USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > History of the city of Evansville and Vanderburg County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 31
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The Fulton avenue school building was erected to provide for the great mass of children in the lower part of the city in what was then still called Lamasco. It is a credit to that part of the city and consists of a large central building with a building on each side and can accommodate a great number of pupils. It is on Fulton avenue between Michigan and Virginia streets.
Another handsome building is the Chestnut school building, which is at the corner of Chestnut and Ninth. Its lines are beautiful and it is sur-
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mounted by a high tower, which gives it quite an imposing appearance. It, like the others, was brought into demand by the rapid settlement of the city in and around its locality.
Centennial school building is on Twelfth avenue between Indiana and Illinois streets and, like the Fulton avenue school, has a large central build- ing and one on each side. The building is rather plain. There has been very little detail given to any ornamentation. This, of course, was built only when the school board saw that it was necessary to have another build- ing for that rapidly growing section. The ideas of all the boards have been to not spend money foolishly in building schoolhouses to make a show, but only to put them up when the actual needs of the community demanded them, and it must be remembered that their good judgment is very often brought into requisition and that about $225,000 are spent yearly to keep these schools running. One of the most beautiful school buildings in the city is the Chandler school which is located on Chandler avenue between Evans and Willard avenues. The architectural construction of this build- ing is somewhat different from any of the others, it having low double doors and a large arched entrance. It is massively constructed and will last for a great many years and will be sufficiently large for the use of the pupils in its vicinity for some time.
The Columbia school building is just opposite Oakley street on Co- lumbia, and has been put up for some years. It has a beautiful growth of trees around it and a handsome yard. This was another of the "out- skirts" buildings that was put up to keep the scholars from taking too long walks to and from school. A beautiful building is the Delaware school building, which is on that street between Raleigh and Garvin streets. It has perhaps a more modern style of architecture, yet like the others it does not follow any known rules. Still it is a handsome and attractive build- ing. It would be very easy to give the number of pupils attending each one of these schools, and cost of the building, etc., but it is hardly neces- sary in a work of this kind to give so much detail. The Blankenburgh school building is again different from any of the others. It has a large archway but the tower is set back over the main part of the roof, one part of which is massive and the other is plain. It is substantial and has suffi- cient ground around it to make it attractive. The Baker Avenue school buildings are plain and substantial and are located at the corner of Michigan street and Baker avenue. The design is very plain.
The Campbell schoolhouse takes the whole square between Emmet and Campbell streets and has beautiful grounds. A few years ago the building was struck by lightning and burned to the ground and during the time of its reconstruction, the scholars were placed in the Canal street building for recitations. A much more handsome edifice took the place of the one destroyed.
The High school is supposed, of course, to be the most beautiful and best equipped school of all. It consists of one main building and side buildings,
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which occupy a half a block while at the corner is the office building which is the headquarters as stated before, for all the schools in the city. The main entrance of the high school building is quite handsome and much care was taken with the interior of the building which is perfect in every detail. It is fitted up with everything necessary for modern instructions and as it is now, it has its own laboratories. In fact, it will compare favorably with any high school in the country. It has also its commercial departments. In fact, it is said with pride by many citizens, that one who has gone through the high school and graduated with honor, has received an education good enough to fit the pupil for any ordinary walk of life. Of course for the law, for medicine and many other of the professions, it is necessary to at- tend colleges devoted entirely to instruction in those branches, but all in- struction which is necessary in every day life, can be obtained in this build- ing. It was the writer's good fortune to attend the recent commencement exercises of the high school at the Grand Opera House and as he saw the great class who were graduating, heard the eloquent talks and saw the giv- ing out of the well-merited diplomas, he thought of the old days when the high school class graduated in the old Baptist Church at Second and Clark, when the high school class graduated with three pupils. That is, they were examined and after listening to a few remarks from the teacher, Mr. C. P. Parsons, they took their books and went home. If either one had been pre- sented with a diploma, he would probably have opened it to see if there was candy or something inside. This shows how the world does move.
