The Washington herald., 1922-09-25

regard for the future Of District children,
has dealt such series of staggering blows to
the school system of Washington that it now
holds the unenviable position OF being probably
the of any city in the United States. In
stead OF being a model for the rest of the nation,
the schools of the Capital be pointed to only
horrible example of what accumulation
OF legislative and financial neglect accomplish.
Instead of being built up. the District school sys
tenn has undergone a tearing-dow process which
has crippled efficiency and absolutely discounted
the strenuous efforts OF conscientious officials
to stem the side.
Year by year the city has grown and with
the increase in population the demand for educa-
tional facilities has multiplied Overcrowding has
become familiar problem and it is getting in
creasngly hard to prevail upon competent teachers
to take positions when the pay is hardly enough
upon which to subsist. Inadequate appropriations
will not depreciation in physical property,
much less allow the extension which should
be made to take OF the growing enrolment.
For forty years, tod, the annual
troversy over how little could be spent the
District schools has resulted in pared-down esti-
mates and "an accumulation of failures from year
to year provide the additional facilities for
growing and progressive school system"
Superintendent Ballou. in his annual report,
charges that instead OF lessening congestion the
situation IS getting worse from year to year; that
because OF physical needs which only Congress
supply. the educational system is deterioratng.
His suggested remedy is "a common-scnse adjust
ment of income to the needs Of a growing city"
Mr. Baou has demonstrated that he is not
the KIND OF man to make rash statements;
fccl secure in the belief that he knows what he
l. talking about and furnishing only unvarnshed
facts Furthermore most OF the facts stated in his
report have been brought light time and again
by official we'll independent Investigations
And there can be gainsaying the cupabity OF
Congress Every year more consideration is given
bills for the erection OF postofices in Podunk,
Bear Hollow and other villages in the sticks"
than to the educational needs of the District No
matter how diligent and sympathetic the Con-
grcSsiona committees may be which have charge
OF school affairs, very little progress is made and
there is always some member whose vision is in
capable OF reaching further than his own district
who steps into the debate on the floor and sue
CcedS IN sicng off a portion OF the abbreviated
bill reported
II the affairs OF any corporation were con-
Quoted in the slipshod, pcnurious fashion OF the
District educational system that concern would
be in the hands OF a receiver in short order Does
It come within the realm OF imagination that the
Standard Oil Company the United States Steel
Corporation would allow property worth thousands
OF dollars to 20 TO rack and ruin for want OF
repairs when found necessary? Or does it sound
reasonable to think either OF these corporations
would curtall output and let orders pile up from
year to year because the shops or storehouses
sufficiently large to handle the increased
business; If either OF these things happened VIC
can think OF no way make money than
to give odds that very suddenly there would be
a change IN management This is true because
both concerns arc conducted for profit and the
management and directors have pocketbook in
tercSt in seeing that efficiency is kept at 100 per
cent.
There Is the same pocketbook interest in dis
posing OF District school affairs on Capitol Hill
But the interest is reversed Short-sighted legis-
lators only the bills for repair and extensions
they incapable OF envsioning the dividends
which will be paid to other generations in better
trained minds. In short, the parsmony of TODAY
IN dealing with the schools is tantamount to plac-
ing a mortgage the youth OF the city unon
which they pay interest for the rest Of their
lives with the chances all against the principal ever
being paid.
1t is probable that more attention was oiven
the educational needs of Washington at the last
session OF Congress than any previous sitting
yet the sum total OF accomplishment fell far
short OF what asked and vitality needed We
arc OF the opinion that the majority of members
on both the Senate and House District Commit
tees realize the justice OF what is asked for edu
cation here; feel certain the District has earnest
champions on both bodies. but in themselves thev
cannot push through the needed legislation They
need and must have co-operation-and that from,
the majority leaders OF Senate and House
District educational needs are not so local
that they are beneath the notice of the national
leaders. This is the Capital OF the nation and
the institutions here are to a certain extent rsed
as d mirror tor the rest OF the country 1t is
as much the duty OF Congress to see that Wash
Ington has adequate educational facilities as it is
., pass tariff law or regI1late immicratinr AID