f -v 'iVwW-SV V V ETONItfG PUBLIC iDEDGER PHILADELPHIA, MONDAY, APRIL 21, 1919 -'Trwr. W'i!w '-T'i.'i'W''- ""''"" I ,t WITWIER WOULD TEST SCHOOL BOARD iVIINDS University Professor Proposes Psychological Test of Mental ity of 'Archaic" Body ' Dr. Llghtncr "vYitmer, professor of psychology at the University of Penn (tylvaola, offers to hate the members of what ho terms the "archaic Board of Education" examined psychologically to determine their "Intelligence, intellec tual capacity, general Information and Initiative." The offer Is made In a itatomcnl Is sued by Doctor 'Witmcr in which he pleads for reform In the method of In- structing backward pupilf, fu the teuools ' of. this city. School teachers here will never pet adequate salaries from the Board of Education, the profesffor asserts. He advises them to organize tor higher salaries. All the funds derived from an in crease of $3,000,000 In school taxes would advaneo teachers' salaries 45 per cent, ho said, compared with a 75 per cent advance In the cost of living sinre 1015. Doctor A Hour's Statement Doctor, Witmer's statement, in part, fallows : "It is camouflage for, Doctor Garber and Doctor Wheeler, propagandists of the Board of Education and probably acting under Mr. Gratz's orders, to prc ' sent an array of public school activities showing that our public school sjstom is not lacking in kindergartens, classes for backward children, high schools nnd other features which are an integral part of the public school system cvetj wherc. "When you are inquiring Into the productivity of a field, you will not be satisfied by the exhibition of a bushel oi potatoes, even though they are big potatoes and of good quality. You. will ask how many potatoes the field Vro duced to the acre and at what cost in Mm, labor and money. Tho efficiency of the public schools is to be measured- in terms of its product me hciiooi children of Philadelphia, the majority of whom leave school to go to work at or before tho age of sixteen. "Jou arc losing $8,000,000 a jear, largely because of the control exercised over" your schools by privilcgo nnd wealth in the person of Simon Grata, their most powerful and conspicious agent. t The Backward Children "Fifty per cent of-your children who go to work at or before the ago of KTppn have cither failed to complete a six -year course of instiuction in eight years or more or-they have completed this course only after they have lost two years or more. These arc the back ward children of the Philadelphia public schools. It is camouflage to all the orthogenic classes, of which there arc 100 in Philadelphia, -classes for 'back ward' children, for at least 80 per cent of these children arc feeble-minded, nnd many of them are imbeciles of low grade. - "From the report of the supcunteud ent of education I obtain the facts from which I estimate that at lcast-UO.-000 children begin work every year. At least one-half of these 10,000 chil dren are two years late in getting to work because they arc two years or more backward in their progress. If n boy or girl can earn $S a week, or .$100 a year, each and every backward child produced by tho Philadelphia school system is costing the working people of the city $S00 in two years.' loss of wage. , Assails Compulsory Sludy "The total loss to tho wage-earners otfblladclphia is 58,000,000. Put this down in the bill when jou take the control of the. schools from the agents of privilege and wealth. "An elaborate survey is not necessary to establish the i dative competency of the fifteen members of the Board of Education. ' Very simple tests, which I would be glad to make without expense to the city, enable an examining psy chologist to assign each and every mem ber of the board to his relative rating with respect to intelligence) intellectual capacity, general infoimation and 'initi ative. . "Turn from Mr. Gratz and his asso ciates on the Board of Education to the ' superintendent's ofhee nnd leurn to un derstand and nppieciati the significance and value'of jour supeiintendent's ic ' port for 1017. Po not nsk tho Phila delphia Board of Education for an in crease in wage to compensate jou for the increased cost of living, but join the union recently formed in affiliation with