Milford chronicle., 1920-01-09
SENTINEL" HAS ANTI
CODE FORCES WORRIED
EDITOR ALLEE'S DENUNCIATION OF
THEIR TEARING DOWN METHODS
HAS THEM EMBARRASSED.
WAITED IN VAIN" FOR PLAN
THINKING SOME OF CODE OPPONENTS
0ULDEXPLICITLY POINT TO SOME
OF ITS DEFICIENCIES.

ments and is editorially commenting
upon each installment as it is printed,
comparing it with the old school laws
telling why the changes were made
and whether in its opinion, these
changes were wise or unwise.
This statement of fact is nowise SEN
sational, but the action of the Sen
tinel is creating confusion in the ranks
of the anti-SchOol Code forces and is
previously embarrassing the leaders
and papers engaged in fighting the
School Code.
4 The name of James f. Alice, Jr., is
carried at the top of the editorial page
of the State Sentinel as President OF
Publishing Company and Editor"
James F. Alice, Jr., is one OF the hold
over Senators in the Delaware General
A sembly. He is also a very prom
inent and influential parsonage in that
faction of the Republican party which
is officered by such men as =. NJ. Davis
OF Wilmington, l. d. Short of Milford
and Daniel ]. Layton Of Georgetown.
Tnis faction is the backbone of the
opposition to the new School Code.
/ Its leaders are the leaders Of the anti
/ School Code forces. Its spokesmen
are the spokesmen of the anti-School
Code forces. All this is a matter of
/ common information throughout the
4 State.
Mr.. Alice Speaks Out
James F, Alice, Jr., editor of The
State Sentinel and hold-over State
Senator, is a notable exception to this
general rule. That in itself would not
necessarily cause the Republican fac
ton fighting the School Code any un-
usual concern, provided Mr.. Alice
would keep his views to himself. But
he does not. That is causing the
trouble, but not all the trouble. The
rest and worst of the trouble is that
nobody knows what Mr.. Alice is going
to say regarding the School Code be-
fore he finishes his discussion of it in
The State Sentinel.
What he is saying now isn't very
pleasing reading to those politicians
and newspapers which have been
damning the code without reserve. All
of them are hoping that Mr.. Alice will
flop over" sometime between now and
the fifteenth and final installment of
the codes publication and analysis in
The State Sentinel. Some of them are
saying he will have to"-whatever
that means. Others. with a knowing
movement of the eyebrows. say young
Mr.. Alice is playing a game with the
School Code and that he intends after
a few installments of favorable or
mildly critical comment upon it to
turn upon it and tear-it to pieces.
But the plain truth is that nobody
knows what is in the back of Mr.. /
Allee's head and the anti-School Code /
forces are worried. Mr.. Alice voted |
for the code. He voted for it in the /
face of tremendous pressure from his |
Republican factional associates. So /
those who say Mr.. Alice and the State 1
Sentinel will "have to" come around [
and oppose the code may not speak
with authority.
Wants Constructive Criticism
Until the middle of December The
State Sentinel took no part in the
School Code controversy, which then
had been raging for two months. Such
papers as the Laurel Leader and Sea-
ford News had been printing columns
of matter wildly denOuncing the code,
its administration and the State off
cials responsible under the law for the
codes enforcement. In its issue of
December 10, The State Sentinel pub
lished the initial installment of the
School Code, accompanied with an ed
itorial announcement in which il said,
among other things:
I'VE then waited following the Su-
preme Courts upholding of the School
Codes constitutionality) thinking the
press of the State would take up the
new laws provisions, cease dealing in
definitely point out GER
tain defects and then suggest REM
edies."
I'VE waited, thinking some of the /
Codes opponents would explicitly
point to some of its deficiencies, sec I
ton by section, and be construction
lists rather than destructionists; point I
costing a remedy for those faults. But l
we have waited in vain"
Pointed Pointed Language Len :as Pe-nlexes
This is rather pointed language to
use in description of the critics of the
School Code. To wait until after
Daniel j. Layton, head of the Repub- '
ican faction fighting the School Code, c
lad stumped the State in denuneiation b
If the Code; to wait until after down! /
State newspapers had used columns Q
If space Yillifying the Code and State
Dfficials charged with the Codes ad q
to wait until after the '
Infamous bundle of petitions had been O
collected in Sussex county and sent L
o the Governor asking for a. special n
ession of the General Assembly for {
he purpose of repeating the Code; to D
vait until all this had been been done v
nd then editorially announce that it'll
lad waited "in VAIN for some critic.
f the Code to be constructive rather
han destructive, to stop dealing in
and be specific in criti-' \
ism of the Code and also to furnish J
remedy for each fault pointed out +
or young Mr.. Alice and The State y
sentinel to do this was gall and worm s
rood to the Republican faction fight J
ng the Code.
Here was one OF the inner circle s
the solemnity Of the GER
monies and giving away the secrets s
( the lodge, exposing the hollowness
( the pretensions OF the leaders and
he falsity Of their assertionsl Here
7as one of their confdants and asso-
iates exclaiming publicly, -You have :
alked a whole lot. but you have said :
othingi You are tearing down with
ut offering any substitute, either as =
ood OF better. You. are denouncing
hose who have made sincere effort
0 improve the educational system OF
be State, but you yourselves are max +
ng no EFFORT to oifer any Improvement. i
you are denouucing the educational !
(0oncludsd on nth pagsl Ii