New-York tribune., 1921-10-28
Boycott School
Firetraps, Is
Jeronle's Plea
Tells Mothers Not to Put
Lives of Children in
Danger; Cites the 1858
Violations Of Ordinance
Murray Hubert
Says Dock Commissioner Is
Either incompetent or
Worse; Reviews Record

William Travers Jerome seized the
public schools last night as a bludgeon
with which to belabor Honest john
Hylan before an audience containing
large proportion Of women, which
crowded the auditorium of Public
School 46, at 156th Street and St. Nicho-
las Avenue
He did not neglect other weapons en-
tirely, pausirg now and then to assail
Murray Hubert, of the Dock Depart
ment to assert that he either was an
incompetent or worse; to retrace the
alleged intimacy between Hylan and
Alfred Goslin, French jailbird-simply
for the purpose of showing "the kind
OF man that certain party is attempt
ing to seat in the City Hall again." but
mostly he used the schools.
Boycott Fire Traps
He called upon the mothers of the
city not to send their children to
schools where they were in peril Of
death by fire because of the failure 90
provide money for compliance with
the regulations of the Fire Depart
ment. He asked them if they intended
to reseat in the Mayors chair a man
who had failed SO signally in his
pledge of "a seat for every child" If
they did, he said, if they sent back to
the City Hall the associate of Goslin.
the pledger of school seats, the vio-
lator of Fire Department regulations,
they deserved ''to stew in your own
grease"
He pointed out that there were 1853
violations of the fire regulations in
the schools in which O4,194 children
were registered last month.
In other words" he said, "two-
thirds of the schools of our city are
exposing our children to the danger
OF terrible death by fire. Take that
home and think about it. Don't drive
your children into schools where their
lives are not safe.
Let US not have a repetition of the
Slocum disaster Shall we awake some
morning to be Mortified by tale of
burnt corpses of children in our
schools where they have been compelled
to go in order that Honest John may
have budget small enough and ac-
ccptable to his constituency
Boards Demands Unheeded
ellis own Board of Education asked
for funds to remedy the terrible evils
in 1918, but not dollar was spent to
1Si4SrC tulo oltQoClOH Lie uSAC year
or in 1920, and only late this year a
small sum was provided The reason
you can guess tit was the eve OF
election"
Mr.. jerome went into details con-
corning the violation of the fire regu-
lations in the schools. Of the 695
schools in the city, he said, 400 had
violations reported against them. In
some the fire doors were made of wood,
he said; in some the stairways wero
rotten.
"Who would save these children in
case of fre?" he demanded. "Are
you mothers going to sit down under
this? You have never begrudged
money spent for school purposes. You
have never stinted a penny to keep
your children safe in school. Let this
burn in your heart, that when you are
looking into Tammany you are only
looking for graft"
Coming to Murray Hubert, Tam
many candidate for the Presidency of
the Board of Aldermen, and his Dock
Department, Mr.. Jerome related some
of the peculiarities of city leases as
CONTINUED on n6st nsueN