The Washington herald., 1921-02-16
DISTRICT CENTERS
Get $4,000 FUND
TO EXPAND WORK
After Bitter Attack il
House Appropriation
Gets Big Increase.

Bv a vote Of So to 80 the House
Yesterday adopted an amendment by
Representative Mann increasing the
appropriation for community cen
ter work from SIS. 900 to S35,OOO, but
making the entire amount payable
from District funds instead OF 60
per cent from the District and 40
per cent from the Federal govern
ment.
The vote followed a bitter debate
on the question of the value Of com
munity center work, in which Rep
resentative Wood, Republican. OF
| Indiana, declared that the Commu-
( nifty Ccnters were hotbeds Of propa-
ganda for Bolshevism, Socialism and
anarchism.
After voting on the amendment
| the House later adopted the con-
! ference report on the District ap-
preparation bill, thus completing &C
I tion, so far as the House is con-
cerned. on the first supply measure
Defends Work.
! The work of the community cen
/ ters was vigorously defended by
Representative Buchanan. Of Texas,
1 one Of the conferees on the District
measure; Representative Reed, OF
New York, and Representative
Mann. Representative Bcgg, or
( Ohio, also defended the Centers' hut
4 insisted that the communities should
/ bear the expense Of their maInte-
nance, ContendinE that II they were
| not worth paying for they would
prove of little value.
IF you want to get some Dropa-
, canda that looks to paternalistiC in
( fuenCe in this government over eN-
tery kind OF business you can hnd
plenty Of support for il in these
community Centers," declared Wood
in launching his attack.
IF you have some one who has
sociaIistiC ideas, anarchlstic ideas,
who is stepped in I. W. W.ism, he
can always find an audience and he
can always find support in these
community Centers. To my mind,
every dollar that is expended in this
appropriation or in the encourage
ment of this thing is so much poi
son scattered throughout this C"un-
try. The most damnable outrage
committed last year in the Cuited
States was through this communEy
center business, an effort not only
TO blacken the character Of a man
Out " uSENlNs NAAN l'N.Gsi A'-AtN y 20
party success in this last campaign
OF all the damnablc, mean. con
itemTrible things that were said in
that campaign. the worst Of IhoU
came from this community center
business.
Against Appropriation.
1T is pretty near time Wood
continued, that we got away from
maudlin sentimentalism in this
country and came to a realization
of the purposes to which our Offices
are being subjected. There is moth
ing that is quite so mean and baC
in influence eNerted all over thl
country as this community business
1t is gnawing at the very vitals o
. this government and it is prett!
nearly time that We awaken to III,
fact and. instead of appropriatiul
$4,000, the whole amount shoul,
be stricken out, and will be. whel
the American people and their Rep
resentatiyes awaken to the manne
in which this money is being eN
pended for the very poison that il
to kill the Republic
Buchanan declared II TO oe IA
| better to have dancing taught unde
lne eyes ol BOOu ptOIlt Alldu AhAt
. the eyes of every travelling dancing
master that goes throughout tn
! country. There will be less BOlshe
, vism. less Socialism and less an
. archy in this country, he said, II tn
. doors OF the schools were throw
, open to the rich and the poor, tn
high and low. to get instruction d
) patriotism and Americanism.
Reed Is Doubtful.
Reed Of New York said he wa
amazed that any man IreIerrIng L
woody should charge that peOpl
living in a school district and as
semblinE in their own school woul
countenance or support any sue
. propaganda as Wood described
1t is a reflection on the intelli
gence Of the American people, h
) declared. The people support tn
schools and have a right to us
= them, he said. In Washington Con
gress must tell the people whethe
they can use their own buildings o
not. he added.
= All through the land they ar
e using school buildings as a vehicl
e to carry culture and refinement {
4 those who are not so favorably sit
e uated, Reed said.
II Gard Game Yields $40 600