The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1921-06-24
A LUMP APPROPRIATION MIGHT
CURE SHAMEFUL CONDITIONS.

|. Here, in u departmental letter pub
licly published in the minutes OF the
Board of Education meeting Of Feb
J2s. 1920, is found at once the cause
and the cure of the present situation.
Niggardliness or a false sense of
economy has kept the appropriations
TO Is per cent. of what they should
,Ihave been. This same attitude over
\ u period of years, with repairs in ar
ears, accommodating in mathematical
X progression. has resulted not only in
II insufficient schools but in inadequacy
(of many of the schools which do exist.
The obvious remedy is through
htonement, in kind, for the sins of
omission in the past-to furnish the
money in one huge appropriation.
which shuold have been forthcoming,
"a the past. but which was provided
Nb the extent of only IS per cent. of
Sc requirements.
"A fNol only have general repairs and
ttnitation suffered from lack Of funds
gout read the following paragraph from
= Mr.. Snyder's semi annual report, also
in the minutes for Feb. 3, 1920. show
ing the comparative value of money
and childrenS lives in the estimation
Of the "City Fathers:
1.-THE work of fire prevention,
which is considered to DO of the
greatest importance, affecting as
it does the safe occupancy Of our
schools, together with the reduce
ton Of fire risks, has, because of
lack of appropriations, come to
standstill."
Any one who walks through the
city schools can see the result. 1t is
also apparent that appropriations for
the years 1920 and 1921 did not
N change the conditions so forcefully
4 pointed out by Mr.. Snyder. What
few repairs we're accomplished were
readily counterbalanced by new fall
ings in the same schools or elsewhere,
BROOKLYN CONDITIONS WORSE
~ THAN IN MANHATTAN.
II A tour of Brooklyn reveals condl-
tons which even outshame those in
Manhattan. If the survey drawn by
the civic societies had been at all
complete Brooklyn would have occu-
pied many times the space it does.
III Three schools in one district. which
come readily to mind as not in
cluded in the survey, are in many
4 respects as bad as the worst men
\ aASed. There is nothing so old and
I .ka.' Shackle and unsafe as the New
\ Utrecht High School. The annex to
&tP. S. 1853 at Nos. 1645-1649, seth
Street, a block away, is in three old
stores without sanitary convenience
or educational equipment mile 10
H. the north is L. S, No. 1870, in con-
demned old farmhouse at 18th Ave-
nue. and 9th Street. The structure
would fall at a giants puff and
should a spark set it afire II would
be found as dry as finder and there
fore a menace to life.
A particularly glaring case In
BROOKLYN is p S. No. 50, at No. ISL
Walworth Street, which has three
n classes in adjoining stores and a
kindergarten several blocks away
The sSain structure was built eighty
years ago and is inadequate in every
way. Classrooms are mere band
boxes. Additional seats have en-
n croached upon aisle space and
cloakrooms have disappeared to
make room for new classes. Stores
and supplies are kept in whatever
y hooks and corners are available.
There will be forty-five classes
when school reopens in September
Miss Erna l.. Behnken, the principal
aid, with thirty-four on part time
with the kindergarten far away and
with children in the last two years
compelled to go to the school al
Lafayette and Classon Avenues-in
many cases a walk of more than a
mise. These children are thus de-