Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-07-18

WASHINGTON, July 1S.-The
United States will not agree to a
preliminary conference" to be held
in London in advance of the WASH
ington conference on limitation of
armament. at which Far East prob
lens would be considered.
The administration is of the opin-
ion not only that the two problems
must be considered together, because
the extent of disarmament will de-
pend largely on the adjustment of
Far East relationships. but also that
any advance conference would COM
plicate rather than simplify the dis
cussions at the later meeting.
go
The atmosphere of America is
looked upon by President Harding
and Secretary Hughes as not the
least of the considerations making it
desirable that the coming disarma-
ment conference be held in Wash
ington.
Here. 1t is believed, the conferees
will be most widely removed from
the political and national j%ealousies
that might tinge any conference held
in any European capital.
Also. with the conference held In
Washington, where reactions OF
American public sentiment may most
quickly be registered, 1t will be pos
sible to tell with some assurance
whether the agreements reached will
be acceptable to the American peo-
pie. And that. officials say, the stu
alton following the Versailles trea-
journed, it cannot reconvene until
another request is received
This is a non sequitur. 1t Is In
conceivable that the statute intends
that, in case where the Board of
School Estimate has acted upon mis-
information or has clearly made q
mistake of fact of law, or conditions
have arisen in the meantime making
it in~expedient to proceed with the
purchase of the land or erection of
the school house, the Board of
School Estimate cannot reconsider
its action without the consent of the
Board of Education. Let us suppose
a case where the amount of the ex-
penditure, as fixed and determined
by the Board of School Estimate, is
in excess of the bonding capacity Of
the municipality, and it would ac-
cordingly result that the entire
amount must be placed in the tax
budget for the coming year.: The
Board of School Estimate may have
made its determination in the mis-
taken belief that the amount could
and would be raised by a bond issue.
Had it known that such was not the
case, and that the burden of raising
such extraordinary amount in a
single year would have to be imposed
upon the taxpayers, it Is fair to as
sumo that the appropriation would
not have been made.
IF the argument of the commits
sioner in the Railway case is sound.
an error in judgment of this charac-
ter on the part Of the Board of
School Estimate could not be cor
rected, except upon the >consent of
the Board Of Education. We can
not yield our assent to this conclu-
sion unless and until the courts have
SO held. The duty of providing funds
for the purchasing sites and erecting
school buildings is placed upon the
governing body of the municipality,
and it Is for that reason that the
statute accords the municipality a
majority representation in the Board
of School Estimate.
"In the instant ase no contracts
have been entered into, and no liza
bilities incurred, and no vested rights
have accrued as a result of the GER
tificates signed by the Board Of
School Estimate on June 22nd, and
Immediately recalled from the GUS
tody of the city clerk and finally re-
voked on July LIST. We fail to see
any reasonable ground upon which
it might be held that the Board of
School Estimate is without power to
reconsider it's prior determination.
very truly yours,
(Signed)
CALDWELL & RAYMOND"