USA > Indiana > Historic Indiana : being chapters in the story of the Hoosier state from the romantic period of foreign exploration and dominion through pioneer days, stirring war times, and periods of peaceful progress, to the present time > Part 34
USA > Indiana > Historic Indiana : being chapters in the story of the Hoosier state from the romantic period of foreign exploration and dominion through pioneer days, stirring war times, and periods of peaceful progress, to the present time, centennial ed. > Part 34
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Natural Resources
and whetstone. The . interesting Madison County limestones, showing a fibrous quality in the process of manufacture, are being converted into a superior mineral wool for building and refrigerating purposes.
The discovery and the waste of natural gas has a lesson which should not go unheeded. The finding of natural-gas deposits was a most important factor in the development of the eastern-central part of Indiana. This gas and petroleum area covers four thousand-square miles, with its centre about Anderson. In Indiana, gas is found in Trenton rock or sand, and then only when the formation is very porous, which accounts for the borings that have failed to be productive. The first well that was really utilized was drilled in March, 1886, and for ten or twelve years there was the most phenomenal development of the fields, attracting a vast number of industries. The finding of gas and the development of the facilities of transportation increased the value of the manu- factured products of Indiana three hundred and sixty million dollars in the last half century, placing her eighth in rank in the Union as a manufacturing State. Manufactories of all sorts flocked to a territory where free fuel was offered to all comers. The pop- ulation increased enormously. Great factories were built, towns arose where there had been fields of grain, and little hamlets grew into cities. Seventeen counties produced gas in paying quantities. In a dozen years four of these quiet agricultural counties increased their assessed valuation fifty-eight million dollars; by 1893, over three hundred million dollars had been invested in Indiana factories, and sub- stantial and permanent properties were established throughout the region. The gas field in Indiana was
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larger than that of any other State. If this great natural product, so bountifully stored away by nature, had been properly conserved, it might have continued to enrich the State for years to come. Never have ignorance, wastefulness, and oblivious carelessness of fast-passing resources, freely bestowed and vastly val- uable, been more surely shown, than in the almost criminal waste of natural gas in the central States. All through the fields in Indiana and Ohio, if a "gusher" came in suddenly, it was allowed to run for days without capping, merely for advertising purposes. There was a great waste of gas from wells used for obtaining oil. Pipe lines were crude and wasteful, their disjointed condition causing great leakage. Factories wasted it like water and great flambeaux flared unextinguished, night and day, at every farm gate on the highway. In the zenith of production, 100,000,000 cubic feet of this valuable fuel was wasted in every twenty-four hours. The farmers claimed the right to waste all they pleased, as it came from their own wells! The law of '91, forbidding this wanton exhaustion was not enforced for five years after its passage. Then the authorities made strenuous efforts to regulate the gas wells. On account of this prodigal shiftlessness, there was a gradual exhaustion of the pockets, in which the gas is supposed to be stored, and the supply has diminished, although other wells may be developed in after years. Many cities have ceased to be supplied. Some fac- tories have moved to other localities within the gas belt. Some have resorted to the use of other fuel, but the extensive coal-fields are near, and at a very low price other fuel is available. The factories are so advantageously located with regard to markets
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and the transportation facilities in Indiana are so exceptional that most of the factories have continued where they were established.
The passing of natural gas is a sad commentary on the lack of foresight and thrift, even in a material age, and a striking example of the vast carelessness of nature's benefactions in a country so gloriously endowed. The waste of introducing "civilization" on a continent may be traced in the sacrifice of the timber and the waste of natural gas within the bounds of Indiana. The Indians only destroyed each other and such game as they could consume. The white man came, and, as we have seen, billions of dollars' worth of timber was sacrificed. The whole aboriginal race was swept from the face of the country. The greatest variety of game found in any region was annihilated. Beautiful lakes have been drained to enlarge farm areas, and myriads of fish in all the waters have been ruthlessly exhausted before there was any care taken toward replenishing the stream. Whole species of beautiful birds have become extinct. Something may be done to redeem the waste by re- forestation and restocking the streams with fish in the immediate future. These are not only possibilities, but economic necessities. Sentiment awaits a recom- pense for the devastations.
