pierre S. dupont q
Certainly none of them expected the
slightest opposition to such move. /
But. as has already been told, the =
opposition began to develop as soon u
as certain farmers realized that the Z
nine months of the compulsory educa-
ton required by the new school laws {
would largely deprive them of the
child labor on their farms. and that D
kept schools and adequately Z
maid teachers would cost them more u
Than the institutions which had surviv- u
ed generation after generation under p
the OH Jaw. Tins, as has been said
before. did not apply to Wilmington
and certain isolated sections where
intelligent people had long before
aiken the matter of school reform into Il
heir own hands and had provided It
ldeduate educational facilities of their Il
lwn accord. ID
Another class that rushed TO attack
he new school plan was the land 3
,wner. who had been letting out his te
arms on shares These people had al
welcomed tenants with large families,
or thew counted upon every one OF III
children working on the farm. NJ
And then there were theNschools for W
legroes Under the old law it had Di
,een impossible to tax white people
n support schools for black people. al
The negro child had to depend for its ID
ducation upon taxes levied upon the
Iegro natives. and the result was eX- ec
ctlv what might have been expected
Reside some Of the sheds in which ii
hese negro children sought the llght
f knowledge. even the ancient dilap- CO
dated and unsanitary school houses WI
t the white were palatial affairs. And tn
he new law had been designed to rem
DIV all of this; to have all schools. ed
9th black and white, supported out ID
f a county fund raised by taxation.
Walls Heard from Natives he M
yhen this point seeped through the
linds of many of the natives their