The Washington herald., 1921-05-05
School Needs.


give three cheers and tiger for Representa-
tive Focht IN his indignation that the authorities
have asked Congress for only enough added school
buildings to house the part-time pupils and re-
duce classes to not over forty. He cannot under
stand Willingness to continue the use OF the port
able buildings; no more can The Herald
We have portable school buildings with
concrete foundations and under-foor heating. But
not in Washington. Here the portables have no
foundations. They are lacked up to level on tim
Der supports. They are heated by stoves. On cold
days they cannot be used. The children near the
stoves are too hot those away from them, though
wearing sweaters top coats and even overshoes,
are so cold they all have to be dismissed.
Imagine the health conditions of such rooms
with classes of fifty children packed into them
the windows closed tight the construction
permits, and the stove red-hot burning up all the
oxygen. The odor to coming from outside, is
a stencil 1t slaps them in the face like an infected
blanket The mental, as we'll physical effect if
these can be separated upon the children is newt
able while the teacher, suffering the condition
and with fifty or more OF pupils to try to teach,
must rejoice when the weather permits release.
Yet in these same schools child can be ad-
mitted unless vaccinated four times, if the other
three do not Catch" The law requires only duly
vaccinated" but the board has interpreted this as
four times. Why they did not make it six or more
is unknown. But with four failures of incubation
a child can get into of these dens. Only re-
Gently child refused admission after paying
three fees.
Recently child, kept at home for day be-
cause of a minor ailment was sent back home for
a twenty-one days quarantine, because the family
had not called physician and the child might have
had contagious disease" Yet this child, after
the twenty-one days. could go to of these tenn
porary shacks with its disgusting health conditions,
to room that must be full Of germs Of every
description which materia medica tells are exhaled
from human bodies in the breath. So it is the
children protected.
Certainly Representative Focht deserves the
cheers Back of him is every mother and father in
the District whose children have to to the public
! schools, because they cannot afford to send them
! to private schools which plentiful in this city
| because the head OF one of them said: We
| have everything in our school the public schools
could have and should have But if they did have
them there would be no place for our schools
| The Herald would suggest to Mr.. Focht that
! this condition is hopeless. The District has in
the Federal Treasury nearly ssooo.ooo that its
people, the parents of its children, paid taxes
for District uses When this was paid Uncle Sam
agreed to add to it, another S5ooo,ooo. all to be
devoted to the needs of the District This money
belongs to those who paid it over in trust to the
United States. 1t belongs to them. They want II
used for schools. 1t is needed-every dollar Of it
| C adequately house the school children.
To keep it in the Treasury, to refuse to use i
for the purposes for which it collected has nt
possible excuse in law morals. 1t would be dis
tinctly dishonest If Representative Focht will Civ,
the weight Of his influence to the Of this money
for school building he will, if successful have don,
what he says should be done. But until thi:
money is expended for the District no one has any
right to complain or criticise the people of th'
District, if they hesitate to trust any more of the
money to the Federal government.