thoyVmerlcan Federation of Labor. "You will never get a juht wage fiom or through the Philadelphia Board of Education. You will get it onlj when you unite to demand it from the reluc tant hand of piivllege nnd wealth. "And again; I nsk the workers of Philadelphia to listeu. Mr. Gratz hah ' control over tnq assessment of the houses which you own or in which jou live and pay rent. He sajs that Phila delphia is a city of homes and he doesn't like to raise the tax1 rate on your homeSi He ulso controls the as sessed values of the homes and business houses of the rich, and is just as anx ious not to raise, the assessment on these) although he makes no boast about it. "Indeed, tho anxiety of Mr. Gratz and his associates to keep the real es tate owned by men of privilege and wealth from being unduly taxed has led to such Inequalities of assessment, that uutll he publishes the assessed nlues of real property lu Philadelphia, you arc justified in believing that the burden of taxation rests more heavily upon you thun it docs upon the class whose inter ests Mr. Gratz to zealously guards." BULLET ENDS FLIGHT OF ALLEGED HOLD-UP Man Near Death After Patrol man Who Interrupted Rob bery Attempt Fifes ACTRESSES OF YESTERYEAR ADMIT MUSICAL COMED Y ART Women From Edwin Forrest Homo, Guests of Ioru liases, Compare Modem Theatre With That in Which They Were Stars Walter Thompson, who gave an ad dress on Thirteenth street abovo Spring Garden, wns probably fatally shot bv Patrolman Miller, of the Tenth and nuttonwood streets station", when he and a companion, it Is alleged, were interrupted in the act of robbing James Durrau, of Jamestown, N. Y., at Thir teenth nndNectarine streets shortly after 2 o'clock yesterday morning. According to the story of their victim, Thompson and Daniel Douglas, Ninth and Knee streets, approacnea anu asisea fnr 'match. When Mr. Durran nut his hand in his pocket to comply with the request one of tnem saw : "You migk as well give us your money at the same time. Then one or me nignwnymen urew a revolver and had covered him when Pa trolman Miller came round the corner. Seeing him, tho men btarted running down Nectarine street and the polico mua called to them to halt. 'When they refused he fired once to frighten them. This had no effect nnd he opened n fu sillade, with the result that Thompson was shot four times in tile body. He is, at the Hahnemann Hospitn), where he h not expected to live. Douglas gave up the flight and sur i eudercd. FAITH IN PROHIBITION Anti-Saloon League Official Appeals for Enforcement of Law "The eighteenth amendment is the nation's law. It Is the law of the na tion's God. We believe it will be en forced. We must elect men who have respect for the eighteenth nmendment and fidelity to the oath to.carry it out." This is the gist of n sermon by the Rev. Homer W. Tope, district supci -iutendent of the Anti-Salooh League, who spoke last night in the Third Bap tist Church, Gcrmantown. "In tho lull between July 1 and Jan uary 1, liquor men tell us, the luw will not be enforced," said the Rev. Tope. "The nature of the corrupt politician has not been changed. Hence we must remember that the work is but begun: that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. I do not believe that the law -less clement will triumph. This ele ment has been against local option, stnte-vvidc prohibition, Sunday closing laud pure food rcgulatious for jcnit,." WOULD GUARD- EXPLOSIVES U. S.'Mlne Director Asks Leglslia tures to Continue Reforms Washington. April 21. An nppe.il to State Legislatures to enntt laws whit li will continue the reforms brought about bv the wartime federal statute pro hibiting possession of dangerous explo sives by irresponsible and crimiunl per sons, was made yesterday by Van II. Mnnning, director of mines. The federal law, passed solely as a war measure, which was meant to keep explosives from the hands of dyna miters, bomb throwers and alien ene mies with evil intent, will expire upon the ratification of peace by the Senate. "Musical comedv' Why, we lore it'" This confession comes from six gentle old ladies who were tho fair Ophelias and the tragic Juliets and the romantic Rosalinds when the world was almost a half a century younger. They