In the earlier days, Indiana was considered an iron-producing State; there were a dozen blast furnaces, and ore has been mined in a score of counties. With the building of the largest steel mills in the United States on her northern border, the deposits of iron will, doubtless, again be found worth developing. Mineral paints, partaking of the nature of iron oxide, and many ferruginous clays are found in great quan-
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tities in southern Indiana, sufficient to make them a valuable commercial commodity.
Very interesting deposits of peat and muck are found in the lake counties of Indiana. By a wise provision of nature, in the 7500 square miles of the northern part of the State, where there is no coal or wood, there were found great beds of peat, which is only less valuable than coal when dried or pressed into form for fuel. When made into coke or charcoal, it has a high commercial value; and by changing it into producer gas, peat will be a most valuable fuel for the future throughout the region where the for- mation occurs.
The muck fields, which formerly were considered worthless spots on the farm, are now being burned over or mixed with clay or sand and planted to vast fields of vegetables; these lands, when brought under cultivation, bringing three or four times the price per acre of the surrounding ground.
This chapter cannot serve the purpose of a complete report of the natural resources of Indiana, but may give a slight idea of the wealth stored beneath the surface which is being constantly revealed. Very few acres of the State will be found worthless. There are no great stretches of wholly unproductive land to be traversed before paying areas can be reached ; all are near transportation. Either from the soil or beneath the surface the landholder may find a reward for his investment. What were regarded as waste places at one time, it is being demonstrated by the geologists is invaluable territory.
In utilizing the natural resources of the Common- wealth, no gift of nature has been more neglected than the waters of Indiana. The beautiful lakes
Lower Falls Cataract, Styner's Falls. Such falls as Styner's Cataract await their development as generators of electric power.
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that dot the northern counties, the rivers, the gushing springs, the flowing wells, and the limpid streams which flow through the central and southern districts have yet to be made a great factor of wealth and pleasure. Nothing has been done toward irrigation, and with very few exceptions the farmers have not begun to appreciate the value of stocking the waters, bordering on their lands, with fish. An intelligent co-operation of State and landholder will, in the future, render these bodies of water a perennial source of food to the whole population. Another vast source of wealth and lightening of labor flows all undreamed of past village and farm. The sparkling waterfalls in the streams and woodland brooks, and the hundreds of turbulent rapids in the placid rivers, await their development as generators of electric power. As the waters slip past farm and town they murmur of energy that they might lend to the overworked farmer and his tired wife; how light, heat, and power could be taken from the rippling streams. They invite the village factory and mill to expand, by the use of little wires connecting their dynamos with a turbine in the waterfall. Independent of coal mines or syndicate power-houses, the power is theirs right at hand. Nor is it necessary to dwell on the banks of the streams, for the power may be transmitted far and wide. Twenty counties might have electricity by water- power generated by the Wabash; White River and its tributaries could serve as many more. Such falls as those at Pendleton, at Shields, at Flat Rock, at Styner's cataract, and the great rapids in the Ohio River could furnish light, heat, and motive power for all of the factories, interurban lines, farms, and homes in Indiana. Italy calls this water-power,
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which she is turning to such vast economic advantage, her white coal, and uses it to turn wheels, spindles, and trolley lines many miles from the torrent's source. The graduating engineers from Purdue and Rose Polytechnic have at hand a brilliant career, in the conservation of such a force within the State. "To- morrow, the day's fuel may be dipped from the brook," if the waters of Indiana are utilized, and the forests about their sources are preserved.
