By Pin Head Wisdom

BY PIN HEAD WISDOM

State Board of Education is Running Normal System.

THE STENOGRAPHERS PAY

In Mt. Pleasant is Larger Than in Ypsilanti.

Claimed That one Member of the Board is a Believer in Nepotism and Also that Salaries are Being Cut

Ypsilanti, Mich., Aug. 4. - The last meeting of the state board of education has just put another weapon in the hands of the political enemies of the members. A cut of from 5 to 10 percent was made in the salaries of the teachers engaged in the summer school, and entire credence is given to the report that it was for the purpose of saving money to assist in paying Dr. Boone the $2,000 which it is alleged he is to receive for having resigned the presidency without making trouble.

The board could not with any great grace come before the state legislature and ask for a special appropriation to enable them to carry out political moves, and they have determined to save the necessary amount by "economy" in the management of the school for a few months. The instructors who are engaged in the summer work are indignant at the reduction in their salaries, as they say they were told that they should receive compensation at the regular rate.

It is said that at this same meeting of the board, although the members deny the same, that it was decided to tender the position of superintendent of normal schools in the state to Superintendent L. C. Jones, of the Cleveland public schools. Mr. Jones is conceded to be the strongest man whose name has yet been connected with the position, but the feeling is still entertained among the normal professors that the board is not doing justice to the importance of the new superintendent's work in its present determination of the qualifications to be possessed by him. - Detroit Tribune.

The Argus is not able to vouch for the truth of this except that part relating to the payment of $2,000 to Dr. Boone, that being the coudition on which he passed in his resignation. Nevertheless it has no reason to doubt the correctness of the report, the points alleged being a fair sample of the pinhead wisdom which is now directing normal school matters. It is in keeping with the appointment of a stenographer at the Mt. Pleasant Normal with a salary of $40 per month, while the stenographer at the Ypsiianti college, with many times as much work to do only receives $30. It is alleged, however, that the Mt. Pleasant stenographer is a sister-in-law of the Hon. Jason B. Hammond, secretary of the board. If this be true, and it seems to be well authenticated, the reasons for this difference of salary are apparent. It is also alleged that a man by the name of Hammond has been made janitor of the normal school at Mt. Pleasant. It has likewise been claimed to the Argus that he is a brother of the superintendent of public instruction. If these things be true as claimed by the Argus informant they show that there is at least one member of the state board of education who is a believer in and a follower of the example of former president of the United States.