New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-09-15
Facts, Not Propaganda

Facts, Not Propaganda
In statement purporting to have
been written by him the Mayor says:
ut is regrettable that every four
years whenever an election comes on
these same professional propagandists
attempt to use the schools as q po-
itical football"
Who was it four years ago that
made a political football of the
schools? Who was it, having no issue,
set up the cry, "More schools and a
seat for every child? Who was it
that implied there we're not sufficient
schools? Who was it that conceived
! this mean idea of Enthusiastically
alarming the parents of the city, and
particularly the poorer ones, to the
end Of leading them to believe that
| the education and future Of their
fchildren were imperilled? Who was
it, having once planted this thought,
preyed upon and exploited the ap-
prehension of fathers and mothers
until they were willing to cruelty
and cast away the ablest chief mag
| istrate and the best administration
the City of New York had ever
| known?
It was the unfortunate and fatu-
Gus man who now walls that propa-
gandists are upon his trail. 1t was
none other than JOHN F. Hylan.
But Hylan, as usual, is mistaken
as to the character of his pursuers.
They are not propagandists. They
are the host, the legion Of parents
whose children to the number of
100000 are running the streets be-
cause there are no school seats for
them. To them the education of
their boys and girls is as sacred as
their own lives. There all their hope
centers. They know that by educa-
ton, and by education alone, may
their youngsters rise and participate
in the full heritage of American cit
izenship. With them education is no
political football, and let him and
them who have made it one beware
Of the wrath!
Aside from the lack of schools,
aside from the lack Of seats, aside
from teachers struggling to instruct
overcrowded classes, aside from the
fact that those teachers may not be
paid until January unless the state
comes to their aid, what of the build
ings which this administration has
neglected in the vital matter Of fire
protection?
Since John +. Hylan entered City
Hall as Mayor on January /, 1918,
notices of 1853 violations of fire
regulations have been filed against
school buildings. Or, to put it an
other way, out Of sos school build
ings 496 are under the ban of the
Bureau Of Fire Prevention of the
Fire Department. And without a
hand having been lifted by the
Hylan administration to rectify or
abate a single one of those 1858
violations!
That is not propaganda. That is
from the records Of department of
the city government not manned by
propagandists, but by men willing
to lay down their lives at any minute
of the day or night and count them
well lost that others may have the
chance Of life. That is from the rec
ords of the Fire Department of the
City of New York as spread upon
the minutes Of the joint legislative
Investigating committee.
When confronted with these rec
ords Aiming S. Prall, President OF
the Board of Education by grace of
John F. Hylan, said:
: II don't know the nature of the
violations. They may be serious and
they may not"
They may be serious and they may
fnot!
And what sayeth the organs Of
Mr.. Hearst?
, Schools under Hylan are perfectly
, safe. Not life lost By fire, Meyer
committee is told by witness called
to discredit Mayor"
: Not life lost! Must life be sac
rifced before Hylanism can be made
J to act? Do the manipulators of this
q administration insist upon that? We
{ refuse to believe it. The thought is
too horrible.