CHAPTER XXII
THE STATE OF CIVILIZATION IN INDIANA AS SHOWN BY HER LAWS
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T HE public sentiment and the legislation of a state define her status in civilization. The provisions made for equal opportunity for all of the people is a test of enlightenment. Indiana must measure herself by these standards. With the passing of pioneer conditions, when our country lived the untrammelled life of a backwoods boy, when there was much more than room enough for all, and a struggle to live meant manual labor at the very most, when no one was very rich or very poor, when there was no clashing of class interests, for all might rise by their own efforts; with the passing of that time when all planted and built and prospered, we have come to the time when, with the increase of population and the narrowing of opportunity, the State must often intervene for the protection of the individual and for the good of society. In Indiana, as in other States, when new laws for the Common- wealth are necessary, there is often a long striving after righteousness by the elect, before party strife and narrow-mindedness will permit disinterested legis- lation. Indiana has not been exempt from this handi- cap, and in any estimate of public sentiment due
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allowance must be made for this baleful influence in delaying legislation. It is necessary to remember that after 1872, when the reaction of the patriotic fervor of the Civil War period had passed, neither party carried the State at two consecutive Presidential elections for a quarter of a century. When there is this marked conflict of political opinion, the men who gain office, in any State, are not always those who are enlightened enough to lend their efforts to the broadest measures, and the legislation accom- plished represents compromise rather than the very best thought of its citizenship. Step by step, only, may its ideals be realized. Bearing these facts in mind, it will be recognized that Indiana has embodied enough advanced plans in her statutes to place her among the foremost States in the Union in enlightened provisions for her population. More than forty years ago, in commenting on Robert Dale Owen's part in successfully inaugurating all of the pioneer legislation for the advancement of woman's control and equitable rights over her own property, the London Times said that "Indiana has attained by this step the highest civilization of any State in the Union," and in all of the years since, few States have approached her position on this question. The common-law dower was abolished, and absolute ownership of one third of the whole of the deceased husband's estate is conferred upon the widow. Women can own and control their own separate property during marriage, have a right to their own earnings, and can contract every legal obligation that men can, except to become security for another person.
In the chapter on Education, an outline is given of the legislation which has been enacted founding
Her Civilization as Shown by Her Laws 495
a comprehensive system for universal instruction of all the youth of Indiana. It is shown that a most admirable State school system has been developed, beginning with compulsory attendance through the primary and grammar grades until a child is fourteen years old, from thence he may pass into the high schools, which are gradually adding industrial and manual training. Following this, there is the pro- vision for higher learning, in the normal schools and great State universities. Opportunities which are unsurpassed in possibilities for general culture of all her communities are thus afforded, if future legis- latures do not deprive the system of the necessary appropriations to maintain the structure built on the broad foundations already established.
Coupled with this educational plan, are the enact- ments authorizing tax levies to promote the formation of public libraries in the towns, and the creation of a commission to supervise that work, and also to have charge of a system of travelling libraries, which are furnished by the State for small villages and the rural districts. This legislation enables every school, every reading-circle or club, where five persons will join together in requesting the service, to have these collections of books sent for their use, making it unnecessary for the most isolated persons in Indiana to be deprived of good literature.
The temperance laws of Indiana have shown a steady advance, of late years, towards the regulation of the liquor traffic. This control has been assumed through the form of regulation by local option rather than by a sweeping State prohibition. The laws have been secured as a result of the gradual conviction in the minds of an ever-increasing number of citizens
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that the habit of drinking intoxicants was growing and that its effects were ruinous to the people. By far the larger portion of the inmates of the penal and correc- tional institutions and asylums, and the recipients of out-door relief come upon the State for maintenance, through the effects of intemperance. Aside from the misery and unhappiness entailed, it was recognized as a bad business proposition, when the total license fees from the sale of liquors brought into the treasury less than a million and a half dollars and at the same time the Commonwealth was expending twice that sum in caring for the wrecks of humanity caused by drink. After enacting numerous laws by great effort and ceaseless agitation, from year to year, defining who should be granted license to sell; stipulating that they should not sell to minors, to habitual drunkards, to prisoners, to intoxicated persons; that liquors should not be sold near schools, churches, soldiers' homes, nor in rooms not on the ground floor, nor in drug stores except by a physician's prescription, nor on Sundays and election days, nor in a "blind tiger"; and after prohibiting saloon-keepers from allowing minors to loiter in the place, and making them liable for harm to the family of the one to whom they sold liquor; and requiring that the effects of alcoholic drinks be taught in the schools; and fining minors for misrepresenting their age to obtain liquor, and intoxicated persons for being found so in public; and after years under laws making it the duty of county commissioners, prosecuting attorneys, mayors, police commissioners, and the judiciary to enforce these laws, another statute was tried. Under the Moore amendment to the Nicholson Law, to which the Supreme Court has given its approval, the citizens are
Her Civilization as Shown by Her Laws 497
now moving. Under this law, if a majority of the voters in any township or ward of a city shall file a remonstrance three days before any regular meeting of the commissioners against granting a license to sell intoxicating liquors to any individual applicant, or all applicants, then it will be unlawful for the com- missioners to grant a permit for two years following. Power of attorney to sign a remonstrance may be delegated by a citizen to an agent or member of a committee who is on the watch for applicants for license.
