Evening star., 1920-01-10
JOHNSON DECLARES
VOTE FOR D. c. CAN
Be OBTAINED NOW
Board of Trade Considers
School Needs and Half
and-HaIf.

present status of the half-and-h half
principle in Congress. on public health.
treatment of the insane. care of dc
fective children and control of soclal
diseases. on the industrial develop
! ment of the District of Columbia. on
the reorganization and recruiting of
the National Guard of the District OF
Columbia and other important public
questions. were presented at. the regu-
lar meeting of the Washington Board
of Trade in the small ballroom of the
willard Hotel last night. The feature
OF the evening was an address by
| Representative Royal c. Johnson of
/ South Dakota, in which suffrage for
! the people of the District, with rep
resentatiOn in Congress, was urged.
| The meeting concluded with buffet
| supper.
School Needs shown.
Roy c. Clafin. chairman of the
boards public school committee. pre-
senting the committees report. show
! ed the needs of the public school sys-
| TEN and the boards participa ton in
| the campaign before Congress for
general Improvement. directed by the
! National Capital School Betterment
Council. composed of representatives
! of the trade bodies civic OrganiZa-
| tons. citizens associations and wom-
| ems clubs.
| Mr.. Clafiin's report was supplement-
I
| ton. superintendent of schools, in
| winch Mr.. Thurston graphically por
trayed conditions which. he declared.
are not paralleled in any other city
IN the United States. Crying needs
of the Districts public schools he
said. are better pay for teachers, so
that large additional number of
| teachers may be attracted to the
schools: comprehensive building
program that will provide adequate
Il Il nn dot;
creasing number of pupils in the
grammar and high schools; pro-
vision of adequate facilities for in
structing the pupils, so as to avoid
the present and increasing overcrowd-
| ing of classes and school buildings;
provision for business agent, with
a force of competent clerks, to han
| die the financial and business details
| of the school system: relief of school
| principals from teaching. so that they
may have time for the performance of
! their duties as principals, and some
! arrangement whereby the superin-
| tendent of schools may be relieved of
at least part of the multitudinous
duties he is now required to per-
form.
! ID. c. Salaries Unusually Low.
Mr.. Thurston told of the increasing
number of teachers who are leaving
the service because of inadequate
u,
than in any city of comparable size in
the country, and the impossibility of
attracting others to replace those
| leaving. He described classroom con-
ditlons, which, he said, under present
| and anticipated future enrollments
made 1T necessary to crowd fifty or
more pupils into classes intended for
proper instruction of thirty or forty
Basic salary for clerks in the school
system: he said. was $72O, which is
much less than the same class of
clerks is paid in government depart
ments. He referred to enactment by
congress OF a teachers retirement
| law. which, he said, was the final step
in campaign that had continued for
| twenty years. The next important
ment of a law increasing pay of
teachers, so that the entrance salary
| would be increased and pay regulated
regardless of the grades taught Fol-
| lowing that, he said, a building pro-
gram should be adopted so that with
in the next five years the public
schools of the District should have
adequate housing facilities to permit
/ constant, uninterrupted instruction of
pupils. He also urged that funds be
provided for paying substitute teach
ers in case of illness of regular in
structors.
BY unanimous vote the board ap-
proved and indorsed the report of the
| public school committee and the rec
| concentrations of Supt Thurston.
Half-and-HaIf Discussed
| Henry b. F. Macfarland, called on
! by Capt. James +. Oyster, president
of the board> gave a resume of the
work of the citizens joint committee
| in presenting the Districts side of
the half-and- half question before
Congress. and urged that every mem
Der of the board make it his personal
| business to interview at least one
member of the House before next
I Monday to present arguments for the
retention of the existing fiscal rela-
tions between the District and the
federal government. Chaplin Brown,
also called on by Capt. Oyster, added
| his testimony to that of Mr.. Macfar-
! land as to the necessity for prompt
and active cooperation of the entire
board membership with the citizens
joint committee and praised the work
accomplished by that body.
| At the conclusion of Mr.. Browns
remarks the board extended rising
vote of thanks to Mr.. Macfarland.
Worthington for their work before
Congress in behalf of the people of
the District and the half-and- half
principle.
InddustriaI Affairs Taken Up.
| Isaac Cans, presenting the report of
| the committee on industrial interests,
recommended that facilities be pro-
vided within the District or in it's
! immediate environs for light manu-
| featuring and for storage purposes.
/ The report showed the development
! of manufacturing in the District
since 1914, and urged that real es-
| tate men or corporations begin at
once erection of two types of build
| ingS, one to be modern hreproof sto-
/ rage structures, and the other to In
cIude buildings or groups of build
| ings in designated sections of the
District to afford floor space for
| small manufacturing concerns. Such
| buildings the report said, are to be
| found in almost all other large cities,
| but none exist here, although ~
| uuiries from manufacturers desiring
| such accommodations are received al
most daily by the Board of Trade ana
other similar organizations. The com
mittees report was unanimously ap-
proved.
! Other Matters Considered.
! The report of the committee on pub
lie health, presented by the chairman,
: DR.. ID. Percy Hickling, urged enact :
| ment of laws further regulating du-
mission of persons to insane asylulhs
urged legislation for the petter care
and handling of defective chlldren
and more adequate provision for the
Columbia Training School for such
children, and recommended addltlonal
! laws and increased power for the
board of health in the control OF SO
cial diseases and isolation or persons
infected with these diseases.
Mai George w. Evans, presenting d
special report of the committee on