Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-12-05
Mrs. Meyer AssaiIs
Secretary Hobby on
School Aid Policies
BY the As.oe,o,so Press

BY the Assoeioted Press
ASBURY PARK. N. j., Dec. 4.
Mrs. Agnes e. Meyer of WASH
ington accused Mrs. Oveta Culp
Hobby. Secretary of Health, Ed
ucation and Welfare. today of
hypocrisy" and "inexcusable di-
latory procedure" on the ques-
ton of Federal aid for schools.
Mrs. Meyer, a writer especially
active in the educational field.
is the wife of Eugene Meyer.
chairman of the board of the
Washington Post and Times
Herald.
She criticized Mrs. Hobby in
speech prepared for the New
Jersey State Federation Of
Teachers. calling for a billion
dollars year in Federal aid for
public school construction.
Mrs. Meyer advised the teach
ers' federation, the National Ed
ucation Association, labor unions.
parent-teacher associations and
women's clubs of various kinds
to telegraph their Senators and
congressman how desperate. the
public school needs are in every
State"
Urges Study or Facts.
She said there already are
many friends of Federal aid to
school construction in the Senate
and House. and added:
1--WE shall make more friends
for such legislation If the
branches of your organization
take the lead in awakening popu-
lar interest and in bombarding
their congressional representa-
tives not with sentimental pleas
but with the. cold and cruel
facts of local school conditions"
Mrs. Meyer said that in Sep
TENDER of 1852 the Commissioner
or Education in the department
now headed by Mrs. Hobby esti-
mated that the total school con-
struction need was $4,000 class
rooms at cost of $10,e00, 000, 900.
She continued:
1.-THE same report stated that
local school districts together
with all available state aid could
provide $5,9O0,000,O00, leaving
a deficit of $4.7O0,O00,000 which
the States and localities could
not possibly meet.
did the departments own re-
port galvanize it into action?
How could this deficit OF nearly
SIS billion be met, if not by the
Federal Government?
From Bad to Worse"
"For two whole years the pub
lie school situation went from
bad to worse and millions OF
children suffered, while the Of
ficials of the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare
talked and talked and talked
about education being the re-
sponsibility of the States.
Both Secretary Hobby and
Com m ssioner Samuel ND
Brownell swept aside every de-
mand for Federal aid to educa-%s
ton on the theory that they
must find a formula to estab-
lish proven need and lack of ifs
cal capacity at the State level.
"In other words they had to
find out what they already knew
on the basis of their own investi-
cations. What hypocrisy"
Both Mrs. Hobby and Com
missioner Brownell, sought for
comment in Washington, were
reported out of town.
AS for the current White House
Conference on Education, Mrs.
Meyer observed that evidently
Mrs. Hobby has picked herself
q like minded chairman" in the
person of Neil H. McElroy. He
Is president of the Proctor g.
Gamble Co.
Mrs. Meyer said Mr.. McElroy
said after the very first meeting
of the conference that it was
best for the States and commune
ties to build and pay for their
own schools. She suggested he
might have waited Ito find out
what his conference committee
thinks"