This new law makes it optional with wards and townships whether they will have saloons or not. It is intended to adopt the measure also for counties. Working under this statute, the statistics for 1906 show that two-thirds of the townships of the State have now no saloons, and nearly three-fourths of the territory of Indiana is without a licensed saloon; and the Anti-Saloon League is pressing the campaign against the traffic everywhere. The Indiana brewers, alarmed by the broad sweep that this campaign has made, decided not to start any more saloons in the State. They also gave it out that they would dis- continue the purchase of fixtures for their friends in the business, or advance funds for their support; and that the association would assist the authorities to enforce the present law, and help allay agitation by driving "dive-keepers " out of the business. Of this temperance movement, the Wine and Spirit Circular warns the liquor trade that "this league is a strongly centralized organization, officered by men of unusual ability, financed by capitalists, sub- scribed to by hundreds of thousands of men and women and children, advised by attorneys of great
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ability, and it is working with definite ideas to guide it. The retail liquor trade must mend its ways ma- terially, or be prohibited, save from the business of tenderloin precincts of larger cities." It may be added that in August, 1908, Indiana added a statute known as the County Unit Law, which extends the present conditions under which license is granted, to whole counties, if the majority of voters so order by remonstrance.
Indiana has passed laws prohibiting the sale of cocaine and opium without a physician's prescription, and after one sale is made the prescription must be cancelled. It has also passed a prohibition on ciga- rettes. The fines authorized for violation of gambling laws, if imposed, might leave little to make the breaking of those sweeping statutes worth tempting the further infraction of the law. The enactments of pure-food laws are sufficient, if enforced, to protect the health of the State inhabitants. There is a regulation exacting sanitation of all food-producing establishments, and the assurance of the purity and wholesomeness of the products therein, and of the health of the operatives.
The laws in Indiana for the incorporation of cities have modernized the modes of city government, and the enactments for reform of county and town- ship administration, which provide for supervision and legislation by Boards of Control, separating legislative and executive functions, are intended to regulate local abuses and insure business methods in county affairs. The new laws tending to equalization of taxation have been found worthy of being copied by other States. The decision of the Supreme Court of Indiana that, according to its laws, if a man is
Her Civilization as Shown by Her Laws 499
guilty of bribery of a voter whose support he desires to enlist, he is ineligible to hold the office, even if he is elected without including the purchased vote, shows the desire to maintain the purity of the ballot. This decision holds true of votes in convention also. Indi- ana was one of the first States to adopt the Australian ballot, and also introduced improvements which were copied by other communities. The State's fee and salary law, whereby officials are paid a fixed salary and the fees pass into the treasury, was a great moral advance, as also were the franchise license laws of 1891, regulating the granting of commercial privileges.
