Evening star., 1941-05-28
P.-T. A. Pledges
IFS Support 70
DefensePo|icy
District Congress
Adopts Resolution
In Final Session


cooperation in the proposed
mobilization of citizens for home
defense was pledged by the District
Congress of Parents and Teachers
at the concluding session of its 28th
annual convention in the Depart
mental Auditorium today.
introduced in special recognition
of the Presidents speech last night
this resolution led off some 80 others
varying from a request that the
original sum for schools asked by
the Board of Education be appro-
priated to a request for hot running
water in all the schools.
While many of the resolutions
were reafflrmations of previous
stand taken by the organization,
several measures came before the
Congress for the first time. They
approved the Brentwood site for the
proposed new Abbott Vocational
School, opposed the passage of the
pending bill for the creation of
three-man department of recrea ton
and strongly urged emergency Fed
eral aid for schools and other COM
munity facilities necessary to pro-
vide education and to promote
haelth, recreation and safety in all
emergency defense areas. In this
last resolution they added that such
legislation should be safeguarded as
to the basis for granting funds and
the amount to be spent on achieve
ment.
Liquor License.
They urged strictest enforcement
of the law prohibiting the granting
of liquor licenses to establishments
operating within at least 400 feet
of school or church property and
further asked that no license for the
sale of alcoholic beverages be
granted to any establishment which
caters to school children.
Reaffirming their support of exist
ing child labor law, they also re-
voiced their opposition to the pro-
posed amendment which would per-
nit children under IA years of age
to appear on the stage profess
sionally in the District. They ESQ
reaffirmed their support of legisla-
ton to prohibit compulsory block
booking and blind selling of motion
pictures and requested prompt and
favorable action" by Congress.
Propaganda Analysis.
Before acting on the resolutions,
the delegates heard an analysis of
propaganda and how it can be
recognized by DR.. Hugh Bone of
the University of Maryland political
science department. who warned
that the United States should pay
more attention to foreign propa-
ganda attack on its minorities.
Pointing specifically to the italian
language newspapers, radio stations
and movie houses, he said "a demo-
cratic country cannot afford to
abandon a large section of its mi
norities to the propaganda and
whim of European countries.
Installation of officers, all un-
contested for election, resolutions
and awarding of parent-teacher
scrolls and honor roll certificates
were scheduled to wind up the meet
ing
Tonight the delegates will gather
for their annual fellowship dinner
at 7:30 o'clock in the Willard Hotel
The home as the first line OF
national defense was considered
from the school, the community
and the parents points of view at
yesterdays afternoon session.
Urges Democracy in Home.
Warning that the tendency towaro
the disintegration of the American
home is one of the most serious
problems facing the country today,
Mrs. S. C. Cox of Roanoke. Va.
regional vice president of the Ma
tionaI Congress of Parents and
Teachers, told more than 800 women
that democracy must be practiced at
home.
I'VE must listen to, study and
respect the opinions of young peo-
ple." she declared. We have too
our. homes"
Co-ordinating a panel discussion
on the home, DR.. Mitchell Dreese
of George Washington University
declared that if people believed in
democratic ideals for their fellow
citizens, they should also believe
in them for their children.
Speaking of the rights of chill
dren in the schools and their re-
sponsibilities, DR.. Harry A. Jager,
chief of the occupational informa-
ton and guidance service of the
Office of Education, asserted that
the chief responsibility of the
school was to give students a COM
plete and honest picture of the
world today. Merely teaching chill
dren to hate Hitler, he said, was
giving them extremely incomplete
information.
The mothers were urged by Mrs.
John r. Murdock, wife of the
Representative from Arizona. TO
take their children on a tour OF
discovery around Washington
Uncle Sam" she declared, will
teach your children patriotism"
Cites Campfire Girls.
Speaking of the rights and
privileges taught by the Campfire
Girls, Mrs. Paul Gedig said girls
had right to be informed useful
and dependable. She outlined how
the duties of the girls organization
fostered these rights.
Mrs. Harry Kramer, commissioner
of the d. C. Girl Scouts, told the
meeting it was impossible for
character building agencies to do
their job without the close and ac-
tive cooperation of other organiza-
tons.
Providing children with religious
education was termed a community
responsibility by the Rev. Paul
Schearrer He asserted that only
one-third of the children of the
Nation are now getting systematic
religious instruction, that the chill
dren who do go to Sunday school
only attend two-thirds of the time
and that out of the whole year they
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