Garfield School

The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, 1920-01-25, p.30

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Summary

School-news column titled "Garfield School" with the by-line **"By Jim Murphy"** — an 8th-grade student at Garfield School in (presumably) Butte or Anaconda is the column's young correspondent. Sunday January 25 1920 edition. Two 8th-grade debates summarized: **(1) "Resolved, That the negroes in the United States should be deported to Liberia."** Decided in favor of the NEGATIVE (i.e. should NOT be deported). - Negative points: (1) negroes are US citizens, can't be forced out except by changing constitution; (2) 9,800,000 negroes — deportation would mean big decrease in US industrial population; (3) negroes would refuse to go, riots and property destruction would follow; (4) cost too much, given the war debt; (5) Liberia's climate is too warm, many would not survive. - Affirmative points: (1) "negroes would have people of their own race in office, while in the United States there are few, if any, holding public office"; (2) Liberia good climate for fruit, soil fertile, could grow rich by trade; (3) "negroes commit many crimes in the United States, and if they were deported it would be better for all." **(2)** At another time the class heard a debate on the city-manager plan of government for Butte — also decided in favor of the negative side. "The work in debate is done in addition to the regular class work." ARCHIVE SIGNIFICANCE. **(a)** A by-lined newspaper column signed "By Jim Murphy" — rare for an 8th-grader. Jim Murphy is presumably the column's student-correspondent at Garfield School. Could be a young son of one of the Butte Murphy families in the JJM cluster; could be the older "Jim Murphy" who is the bride's maternal uncle at the 1954 Jo Ann Schueller wedding (= person_james_j_murphy_jr_la). If JJM Centerville's hypothetical son or a near-contemporary in Butte schools, age ~13 in 1920 puts birth around 1906-07 — fits an early Murphy-Softley-era family child. **(b) Period racial discourse:** This is historical evidence of a 1920 Butte schoolroom debating Black-American deportation as a serious civic question. Both sides reported neutrally by the student columnist. The negative-side arguments (focused on citizenship and impracticality) won but did not include any anti-racism argument per se. The affirmative-side arguments included three openly racist framings, the third explicitly anti-Black on alleged criminality. The column is captured as primary-evidence period record, NOT as endorsement; the user's archive includes this for the same reason it includes the 1885 anti-Chinese exodus coverage — these are the racial framings that surrounded the family's daily life, and the book chapter that uses them must treat them as such. **(c)** The Garfield School in Butte (or Anaconda) was a public elementary school; the 8th-grade civic-debate curriculum (Liberia + city manager government) is itself a small data point about 1920 Butte public education. TAG: `heavy` and `context_setting`. The clipping does NOT carry the framings in the editorial voice — they appear as reported student debate points — but the subject matter is hard regardless.

In its time

Narrative

Writing from Garfield School in Butte, Jim Murphy reports that the eighth grade has held debates in addition to regular class work. The first, "Resolved, That the negroes in the United States should be deported to Liberia," was decided for the negative, whose arguments included the constitutional citizenship of the nine million eight hundred thousand negroes in the country, the industrial loss their removal would cause, the expense and violence involved, and the heat of the Liberian climate; the affirmative argued office-holding opportunities, fertile soil for fruit, and crime. A later debate on the city manager plan of government for Butte was likewise decided in favor of the negative.

“Liberia is a negro republic on the west coast of Africa, having an area of 35,000 square miles, and is governed entirely by the colored race.”
“It would cost the United States much money, and money is needed to pay for the war, just now.”
“The work in debate is done in addition to the regular class work.”

AI-generated (claude-opus-5). Verify against the transcription before quoting.

Also mentioned

Jim Murphy · student_columnist_garfield_school_8th_grade
By-line of the Garfield School column. Presumably an 8th-grade student, b. c. 1906-07. Could be a younger Butte Murphy from the JJM-Centerville-AOH or another Butte-Murphy household. Worth flagging as a candidate Murphy-line child if any of the candidate-Murphy households in the archive had a son born c. 1906-07.

Places

Butte, Montana (primary)

Themes

Source type

news_item, society_column

Related sources

1885-11-06 — Bismarck Weekly Tribune, p.1 — The Chinese Driven Out. / The Chinese Exodus.

Transcription

transcription: complete · confidence high

# Garfield School ## By Jim Murphy *The Anaconda Standard, Sunday, January 25, 1920, p. 30.* The eighth grade has had many interesting debates on problems that have come up recently. The first was "Resolved, That the negroes in the United States should be deported to Liberia." Liberia is a negro republic on the west coast of Africa, having an area of 35,000 square miles, and is governed entirely by the colored race. The debate was decided in favor of the negative, the principal points that the winning side brought out were: 1. The negroes are citizens of the United States and therefore could not be forced out except by changing the constitution. 2. There are 9,800,000 negroes in the United States and if these were deported it would mean a big decrease in the industrial population of the country. 3. The negroes would refuse to go and there would be riots and many people killed and much property destroyed. 4. It would cost the United States much money, and money is needed to pay for the war, just now. 5. The climate of Liberia is very warm, and many of the race would not survive. The points brought out by the affirmative were: 1. The negroes would have people of their own race in office, while in the United States there are few, if any, holding public office. 2. The country of Liberia has a good climate to raise fruits in as the soil is fertile, and they could become rich by trading with other countries. 3. The negroes commit many crimes in the United States, and if they were deported it would be better for all. At another time an interesting debate was heard on the city manager plan of government for Butte, and was decided in favor of the negative side. The work in debate is done in addition to the regular class work.

Dotted underlines mark key terms on first mention — hover or tab to one for a reference note. The wording is the source’s own.

Open questions

Identify which Jim Murphy this is — the by-line suggests a Butte-school student aged ~13 in Jan 1920, born c. 1906-07. The 1936 LA Marie-Schueller marriage license has James J. Murphy Jr. b. ~1914 (age 22 in 1936) — too young to be the 1920 Jim Murphy. The LA Jim Murphy who is the 1954 Jo Ann Schueller-Cooke wedding's maternal uncle could be this 1920 student if b. c. 1906-07. Worth flagging.
Garfield School — confirm location (Butte or Anaconda? The Anaconda Standard runs Butte-school news too).