And with these things going on every day—with school principals carrying step-ladders and peering over transoms to discover what their teachers were doing—Superintendent Tildsley had the nerve to stand up before an audience at the Civic Club and say in my hearing that there was no oppression of teachers for their opinions, and that no teacher in the system had anything to lose by being a Socialist! As evidence of the fact, he stated that he had a very good friend, a teacher of English in one of the high schools, who was a member of the Socialist party, and had even been a candidate for office on the Socialist ticket. This lady had never suffered any handicap from her political opinions and activities; Dr. Tildsley went on to say how he had been in her class not long ago, and had heard her explain to her pupils the meaning of the French Revolution, and he would not want the French Revolution explained to his own children any more fairly and intelligently than this teacher had done it. When my turn came to answer, I said: “Dr. Tildsley does not name the teacher of English who has not suffered from being a Socialist. It happens that I know who she is, because I had dinner at her home yesterday evening, and she told me how Dr. Tildsley had come into her room and had complimented her upon the way she had explained the French Revolution to her students. New York is not the only city in which a teacher is fortunate in belonging to one of the old families, and being able to know the district superintendent as a social equal. But Jessie Wallace Hughan is the last woman in New York who would wish to take advantage of that social prestige. She is a woman with real convictions, and I am sure she will not mind my repeating what she said to me only yesterday evening—that since she has run for office on the Socialist ticket some teacher friends have been in such a state of fear that they are hardly willing to be seen speaking with her in public. And twelve years ago, when Miss Hughan was a student at Columbia, she was told by Professor Seligman, in charge of her work, that she could never have a career as a teacher, because she had joined the Socialist party. All the recommendations he gave her were for statistical and research work, never for college work!”[D] ----- Footnote D: