A SENSIBLE PROTEST

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 24, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 47.

A SENSIBLE PROTEST.

MR. CHARLES R. SKINNER, superintendent of public instruction of the State of New York, disapproves of the various movements started to raise money in the public schools for patriotic purposes. To this end he has issued the following statement:—

“The following movements affecting the public schools have come to the attention of the State department of public instruction:—

“First—The building of a war ship by contributions from the schoolboys of the United States, to take the place of the Maine, and to be called the ‘American Boy.’

“Second—A similar movement on the part of the schoolgirls of the country, the war ship to be known as the ‘American Girl.’

“Third—The proposition of the Lafayette memorial commission for the erection of a Lafayette monument in Paris by the youth of the United States.

“Fourth—A national peace jubilee in the schools of the State, as recommended by an association organized in Chicago for this purpose.’

Superintendent Skinner says in reference to these movements:—

“The United States Government is able and willing and ready to build all war ships necessary for the defense of the country.

“While it is fitting that the people of the United States honor the memory of Lafayette, the proposition to ask contributions of the schoolchildren for this purpose is not approved. In nearly all the cities regulations forbid the taking of contributions in the schools for any purpose.

“Furthermore, it is against the spirit of the school laws of the State to charge an admission to any entertainment given in a school building.”