Cbc Conservative , li
TlIE CONSEUVA-
regret that Gov
ernor Poyntor has removed Prof. Win.
A. Jones from the superiutendency of
the Nebraska Institute for the Blind ,
located here in Nebraska Oity. Our re
gret is founded on the fact that Gov
ernor Poyntor makes the removal with
out giving any reason therefor and
without any charge having been made
against the efficiency , integrity and
character of Professor Jones. It is re
gretted by every good citizen that this
very capable , worthy and experienced
pedagogue , who has passed most of the
years of his useful life as a loading educator
cater in the state of Indiana , should be
removed for purely partisan purposes and
to to ex-Lieutenant-
merely give place - -
Goveruor Harris because that gentleman
was not renamed for office at the last
populist state convention. Every decent
taxpayer in the state must regret and
sincerely lament the fact , which now is
apparent to everybody , that the public
institutions of an educational character
carried on by this state are all regarded
as proper homes for dependent politi
cians where they can be maintained and
paid for being petty partisans and noth
ing else. Good qualifications , splend
idly rendered service and general ap
proval by the community have no weight
seemingly with the present executive of
Nebraska. The one thing he apparently
considers is , how shall I billet my politi
cal adherents upon the public ? How
can I pay persons for being populists in
my interests ?
It is only fair that THE CONSERVATIVE
( which does not agree with Professor
Jones politically ) should voice the unan
imous sentiment of the best citizens of
Nebraska City , relative to the notably
faithful service which Professor Jones
and his estimable wife have rendered to
the sightless children entrusted to their
care and tuition. Never since 1890 has
the Institute for the Blind been so eco
nomically , practically and beuignantly
administered. The last annual report of
Professor Jones , which wo have read
carefully word for word , is without ex
ception , the best official accounting of a
stewardship which has been rendered in
the state of Nebraska during the last ten
years by any one of its officers. This
report has attracted the attention of the
best scholarship and philanthropy of the
United States. Prof. Wm. T. Harris ,
United States commissioner at the head
of the bureau of education in Washing
ton , writes , relative to that report and
to Professor Jones' general character ,
under date of April 14 , as follows ( and
we have insisted upon copying and pub
lishing the same ) :
Your illustration of principles on pages
818 and 310 and subsequent is complete
I wish that you would send me another
copy of your report at once. You have
certainly made a remarkable paper ; ii
39VSWW
will suggest the true method of studying
the blind children.
Mr. Timothy Nicholson , member of
; ho Indiana state board of charities ,
writes under date of April 15 :
The undersigned was a trustee of the
Indiana state normal school at Terre
jlauto during its establishment and or
ganization and for some years there
after.
after.Win.
Win. A. Jones , now superintendent of
the Nebraska Institute for the Blind ,
was the first president. His ability and
skill in organizing the faculty and school
gave great satisfaction to the trustees.
Faculty and students were enthusiastic
under his inspiration and the school
rapidly increased in efficiency and popu-
arity during his administration. After
a few years of remarkable success Presi
dent Jones contracted malarial fever
which so impaired his health that he
was compelled to resign his position , to
; he sincere regret oV' the trustees , fac
ulty , students and other friends of the
school.
Mr. W. A. Bell , editor of the Indiana
School Journal , writes from Indianapo
lis , February 14 :
Having been editor of the Indiana
School Journal for nearly thirty years ,
and having known all the leading educa
tional men that have over worked in the
state , I am free to say that no other man
ever did as much for the state educa
tionally as did Win. A. Jones. Others
have worked more years , but their
work was not so fundamental and far-
reaching.
W. H. Mace , professor of history in
the University of Syracuse , New York ,
writes on January 81 , 1899 :
The undersigned is personally ac
quainted with Prof. W. A. Jones of
Nebraska City and knows intimately
the work ho accomplished as president
of the Indiana State Normal school ,
Terre Haute , Indiana. I deliberately
assort that as an educator Indiana has
never soon his superior. The philosoph
ical and pedagogical basis on which ho
founded the professioual training of Indi
ana's teachers remains today , and in my
judgment , is the best , in both theory and
practice , in the United States. There
are hundreds of able men and women
teaching today who bless the good for
tune that placed them under the per
sonal and professional supervision of W.
A. Jones. There is not an educator in
Indiana who knows his work but still
regrets the occasion which took him out
of the state.
Prof. Arnold Tompkius of the depart
ment of pedagogy of the university oJ
Illinois , writes of Professor Jones :
I have never known a normal sohoo !
equal to the one he organized and con
ducted. His old faculty have uniformly
praised the helpfulness of his though !
and his deep insight into oducationa
principles. Students were decidedly
enthusiastic over his rational discipline
and his invigorating touch in the class
room. He was distinctively the educa
tional philosopher of the state.
Commissioner W. T. Harris , from the
bureau of education in Washington
wrote to Dr. A. Hugh Hippie , 200 Bee
) uilding , Omaha , Nob. , relative to pro-
'essor Jones , saying :
Ho is one of the most remarkable rnoii
ihat over entered the work of education
n the United States. His influence is
Hio most powerful influence in the state
of Indiana to this day , and Indiana has
one of the best educational systems in
; ho world.
Prof. W. A. Jones did more to create
a spirit of thorough study into the prin
ciples and practice of education than
any other man in the Northwestern
states.
I think that Nebraska is to bo envied
in having such a man placed at the head
of its institution for the blind , and I
enow that there is a widespread feeling
among teachers in Indiana that Professor
ser Jones ought to bo called back to the
work of education in that stato. Ho
.eft Indiana originally on account of his
lealth , having lived for many years in
; ho malarious part of Indiana.
The foregoing tributes to Professor
Jones are given circulation by THE
CONSERVATIVE as corroborative and con
current evidence of the truth of
what it has heretofore said as to
the capabilities and practical useful
ness of the present superintendent of
Nebraska's Institute for the Blind.
It is regrettable that such men should
be removed to make places for those
inexperienced in teaching , no matter
liow good they have been at preach
ing or as presiding officers of a state
senate. It is barely possible that the
last position was regarded by the gov
ernor as peculiarly qualifying Mr.Harris
for directing and superintending the
blind.
The logical ending of the partisan
management of state institutions , like
normal schools , insane asylums , reform
atories and institutes for the deaf , dumb
and blind , will bo their abolition ; and
Tins CONSERVATIVE is free to say that
the sooner the state divests itsplf
of all these institutions and leaves the
Holds which they now occupy to
private enterprise , the better it will bo
for all concerned. The private sanitar
iums in the East , the private insane
asylums in many states and the insti
tutes for teaching the blind , the deaf
and the dumb which are carried on by
personal enterprise are muoh cheaper
and far better than those paid for by the
state. When the indigent insane or
blind or deaf and dumb are sent from
Otoo or any other county to a state in
stitution , wo are taxed to pay for it and
it costs more than it would to send the
same indigents to private institutions of
the same sort. A comparison of the cost
of keeping the inmates of our asylums
and institutes in the state with the cost
of keeping them in private institutions
and asylums in Now York , will show
that this state is not an economist ; in
fact , as a rule , the comparison will show
that it is cheaper to keep the unfortun
ate classes referred to in private
asylums.