Another friend tells me about some school board meetings which he attended. There was a long and intricate discussion of the kind of pipe which should be used for school buildings. One board member was keen for iron pipe, another board member was keen for steel pipe. That bankers and lawyers and dentists and club ladies should know so much about the technicalities of building materials was puzzling to my friend. Some kind of conclusion was arrived at, and then two weeks later he went back, and attended another board meeting, and lo and behold, they were threshing out the question all over again! Said my friend to a reporter: “Aren’t there any other questions connected with Detroit education but what kind of pipe they have in their buildings?” The answer was: “Simpleton! One of these board members has a friend who would like to sell iron pipe, and another of the members has a friend who would like to sell steel pipe.” The connections of Big Business with the schools are so intimate in Detroit that they are almost humorous. We have seen the American Book Company operating in Minneapolis, and we now find that in Detroit its president, A. V. Barnes, is the brother-in-law of Truman H. Newberry, ex-secretary of the navy and ex-senator from Michigan.[H] We shall, before we finish, see the American Book Company engaged in corrupting school officials and making away with school money in every section of the United States. Now we discover that several hundred thousand dollars of the money thus made away with was used by Newberry and his gang to buy a seat in the United State Senate. ----- Footnote H: In “The Goose-step” Mr. A. V. Barnes was erroneously stated to be the _father-in-law_ of Truman H. Newberry; and thereby hangs an amusing anecdote. The Detroit “Times” wished to reprint the chapter dealing with the University of Michigan, and in order to make sure of the facts they sent the book to Judge Murfin, regent of the university, and friend and attorney for the Barnes-Newberry family. Judge Murfin sent back his comments with the statement that “Mr. Barnes is _not_ the father-in-law of Mr. Newberry.” Just that and nothing more; you see what a clever family lawyer the judge is! But someone on the “Times” was suspicious, and wrote again, saying that in order to be perfectly fair it would be necessary for Judge Murfin to state if there was any relationship at all between Barnes and Newberry, and if so, what the relationship was. By this means Judge Murfin was persuaded to admit that Barnes is Newberry’s brother-in-law! -----