nre now spending the closing years of their lives at the Edwin Forrest Home, Holmesburg, Pa On Saturday they were the guests of Nora Bayes at her malnec performsnee at the Lyric Theatre. In the pride of their beauty they numbered among the best in the do livery of heroic interpretations. They were destitute of the trick aud artifice of the modern Mace They represent the older mellow manner of acting, and jet they "love" musical comedy. "It's beenusp we folks of the stage somehow always stav young." said Mrs. Carrie Lee Stojle, who is sixty -seven. "When I was very jouug I came from England, and I did the so called legitimate work nnd I acted in tho good, old-fashioned way, which I adore because it is so wholesome nnd sincere. But 1 changed with the years, so that mv last role was with annle ward In 'Madame President.' "No. The old method of strutting and fretting your little hour on the stage is n thing of the past. In the davs long ngo we cherished our distinct conventional method Hut thn new, more restrained, vet franker method, provided therp is honest sincerity be hind it, is the finer for these days. And mostlr, I must admit, because that's the kind of ncting the niidiences want. "May I miv this for Norn? T think she is the most delightful, legitimate musical comedian on the stage today. She is charming." Amv Lee, of the original Girard Ave nue Stock Company, whoso repertory, at one time extended down the entire list of drnmatlc heroines, believes that an actor cannot burlesque well unless he or she can do the "legitimate" well "It's like n carirnturlst," he snid "He cau't iirtfullv draw a funnv man at all. unless ho can rlrnw n renl man well. How could he burlesque a poMuro if he didn't know how to mnke the pos ture'' Nora Bajes can do Shakespeare iut as well as she can burlesque I know, for I've seen her do Shake speare " "I think there is a kind of burlesque that is thoroughlv artistic." (.aid Mrs John Jack, widow of the relehrated "Palstaff " Mrs. Jack's stage name wns Annie Tinnan She will be remem bered bv the older membeis of the fnm ilv, espetiallv for hei portrnval of Lndy Tenzle, in Sheridan's "A School for Scandal." "Such acting tlc-ervrs n grnprnus place on our stage However, I know the younger actors will forgive mo when I tonfesM I have n strong affection for the sweet nrtors of my dnv, who had, besides mcie hitorlonic abilitv. a poetic vision and n 7cal to create a living char acter." Old in bodv, but very young in spirit. these melting Desdomonas of jears ngo smiled through tho merllev of songs, jokes and dancing. Miss Svtlnej Cow ell, long associated with Sir Charles AVvnd- ham, nnd Miss Ada Oilman, of tho old Boston Museum, and Miss Limit Lewis heartily indorsed the sentiment favoring musical Comedv with reservations, of course. Reservations expressed in the wistful silence or modulation of their volets rather thau in actual words "The stage totiav is t harming e t,iemely charming. However I" P "" mmmm """ i P Charge Account 923 MARKET STREET 7& tohrl I H jsi rta f t Town . I I Tomorrow A Sale of Great Importance! Dresses I Newest A Vmiino f.iiii A Sample Line and Groupings Front Our Own Stocks Values to $29.75 Those lovely ruffled frocUs, tliose with tunics and others artistically draped. Choice of silk satins taffetas and those with Beofgette combined Many In all wool Beiges and JersejB in moio talloictl. effects Second Floor RAMESES Because the wealth, J of Midas couldn 't 6uy a better cigarette m ' PI 5 I For One Day We Offer Special MI71I7 CITITC r'ADPC and DOLMANS $ Tiey nre ones twos and threes of a kind taken from our legular $25 00 and $29.75 stocks Second Floor 19 .75 Account f' ,.a L ' xv n i rr I I t n ABBHHk 15 i r k' Aft ISIfkl Iff! TI Buy Now! And insist that your Dealer gives you All Sizes for Immediate Delivery Standard for Nearly 100 Years' The Philadelphia and Reading 1 1 (-(pal and Iron Company AMWIIBfiAl For One Day Only! Large Trimmed Hats 5Q.98 i"3SjttMRi3j - w? i 1 1! I,aree MIlHii straw dress hats v ith ribbon and neat flow er trim mings Street Door For One Day Only! $1.25 New Lingerie Waists I 9 I 89c Larg variety 6f t a I lored, lace or em broidery trim med models Mr'iet Floor m i QTRAWBRIDGE mmTrrnirvMA 5 