New-York tribune., 1921-11-07
Mothers Ready
To Right School
Wrongs at Polls
Aroused by Hylan's Neg
lect of Chjldrcn's We'll
fare, They Will Register
Protest With the Ballot
Perils Disturb Parents
Daily Exposure of Pupils
to Fire Hazards Assailed;
Mayor Held Foe of Poor

The large number Of protests which
The Tribune has received against the
unsanitary conditions existing In the
public schools, the direct result Of the
Hylan administration. shows clearly
that the mothers Of the city have been
aroused to the great wrong which has
been done, and the duty of voters to
right this wrong at the polls to-mor-
row. Two of the comments made by
mothers yesterday said that unless this
is done, 1T may become necessary to
send children outside of New York
City if they are to obtain a fair public
school education. One mother said she
had already done this,
Mrs. Margaret Cartwright, 259 West
Twelfth Street, said: 81 gave up in de-
spair months ago, and sent my little
girl to the county-to little country
ilage-where know that she will get
far better schooling than she will in the
crowded schools here. l could not af-
ford to send her to n private school,
and besides, l wanted her in a pubic
school, and hard as it is to have her
away, know that she is better off with
my sister, going to school on regular
hours and living quiet, normal life,
than she would be here in the hurry
and rush of part time or double session.
| have been teacher, and I know the
effect this has on children.
Poor Are Made to Suffer
"The total result is that it is forcing
the parents who can afford to do so to
send their children to private schools
and leaving in the public schools only
those who are too poor to do anything
else. 1t is the poor who suffer from
the administration that pretends to be
the friend of the poor. The irony of
it! And it isn't alone in schools-look
at the milk situation, the coal prices,
rents-everyth ything-the poor people of
this city never had worse friend than
this present administration has been.
"But l find that mothers are begin
ming to realize these things, and if we
are beaten this time then we ought to
begin at once program of education
of the mothers of this great city; for.
once let the true state of affairs be
made plain to them, the result is sure.
Tammany, Heart and Hylan will go.!'
Upsets School and Home Life
Mrs. Sadie Bursin, III East Eight
eenth Street, said part time is bad
for any child There is always q ten
sion-the feeling that they must do in
part time the work of the full time
session-and so teacher and pupils are
under q strain, and the home gets the
reaction. You can't upset school life
without upsctting the home life too,
and the mothers Of this city will some
day awaken to the realization as to who
is to blame for all of this trouble and
worry.
"Of course, we need new schools
everybody knows that, and has known
it long time. And we need the
schools that we have made fit places
for children to be in, too. 1t is a
dreadful thing for mothers to think of
that the hundreds of thousands of
the children of this city are daily ex-
posed to fire dangers-what if a fire
were to break out in one of these over
crowded schools, where they have the
wooden, inclosed stairways-it makes
mothers heart almost stop beating
to think of i'll"
IrreguIarity Harms Children
Mrs. Meltz, 155 Barrett Street,
Brooklyn, said: "Children get wrong
ideas Of what school means with all of
this irregularity, and the unsanitary
conditions, to which they are just as
sensitive as are older people, though
they may not always realize the dan
gnr OF them. Whatever happens this
week, the mothers of the city must
arose themselves to school conditions
and demand from whoever is in control
that the wrong done to the children by
this administration sh~1 be riehted
Mothers who understand now will know
how to vote Tuesday-against the whole
earst-Tammany-Hylan crew."