Besides the general codes for the benefit of wage- earners, common to many of the States, there are statutes in the interests of the laboring classes that show Indiana's regard for the welfare of her workers, and that their well-being is of the very greatest im- portance. A Labor Commission was created in 1899, one member of which must come from the employing class, and the other must represent the wage-earners. This Commission is to serve as a mediator, look after the interests of laborers, endeavor to conciliate in times of trouble, and arbitrate opposing interests. Factory inspection has been instituted to look after the bodily welfare of workmen, including the sani- tation of buildings, protection of belts and machinery, fire-escapes in high buildings, safety appliances where needed, light and air, temporary floors in buildings which are in course of construction, and other measures of protection. Employers as well as employees are gratified with the results of these enactments. There are laws regulating the conditions of employment of women and children, including the prohibition of taking children under fourteen years of age, and
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under sixteen, except during school vacation, of children who cannot read and write. Ten hours is the longest day for labor by women, and night labor by them in manufactories between the hours of ten and six is prohibited. There is a statute to insure weekly payment of wages, and forbidding the assignment of future wages. A law fixes the limit of hours for a day's work, and provides for the noon hour. The large coal-mining business is on the eight- hour basis and the laws relating to labor unions are very liberal. Enactments have been passed forbidding the discharge of persons because they were members of labor unions. There are provisions for the pro- tection of trainmen, miners, and engineers. There have been decisions from appellate and supreme courts, interpreting the laws affecting the liability of the employer for accidents, in a manner much more favorable to the employee than the interpretation of similar laws in sister States. Thoughtful citizens of Indiana look forward to state regulation of work- ing men's insurance and laws providing pensions for old age. In the words of Charles R. Henderson, a native of Indiana, who has worked for years collecting international data for these measures, "We are laying a demand upon the legislatures of the country to make laws conform, not to conditions which have been outgrown, but to conditions as we face them to-day. I speak with the emphasis of conviction, with the hope that we are seeing the dawn of the result of a long study of a great subject, and of a successful striving for a righteous end."
As a result of the laws for the protection of laborers, and the conciliatory methods of adjustment by a commission, the conditions in Indiana have become
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4
The State Capitol, Indianapolis. From a photograph by the W. H. Bass Photo. Co.
Her Civilization as Shown by Her Laws 501
more favorable to order. Annual contracts, and settlements of demands by arbitration, have reduced the number of strikes in the proportion of twenty to one. Especially is this the gratifying state of affairs in the case where the workers are skilled, and are members of a union.
Indiana's saving banks are organized on a plan to insure the safety of the people's savings. These banks were planned to be philanthropic institutions, and were not intended to make money for the incor- porators, or for the directory. Their securities are on the basis of unimproved real estate values and farm property. Provisions for penny and dime sav- ings have also been made by the State.
As mentioned in the chapter on Education, the State schools for the blind, deaf, the feeble-minded, and the soldiers' and sailors' orphans are regarded as part of the public school system. This is from the recognition of the fact that the infirmities of these children bar them from the regular schools established for all youth. These schools are also furnished with the appliances for industrial training.
It is conceded that the provision for the disburse- ment of charities, and the care of the flotsam and jetsam of humanity, is also a distinct gauge of the advancement made by a commonwealth. In Indiana there are higher planes to be attained, but by 1889 the State had advanced to the position of creating a Central Board of State Charities, to supervise the expenditure of the funds, and the whole system of public charities to which the State contributes. This board is intended to be purely advisory and represents the people in visitation, inspection, and reporting any recommendations considered desirable. It is
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composed of representative citizens serving without pay, and required by law to have the oversight of every department of charities and correction, from the great State prisons and insane hospitals to the small town lock-up, and the thousand and more township trustees, the county jails, poor asylums, and every children's orphan asylum. All these institutions are under the inspection of this strong board. It had long been recognized that the county is too small a govermental unit, with too restricted resources, to grap- ple successfully with all of the problems of relief. It was felt that a central supervisory body was the only wise and economical way in which to influence the adminis- tration of the affairs of the commonwealth. It is now this State Board's duty to see that every inmate of every public institution receives proper care; that the public funds are honestly expended, although it does not direct the expenditure; and that the institutions are properly conducted. No more important office can be bestowed upon a citizen of the State than that of an appointment on the Board of State Charities. At present, the care of 86,000 persons is under the board's supervision, and an oversight of the expend- iture of over two million seven hundred thousand dollars. When a citizen recalls the haphazard methods of administering the charities and corrections under the former customs, and which are still practised in too many States, the wisdom of centralized control is most evident. Under the persistent recommen- dations of this board a steady improvement in the laws has been accomplished; and as a consequence, the conditions in the various institutions are so im- proved that it is extremely gratifying to the citizen who has a humane interest in the unfortunate. He
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