WMMmMtiamLs:: N-J a 3 n ' ' i 11 I 111 M )( III III IIU I III! Ill Kill II IH llHlllWh. - -v fVf i w mm MM I HSSSx -Xx essssstLeLtei & QLOTH I E Q. GMMER FURNISHING SERVICE fll Silk Satin Camisoles 98C In regular and sizes up to 52. extra I Very 2 Bpeclal "w I """s- A Sale of Skirts S0.9S Novelty plaids, poplins and serges In new modeds, I I A Special Sale of and CAPES - VI In every size for women and misses They vtere originally hlfher priced, and we price them 60 low for one day's selllnsr. Women's Spring SUITS $ A special lot formerly priced S 14 98 and 116 75. All-wool serges and popUno in new ttyles. Girls' Gingham' Dresses . . $1 Qfi SO of toe very j?J.etFU 20 neweht vlio'ye. iitvles- for Sliei from 6 to. 14&ea,r. mi 12"? Hundreds of Philadelphia Homes and Seashore and Mountain Collages Will be Made More Comfortable During the Warm, Lazy Days to Come by This Great Display of Summer Furniture ?! Children's Sprinff Capes... CQfi C'f navy blue serge tJ7VU IRM in our belief that here in the "City of Homes" there are more people 1 interested in beautifying the home and making it more livable, than in any other single community in the world, we have made unusual preparations in the assembling of our Summer Furniture for the coming season. We have provided more Furniture and a greater assortment than ever before. Great care has been taken in the selection of styles, and we have rigidly barred all that is garish and unworthy, choosing only the artistic and the reliable. Most important of all customers have our assurance that prices are the lowest consistent with honest quality andgood taste: A Wealth of Attractive, Artistically Chosen Styles for Cottages, Bungalows, Porches, Lawns and Gardens Beautiful New I A Reed Furniture How Many Rooms Has Your Home? Have jou ever considered the possibilities jour porch offers for providing a light cool, airy EXTRA room during the summer months? Tlilnlv how much of jour time Is spent on vour porch durlns the summer dajs It Ih the most popu lar and most agreeable spot tu the entire household from early morn iliff until lonp after nightfall It requires but little to mako the transformation A screen or two, perhaps a rug and a reading lamp, a few moderately priced cretonne cushions and ono or more com fortable pieces selected from this l'urnlture Display. Willow Furniture In addition to the Dec orated styles we have a large assortment in he "natural, finish which can be decorated according to your individual ideas. If you have some particular color scheme which jou wish carried out, wo un execute the vvorlt, or ou um choose vour i retonne cushion materials ami draperies from tho hundreds of different patterns In our slocK and have the Furniture dot orated to match effectlel Pi Ices r.itiRO from in undecorat ed Tabouret at $t 50 with undec orated fhaji s at $0 50 to a hand Home 5-piei.H Suit, enameled In gray nnd black, with effective color harmonics of blue and red carried out In the cretonne-covered cush ions and backs at $175 Wl In styles and finishes closely confoiminp to the most recent decorative ideas. The popular finishers are white, ivory'and brown with cushions of tastefully-chosen cretonne. A great variety of prices from $5.50 for an ivory-tinted Footstool, to a coloiful Suit of 3 pieces, with cretonne cushions and back, at $85. Reed-Fibre Pieces at Moderate Prices Extiemely durable and rivalinp the Reed Turni ture in beauty of designs. Practical blown and ivoty finishes, with cictonne cushions and upholsteiinjr in many bright and attractive patterns. Pi ices from $2.75 for a child's. Chair to $61.50 foi an atti active, comfortable-looking Suit of i pieces. New Idea in the Old Hickory Furniture lb the painted piects in distinctively novel and artistic two-tone effects of nory-and-gieen, ivory-and-biovvn and ioiy-and-ied. In addition to these wo have an excellent assortment of the popular rustic stjles which have made this line famous. Prices range fiom a tustic Tabouiet at $1.75 to $37.00 for a 3-piece Suit, in the new two-tone effects. Rustic Cedar Porch p and Lawn Furniture Scores of excellent pieces which will lend ne'w beauty and corrifort to the poich, lawn and garden.. Chans, Benches, Gateways, Aibors, Summer Houses stionglv made