The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1919-01-02

AHHt t4ta AlNat lHNF +HAN ~ ~ ~
CANDIDACY FOR RE- ELECTION
ana . candidate for reelection
g The office Of county superintendent,
winch / have held for one term.
nave tried to Do my full duty as a
school official, and with the exception
g some war work | was called on
e render and which / did without
Is npensation, ! have given my en-
Time to the work Of the office,
hnd feel that am entitled to the
usual endorsement Of a second term.
h the performance Of my official
duties, ] worked under difficulties
never encountered BY any other SUI
perintendent Of schools in this county.
Shortly after my election, our country
entered the great world war, and no
trade or industry has been more de-
morahzed by war conditions than
nave the schools and colleges Of our
country. These conditions in no way
increased the revenue Of the schools,
assessments Of property remaining as
before the war, but very largely in
creased their operating expenses. II
rs not necessary that ] comment upon
the high prices that have prevailed
1or the past two years, as these are
matters Of common knowledge and
experience, and that such prices have
made it practically impossible to ma
tef1ally reduce the operating ex-
penses Of the schools is truth so
self-evident that it needs no argument
to support it.
It is obvious that these conditions
would of necessity have upset any
plans we had made for retrench-
ment in expend'A worse than
That, they made it almost impossible
to secure sufficient number Of sat
lsfactory teachers for our schools.
Most of the young men went into the
army, and these included not only
g number Of our best teachers, but
young men in college who would
have engaged in school work. Fur
theImore, many Of our young women,
including some with several years
experience as teachers, ertered other
PROFESSIONS, taking the places Of men
who rad gone to war, receiving sal
aries much larger than we could
possibly pay them as teachers IN our
public schools. With regard to Sc
curing teachers, such conditions never
existed III this county before, and it
is to be hoped that they will not
occur again.
IN addition, the unprecedented cold
weather Of last winter and its accom-,
panying fuel shortage greatly ham
pered the work of the scrools. stop
ping some, cutting down the attend
ance Of Others, and preventing many
pupils from completing their grades.
Those unfriendly 10 my candidacy
have sought to make nae the scape-
goat for these conditions, and partic-
'arlv charge me with responsible
he present overdraft in the
nd, This is unjust and un-
ere has been but little, If
rease in the interest-bearing
mess to be paid out Of the
Al school fund in the past two
IS BY juggling dates it can be
ssatde TO appear AS either an increase
or q decrease If January |. 1919
is compared with January |, 1917.
this increase in the overdraft will
appear To Be about $4,000 IF De-
eelnber |, 1918, be compared with De-
cember !, 1916, there will be no in
crease whatever, but a slight de-
crease. This i ON account of trans
fers and Of distribution OF general
funds to the credit of the county
trustee, not distributed to the various
accounts. If the comparison be made
ait q time when all the taxes have
been collected, say the first Of April.
1919, with the first of April, 1917-I
and this is & & only faie way to make
the comparison--it will appear that
the overdraft is substantially the
same is it was on that date. De-
tailed figures showing these facts be-
You'd peradventure, and figures whose
accuracy cannot be questioned, will
be presented to the court to verify
theVe statements and will Be made
public AIS part of that report. The
truth Is that | inherited consider
able overdraft from the administra-
ton Of my predecessor; he inherited
such an overdraft from the admins
tration that preceded him.
The only practical question, then.
IS what to do with this overdraft. /
It was my plan to gradually reduce
10 by system Of rigid economy. Of
course, this overdraft can be elimi- /
mated by stopping the schools, but !
do not think this feasible plan.
At could be reduced by stopping
some schools and running Others but !
this would involve an unwarranted
discrimination between the commun- |
titles Of the county. No citizen would /
want to see his school suspended !
while his neighbours continued in op
GRAFTON.
No board of education nor superin-
tendent could have reduced eypendi-
lures while the war was on without
materially shortening the school term;
but now that the war is over and
there Il some probability Of return
to normal conditions, plans for rel