Milford chronicle., 1919-10-31

lnOSe VINO were opposed 10 the code
were honest in their convictions. and
ii might be that those who were up
7 holding the code were wrong. Dis
cussion Of the question was good for
all, and out Of It would come a right
settlement Of the whole matter.
Short Talk by DR.. Cooper
\ Mr.. DUPONT was followed by DR.. r.
J W. Cooper, who made a short talk.
He said that the general opinion
n among the education officials of the
y United States and Of many Of the
States, where the Delaware school
code has been studied, was that this
State had about as nne a school law
as there is in the United States.
. Dr. Cooper said that if the law does
not fit our case. we should try to find
[ out what the trouble was and remedy
( il by amendment. He believed that a
: great deal of the trouble was not to
! 10 be blamed on the code, but on the
, old system Of taxation under which it
( is operating. I'VE are not going to up
, set the school code without knowing
why we do that" he said, "and without
eXhausting every means Of remedying
its defects" He said the school code
was meant to benefit the children in
the outlying districts Of the State And
strange to say, the greatest objection
to the code was in those outlying dis
tricts.
Democracy is not safe without edu-
cation, the speaker said. Public gov
ernment without public education is
but prelude to tragedy or farce or
both,' was said by Madison. The boys
and girls must be educated. We must
find way to give them an education
IN this State if they are to be leaders
in the future.
Layton Attacks Code
Following DR.. Cooper, there were
loud calls for Daniel j. Layton of
Georgetown, and when he went to the
platform he was greeted with cheers.
He said he had heard from DR.. Cooper
about how the war was won and about
the price of land out west, but he had
heard no satisfactory explanation of
the code. One of the first things he
said was that there had been criticism
made of those who we're opposed TO
the code that they were actuated by
political motives and that they were
demagogues. He saw it in the news
papers, and he heard it on the streets.
He wondered about the newspapers
giving so much space to the defense of
OF the code, and intimated they were
subsidized. He said he had talked
with people all over the county and l.
saw no indications OF a political line
up against the code. Everybody was .
against it," he said
Referring to the history of the en- v
acment Of the code, and Mr.. duPonts Z
statment that he never read it until
aIter it was enacted, he said that that ="
was the trouble. Nobody knew where ~
{ came from. Nobody was willing to Ol
'iaim its parentage. He hoped it was
lot an illigitimate, and that its par y
'ntage would at length be revealed. ~
lie said that it appeared mysteriously
Dout the middle of the session, from
9here nobody knew. He had heard a.
Aat Dr. Odell had said that it ought a.,
ot TO be passed at that session, as Al
here was too much in it. But ali at An
nee there started a great drive to put
through. And there was bargaining al
nd trading and amendments by the ,,,
undred. In
He said he had been a follower of
oosevelt and the only thing he ever In
ondemned him for was interfering .,,
lth the legislative branch of the gov IL
rnment. This statement was a pre-
lde TO his declaration that Governor AL
oWnsend had endeavored to get the
)de through He said he had all his
fe been friend Of the governor. but in
lslsted that the code could never the
ave been enacted except by the i'm OF
'oper influence of the governor. And be
ter all this work, he said. ii got hei
rough by one majority. There had ere
.en tie vote-17 to 17-and Repre- her
ntative McNabb changed his vote to wo
e and the measure passed. A few clu
Us later certain bill Mr.. McNabb goc
as interesting in having killed was the
toed by the governor, Mr.. Layton n
i'd tar
Mr. Layton charged the governor ciai
IN sending for members and telling ers
EN- II they were Interested in GER the
in other legislation. they had better par
te Tor the school code There is
ly one right way said Mr.. Layton, my
nd that IS for the governor to at ure
Id to the business Of his department sou'
let the other departments alone" nds
rhe sneaker was sf,.one- =, bis orit her
SIN of State Commissioner of Edu- non
ion Spaid, who. he said had been iool
storm center. He also paid his re- -
'cts to the county school superin- nav .,
dent of Sussex county E. J. Har- ei,I stiD
ty. she
lr. Layton criticised the power con sue
red on the State commissioner by az 5
code. As to the board, he said, PIeI
people have nothing to do with its tieI ttsI
ection-tt is named by the govern Il lIon
The board then names the com % %MoI-
getting further away from ~ sle
people all the time "The commits su
Ter was the whole thing. 1t was a 5a uLea
man board. It was an autocratic necl
.em." An unpaid board, he declar- Won
would take no interest in matters - @ ~
everything would be left to the M e1eI
and ne would run it s. ness
{ suited him. goln
mother criticism was that there yes
er NAV he Maid Tbere M Tos nIt r.ir acqu
m set but no maximum and the 70 @ ~
"a cOuid make MS salary as large 80 ~
hey saw fit And yet they call IsnS I.,
democratic measure" he exclaim- WI
lother provision strongly CRITICS. Dr' ~,
vas the power of removal of local 70 ln
d officials possessed by the board. sei - III III
county boards could not act, he II n'
except on the initiative Of the AM ~ q q
If they want to get Oh AZ
If the county superintendent they Is no
do it, he said. shali
der the code, he said the county sSdIll s,l
rintendent can't get less than DlOou
o. He may not be worth it, but q a., pm
ant get less" he declared. There We W
limit to stenographers, attend Nno
ofhcers, ETC., who may be en- az Z