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Show LETTER TO TEACHERS CALLS Oil THEM TO CONTRIBUTE A letter written by Superintendent John M. Mills of the city public school system about two weeks ago to the school teachers and made public pub-lic today has caused quite a sensation, sensa-tion, in it included a call on the teachers to contribute toward a fund for the paying of the expenses of Dr. K. G. Gowans in his campaign for the office of state superintendent of public instruction. The expenses, ac 1 cording to Superintendent Mills'' let-' ter, were approximately $400. The letter follows. "To the Principals- "As you are aware, the teachers of tho state. In convention assembled in the U. R. A. and their representatives representa-tives at various times have passed resolutions in favor of liberating the state superintendency of public instruction in-struction from partisan politics. This has become a basic principle in the aims of teachers and friends of edu-c edu-c ation "The committee appointed last sum- mer by the representatives of the schools of the state assumed the task Of getting the political parties together to-gether and co-operating with them in selecting a suitable man for state I superintendent. It became evident at! once that the proper man would have to make a financial sacrifice in salary' In taking this position. Dr. K, G. Gowans was selected. He was not ambitious for the position, and after much persuasion he was Induced to maje a sacrifice of $1500 a year in salary In order to make effective the resolutions of the teachers There! was a strong effort made to retain the position in politics aud it became necessary to Issue printed statements. All of this had to be paid for. It cost about $400. Wo think that the superintendent has sacrificed enough financially, and that we should as slst the committee in clearing off this indebtedness We know that the ; teachers have expenses, and this is purely voluntary. We don't know how many school systems will make any response "If you and your teachers could contribute an amount not to exceed one per cent of your monthly salary. i Know mat tne committee would appreciate ap-preciate it- This great cause was not the cause of Doctor Gowans. It Is our cause, and we should stand the expense He does not know that we are meeting ihe expense In this way "Yours very trulv, "JOHN M. MILLS. Bupt " In speaking of the letter this morning, morn-ing, Mr. Mills stated that it was self-explanatory, self-explanatory, but that he would emphatically em-phatically reiterate that no pressure was being, or would be, brought to bear against any teacher that failed to make a donation to the fund. "In fact,' he continued, "no account is being kept of the individual contributors, contrib-utors, but the money thus far received re-ceived has been sent In from the schools where the contributors are teaching and credited to the schools.' This statement was corroborated b Miss Bessie McCready, Mr. Mills' secretary sec-retary and the superintendent also stated that since the letter had been made public, several teachers who had previously stated that they did not care to contribute to the fund, had called at the office and deposited a contribution. |