100 years ago in Spokane: Spokane superintendent suggests vote of public on teacher wage increases

Spokane school superintendent Orville C. Pratt agreed that the district’s teachers deserved a raise.

So he proposed an unconventional solution: Hold a special election to let the public vote on a raise. He said it was the only feasible way to get the salary increase the teachers deserved.

He said that “any considerable increase” could be obtained only if the teachers can convince the public of the need. He believed the need was real, but he also had a warning for teachers.

“The whole matter should be regarded solely from the viewpoint of the welfare of the Spokane children,” said Pratt. “To be sure, the welfare of teachers is a very important factor in the welfare and progress of school pupils. But it is only in that setting that it should receive consideration. Teachers should guard themselves from the very natural tendency to place their own individual welfare in the foreground of their thought and their discussion. Unless they do this, the result will be to shed heat rather than light on the situation.”

From the sanatorium beat: Turmoil continued at Spokane County’s Edgecliff Tuberculosis Sanatorium.

The county commissioners were willing to let seven of the sanatorium’s nurses — plus the nursing superintendent and the medical director — resign rather than address their concerns over conditions and “professionalism” at the hospital. They had all resigned in protest, apparently in opposition to the current house physician, Dr. J.L. Newman.

The commissioners evinced little sympathy for those who resigned.

“It’s just a professional strike,” said the commission chairman. “It is not a strike for higher wages of shorter hours. … Six nurses did not resign and they will remain at work.”

The commissioners replaced medical director Dr. A.H. Stuht, who resigned in sympathy with the nurses, with a new medical director, Dr. F.S. Miller.

The commission chairman said “we have to get things back to normal again for the sake of the patients.” He did not mention that nearly all of the patients had signed a petition in support of the nurses.