South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-10-07
West Virginia is
Dance Crazy in
Spite of Trouble
Hold-ups, Strikes and Riots
Fail to Satiate Thirst
For Excitement.

MORGANTOWN. W. Va, Oct s..
West Virginia is dance mad. The
holdups, riots and strikes here and
there have not satiated the thirst Of
West Virginians for excitement.
Dancing has been called upon 10 add
its share Of thrills, The dancing
craze has seized old and young.
But there is always someone to
take the JOY out OF life. There are
lots OF such persons in this state,
and they are mighty active, too.
They have waged a strong war
against school teachers dancing
Their social monkey wrench, has
partly wrecked the dancing ma
chinery in some communities.
Although Capt. George NJ. Ford.
state superintendent OF schools in
West Virginia. has ruled that
boards OF education cannot legally
discharge a teacher for violation Of
rule against dancing and stipu-
lation against dancing in a teachers
contract is null and void" the fact
remains that there are few women
or men who dance on the teaching
stats Of the schools of the mountain
state this year. This is the result Of
the bitter campaigns carried out by
the enemies of dancing in a num-
Der Of the leading cities OF the state
Some Of these anti-dancing leaders
are already members Of the school
boards, while others have brought
their influence into action from, the
outside.
But why has West Virginia be-
come aroused over the question and
why has Supt. Ford been called up
on to make ruling?
Teachers Must Stop. Too.
Simply because West Virginia is
dance mad.
Down in Martinsburg the school
board rose up in arms when some
one asked a question about high
school dancing" Commissioner
George Andrews declared that If il
was a practice to hold dances in the
schools he would enter a protest.
When the commissioner investi-
cations showed that the dances
were being held In buildings over
which there was no school control
I
dances are going on just the same.
with the school pupils and teachers
attending in large numbers.
Failure of some students to make
satisfactory grades resulted in Prof.
S S. Jacobs of Triadelphic district
schools, near Wheeling. TO order his
| teachers to stop dancing.
In Huntington there was so much
dancing Of an unsupervised nature
that the High School Parent-Teach-
ers' association decided that super
vised dancing in the schools was the
best way out of the matter.
The proposal brought such a
storm Of protest that a referendum
vote was taken among the parents
Of the school children. One minis
ter declared that every dancer in
his church could withdraw without
leaving it any the worse as to mem
/ bers or finances. This retOrt drew
/ equally caustic replies. There has
recently come a lull in the storm in
| Huntington. The high school
youngsters are still dancing, but the
enemies OF dancing are unwilling To
recognize that fact.
Perhaps the dancing battle came
to a climax in MorgantOwn, where
virtually every teacher who danced
either refused to apply for Il position
again or else were refused a posi-.
ton by the board when they did ap-
ply The board of education said
that dancing and teaching did not
go together and that dancing teach
ers were not likely TO be employed
Dance Stampede is On.
Morgantown, where West Vir.
ginia state university is located, ha:
a number Of dance halls for its H..
| 900 people, and these halls are
booked up solid from early fall un.
til late spring, with a few summer
| engagements thrown in as extras
These dances attract the town folk
high school boys and girls and many
university students, Of whom there
are about 1000. It's a poor might
that does not have a couple oil
dances going on somewhere in the
town.
The old dances and the newer
ones which have made the walt
.ook like a snairs gallop. have