and impeivious to exposure. Prices fiom $1.75 for a Tabouiet to $60.00 for an artistical ly designed Summer House Also a Beautiful Collection of Quaint Painted Furniture Single Pieces and Com plete Suits for Porch, Sun Parlor or Breakf ast Room. -- strawbrldB" 4 Clothier Third Floor Long Cloth, Muslin Long Cloth, 36-inch, in 12-yaid pieceh S.5.33 and $1.00. Long Cloth, 36-inch 35c a yd. Bleached Muslin, 36-inch 25c and 31c a yaid. 33-inch Linen-finish Suiting Muslin 31c a yard. Mraubritlso & t lothl'r Aisln 11 lenlre Time to Think of Fur Storage Wise people aie aheady plac ing Fur Coats, Scarfs and Muffs, Fur Rugs, Velvet Suits and other winter appatel in our splendidly equipped Cold Stor age looms. They know that by doing so now" they pi event any early season activity of mother moth, and they aie insured against anv possibility of loss or damage while the things are in our care. Prices aie moderate and are based on ovvneis' valuations. straw bridge & Clothier t-pionl Tloor. Tilbfrt Street The Great Semi-Annual Sale of Floor Coverings STANDARD RUGS in every desirable weave and all wanted carpet sizes at savings of 10 to 30 per cent. CARPETS every good make, including full rolls and remnant lengths. LINOLEUMS in more than one hundred well-chosen patterns. Reliable grades. ORIENTAL RUGS in room and small sizes. V Straw bridge & ( lothier -I ourth Hon Ufst Men's New Soft Hats ' $1.85 .Savings of one-thud and more aie picsented. in this special lot of new sp'ring Soft Hats. Chiefly in the desira ble dark tones green, brown and gray. trawhriii n riothifr s cond Tloor Vlarket street. Cast Player Rolls, 50e HLRC'S A HIT: "The Kiss 'I hat Made Me Cry" 'I iv it, and follow it up with 'Micl,ev." "Ja-Da." "Chong," "Maiy," ,ind then "If You Ixiok in Her Ejeb." Followed by giand finale of the "Redemption of Alsace-Lorraine" You will have a whole spring conceit of the latest successes, and all foi $3 00. straubrlds- i Clothlfr Flf'h I loo West Boys' Mixed Cheviot Suits Below Regular Price, $7.85 A special lot of 200 Suits of mixed cheviot, for boys of S to 17 jeais. Well-made, duiable models, for dressy or general wear, at a lemarkable saving $7.85. Boys' New Wash Suits, $3.75 and $4.00 Middy Suits, a style that boys like. Of plain fast-color .cham brnvs neallv trimmed: sizes 3 to 8 yeais. trd s, neauy ln'e11ir3g L Clo Al-Second Floor Filbert Str.et Eatt Mith nlalrt trim. mines. ls. 3 to 14 jeg.ss.-' I Golden Special To-morrow 2,900 Excellent Bleached SHEETS Exceptional Value At $1.35 These Sheets have been recently sold at $1.85 and con sidered excellent value at that price. Of good bleached muslin, in the most wanted double-bed size, 81x90 inches. This great lot will be sold under the 'famous illuminated Golden Special sign to morrow at $1.35 each. The best value in Sheets this season buy Filbert Stieet now for home, hotel or summer cottage. --V Stnwbrldc Clotliltf AU! U. A VICTORY CONCERT The Stravbridge & Clothier Chorus Fifty Members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Four Prominent Soloists Mrs. Mae Ebrey Hott, Sopiann Walter Pontine, Tenor Miss Mabelle Add-on, Contialtfi Ptotr JI iszla. Baritone ACADEMY OF MUSIC Wednesday Evening, April 30 A retrospect of epochs and episodes in American Historj, illus trated bj music, verBe and tableaux A novel and varied program, including Indian and Negro songs, ballads, martial and patriotic rompositioii3, including 'THE CALL TO FREEDOM," by Victor Herbert, and the "HYMN 01' PEACE." RESERVED SEATS now on sale at Main Desk, at S5e, 50c and 75c (War Tax- additional) Proceeds for the Straw bridge & Clothier Pension Fund. - - - Cotton Damask and Napkins Six of our exclusive designs in heavj Mercerized Cotton Damask, 70 inches wide, with 23-inch Napkins to match, at a saving of onb f ourth: Danutsk Sac a yard. Napkins $225 a dozen. Half-linen Huck Face Towels, special, $4.80 a doz.v Face Towels with hemstitched damask border, at such a remark able price that many housekeepers will buy for future as well as present needs. ' is - Striwbrldte. Clo'hltr Aie 11 ind 12 Ctntr.. , Strawbridge & Clothier ,XdJpEr STREET EiqUTH. STREET gyiffEBT .gKnff -41 n si Ef i.w ; v UfcfeCks; mmmmmmmmammmmmmm .V A .J-'-1- ttJL&l. 04 It '! 'I I " c