Some of the teachers now decided there ought to be a different sort of people on the school board, and they called in a group of liberal citizens to their help. A committee met, and a representative ticket was nominated, and a house-to-house campaign was carried on. The Black Hand opposed it, but not very ardently—a circumstance which would have awakened the suspicion of the teachers, if they had not been so new to public life. The entire “teachers’ ticket,” as it was called, was elected in the spring of 1921; and to the consternation of the poor teachers, two of the members resigned, and three others went over to the Black Hand, and so the board was deadlocked three to three, and nothing could be done. The board spent the rest of its term arguing over the choosing of a seventh member. The three liberal members had one candidate, Dr. Oxnam, a public-minded clergyman; while the three Black Hand members brought in a new candidate every week, until they had suggested most of the Tories in Southern California. Their favorite candidate was a brother-in-law of Harry Chandler of the “Times”; and after him they had three ex-presidents of the Chamber of Commerce! One of the guiding thoughts of the liberal campaign had been that teachers know something about teaching. They now prepared a timid proposal for a “Teachers’ Advisory Council,” to consult with the superintendent and the assistants as to the welfare of the children and the schools. Such councils exist in many cities in America, and the teachers of Los Angeles thought their plan would be welcomed by their new “liberal” board of education. So little did they understand the methods of the Black Hand! One morning the “Times” came out with a frightful story, all the way across several columns; there was an underground conspiracy among the teachers of Los Angeles to establish a “teachers’ soviet”! A group of blood-thirsty “Reds” were scheming to take control of the schools from the duly elected board of education, and have the taxpayers’ money spent and administered by labor unions! One of the teachers who was active in this movement, and who in a long editorial was branded as a dangerous “radical,” was Miss Wilhelmina Van de Goorberg. This, as you will note, is a terrifying foreign-sounding name; but it wasn’t foreign enough for the “Times,” which made it Von instead of Van. This lady’s parents came from Holland when she was a child, and the “Times” staff know her very well; but they changed her from innocent Dutch into devilish Prussian!