The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1921-03-03

Mr.. Chairman;
II is not vet evident whether the leg
islature will give a complete hearing
90 its state board Of education, but !
want to say 70 those who charge US
with not visiting the normal schools
that they are utterly unfair. They
know that / gave the commencement
address in Johnson when the state
board was as popular there as the
devil at a prayer meeting; they know
that / visited the school, IN session
and out, many times, and long before
Hillegas took office, took him to
Johnson to make sure he had a sym
pathetic knowledge Of the school l
gpent nearly a week visiting Castloton
classes; our whole board went To-
Castleton to meet the school directors
70 plan for the benefit Of the normal
school and It was they who would not
respond; and ID 1917 on the hills Of
Berlin by own father lay dead in a
barn. and I did not know i because
I was wasting my time visiting Castle
ton normal school.
It IS said that those reporting
against the normals have not spent a
great deal Of time visiting them. IN
a restaurant I once ordered apple pie
and got it. Long ago the cider had
dried out Of the mummied apples and
the crust was as tough as the integ-
ument Of a postmortem cat ] did not
have 70 eat the whole pie to know
what kind It was. Some things can
be seen at a glance.
| am sorry Mr.. Stearns and his fol-
lowers did not think it necessary to
be present tonight | had hoped they
would have the courtesy if not the
courage, for I wished to tell them
their methods were not fair Last
night Mr.. Stearns read one sentence
from a letter from the Carnegie cor
poration m which it was supposed that
100000 would annually have to be
spent within the new teachers college
building. He gave the impression
that he, forsooth, had discovered cor
respondenee Of Importance, and was
revealing with a great air Of exploded
secrecy, something that the state
board Of education was keeping from
the world. Why did he not read that
letter from page sc Of the report Of
the state board Of education to the
legislature where it Is printed for you
and an the world 70 see? And did he
not know that on page 80 Of the same
report il is made perfectly clear that
an the teachers training classes in the
state, as extension courses Of the col
lege. are to be paid from this fund
Il will therefore be the only apparop-
ration you will make for teacher
trining in Vermont, and it will be
sac 600 a year less than the figures Of
the commissioner u education have
shown you Il viii take to operate the
Steams bill.
Now-if il kills our bill, ] win say It
lust the same-I have been in the
nations capital with DR.. Hillcgas,
twice I have crossed the Mississippi
river with him. and everywhere ! have
seer him received with the profound
est respect by the leading educators in
the country. have heard him quoted
as ultimate authority from the plat
form Of the National Educational
Association. Last night il was said
that "he vent while the going was
GOOD II may be SO. You will at
least admit that the ~going Is good"
when a man goes from Us 10 salary
Of twelve thousand dollars and the
prospect Of being dean Of the most IN
fuential college Of education in half
world I do not suppose tha; SO great