School Board member, Howard S. Gross, declares - it is an injustice to regard his questionnaire as the result of anti-German sentiments on his part. He is of German origin - and proud of it, but besides, he is a member of the School Board and as such, his position is one, which requires public confidence and trust. He considers it his duty to ascertain what benefit has been obtained after an expenditure of $150,000 per year for German instruction. He has been told, that many of the teaching staff of the German department are absolutely incompetent, that they speak a miserable German, and have only the vaguest conception of the grammatical rules of the language.

If these alleged, deplorable conditions exist, then it is his intention to trace them to their very foundation and so he intends to ask the Board of Education to make an investigation of this department.

School Board member Joseph Schwab has no objections concerning his co-worker's intentions, but adds, he will energetically oppose any attempt to restrict or abolish German instruction. He further stated, that one half of Chicago's 2inhabitants are either German or of German ancestry. The knowledge of German is therefore beneficial, not only as a matter of cultural acquisition but has a great commercial value.