Evening star., 1922-12-24
DISCARD FORCED
| SCHOOL ECONOMY,
| PLEA TO CONGRESS
Citizens Committee Urges
Progressive Program on
Subcommittee.
CONDITIONS STUNT
COMING GENERATION"
Brief Argues Strenuously for Ad.
vance Purchase of Sites
for Expansion.

comprehensive brief. containing
vigorous plea for reinsertIng in
the school budget for the next fscaI
year the items knitted by the Com
missioners and the bureau Of the bud
get. was submitted to the House sub
committee on appropriations yester-
day afternoon by the citizens schoc
committee OF five. The House con-
mittee recently natly denied the
school body an oral hearing. but
promised 10 give most careful and
sympathetic consideration to its writ
ten argument.
In calling the committees attention
to the necessity of curing the evils
that exist in the school system. the
brief takes cogniZance Of the forced
economy under which the govern
ment is operationg. but argues this
question should not be considered in
the present contigency so serious ha
il become.
ConsestiOB L. Cosdemned.
Portables. consested and part-time
classes in the elementary schools and
schools. due to the double shifts.
were vigorously condemned i'll the
. brief Such conditions. it declared.
are stunting the whole intellectual
q nd moral life Of the rising genera
tion.
The portables were described as "thr
fruitful parent Of colds. grippe and
Influenza conditions which would
hardly he tolerated in the most re-
mote backward and impoverished
country district before the days "f
hygenic science. The part time
classes were branded as robbers Of
education. and the congested classes
"a drain upon the physical and in
tellectual resources of pupils and
teacher.
Urges Pnrchase of Sites.
The brief argues strenuousiy for
the purchase in advance of require
ments OF school sites. pointing ouf
that such procedure will effect
great saving to taxpayers and the
government itself. 1t was signed by
Henry H. Classic. chairman: DIR. Mil
ton Fairchild Mrs. Giles Scott Rafter.
Ira b. Nutter and L. ]. Daniels.
committee appointed TO represent the
civic bodies of the District in a con-
certed campaign for betterment "t
public educational conditions.
Brief In Fall.
In full the brief follows:
The question which we want the
= t. Ia
What will the appropriations in the
budget do toward removing the exist
ing school shortage?
Whether such a shortage exists il
a question Of fact. And the fact 10
indisputable.
We are not concerned primarily with
the origin of the shortage or with the
question who. IL anybody. is respons-
ible for it. That it exists. all men are
agreed 1t is not an isolated phe-
nomenon. There has existed also Il
general housing shortage. the evil
consequences of which Congress has
recognized in regulatory statutes
which go to the very verge OF It's
constitutional powers. The school
housing shortage is a greater evil.
And it is even more acute. The gen
eral housing shortage was due main
ly to diversion of economic resources
to the pressing necessities OF war.
The school housing shortage began
further back. 1t is the result OF
slow, gradual and long accumulation.
But 1t has been intensified by condi-
tions during and following the war.
For practical purposes. therefore. II
is unnecessary to go back beyond the
close of the war period.
Shortage In November. 1879.
On November l, 1929. there was an
accumulated shortage OF 1S3 class
rooms. This may be termed sheer
shortage: that is, an absolute inca
pacity to respond to constant de-
mand under prevailin. conditions,
The increased enrolment for the year
1sel.2a brought this shortage up TO
eO7. To meet it there were opened In
1e.o.e1 and 192l-a2 a total Of - new
classrooms. The school year 192l-22.
therefore, ended with an accumulated
! shortage of 159 classrooms. The in
crease in enrolment for l922-22 has
created an immediate demand for %
more cIassrooms. Thus at the be.
ginning Of 1929 there would have
been an actual shortage Of 1S4 class
rooms as against the shortage Of, 1S3
classrooms in 1920. In other words,
the situation would have been left un-
changed. In the meantime Congress
had acted. The deficiency appropris-
! ton Of 1921 made provision for ap-.
proxiinately fifty-two classrooms. which
have now become avavilable. But
crediting these, there still remains =
net sheer shortage of 1872 classrooms
Having started under so heavy .
In ndicap, supply has never been able
to catch up with the constantly ac-
celebrating demand.
short $50 Classreems.
So far the figures relate to what
may be termed an absolute shortage
sheer incapacity to meet a growing
demand. But It must be remembered
that $50 classrooms in grades ono and
two are worked in double shift That
is ono teacher conducts a class in
the mornings, = second conducts an.
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