There is a Manual training school at the corner of Division and Sixth streets, which is a splendid institution. In it the scholars are not taught literature, but the various trades and a scholar has only to indicate his de- sire to take up a certain kind of work and he will be put at his favorite occu- pation with competent teachers to instruct him. The building is very mod- ern, is heated by steam and cost some $45,000. Just in the rear of the high school on Sixth street it stands. The idea of this Manual training school originated with Maj. A. C. Rosencranz of this city and it is understood that he and his wife gave quite a large sum towards the founding of the insti- tution and the building of the school.
There are four colored school buildings in the city of Evansville. One on Clark street, one on Governor, one on 3rd Ave., and one on 12th Ave. The Clark street school is the high school. It would seem to the writer, that in former pages of this book, he has treated of the race problem perhaps to a sufficient degree, yet this work is not written to be laid aside and forgotten, but it is the hope of all interested in it, that it will be preserved and that in after years, many may pick it up with a desire to understand thoroughly conditions in Evansville in the year of our Lord, 1910.
Reverting to this race question, no one more than the writer desires to see the negro race elevated by education if it is possible, but in his opinion, the negro can never hope to achieve very much distinction along the higher lines of learning. For this reason there is just about so many of a negro
CENTENNIAL SCHOOL BUILDING
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population in each city and just about so many doctors, lawyers and other professionals, who can minister to their wants. There is little hope of the colored population growing larger and in fact it is now predicted by some of the brightest minds in the country, that from now on the race will de- crease. Hence it would seem far better for the negro as a race to follow the agricultural lines for which nature intended him, than to strive to excel in the professions. For instance a colored doctor can only hope to receive patients of his own color. 'A' colored lawyer would not be asked to repre- sent a white man in the courts and so there is every year the danger of over- stocking the professions. It is a sad fact that education in some cases turns the head of the negro. And this fact is so well known to many of the best women in Evansville, that they turn aside and cross the street when they see a crowd of colored school girls approaching, knowing that the latter will never offer to get out of the way but occupy the entire sidewalk. And the same fact holds with many of the young colored men, though be it said to their credit many of them have enough innate politeness to always make way for a white woman, as they certainly would do for one of their own race. But the fact remains that for any sort of manual labor they seem to be emminently unfitted the moment they are through school and I wish to state the following fact as proving it.
Not very long ago I went to hunt up an old colored woman, one of the hardest and best workers I ever saw, one whose honesty had never been questioned and who was known to half the ladies in the upper part of the city and who always had more calls for her labor than she could possibly comply with. I found her house and found her in the back yard bending over a wash tub, washing for dear life, and when I tried to make the engage- ment, she said that she had no time to go out any more. She said she had to stay at home and wash the "blessed day." All this time a young man of about 20 and a girl of about 18 years, had been swinging in a hammock at one side of the yard and I asked her who they were and she answered, "They are my two children." "Then," said I, "How it is that you have to slave over the wash tub in your old age, when you have a big husky son like that and a daughter plenty large enough to go out and work?"
"Oh Law," said she, "They done been to the high school and graduated. You don't think they are going to do no more work do you?"
I said in reply, "What do you expect them to do? Just sit around ?"
"Don't know," was her reply, "I only know that since they got their edu- cation they ain't never done no work and it don't seem like they ever is going to. I couldn't get that boy to do another to even beat a carpet, and that girl of mine wouldn't go out to work for nobody, no matter what wages she got."
Now to arrive at facts, what good is this education doing these two young colored people? It has simply made fools of them. It has made them think that they are better than their parents and that they are too good to work, and that the proper thing for them to do is to sit idly around the rest of
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their lives, while their poor mother slaves out her life over the wash tub.
Among the presidents and superintendents of our school since 1853, have been some of the best citizens who ever resided here. That good man, Mr. H. Q. Wheeler, officiated from 1853 until 1865. Mr. Charles Lowen- stein, Dr. H. Q. Cloud, the late R. D. Richardson, Hon. J. Q. Wartman, John W. Roelker, Major Alex Gilchrist, Dr. E. Linthincum, Samuel G. Evans, William M. Akin, Jr., Newton Kelsay, Charles E. Scoville and others, have all been at the head of our school system here. The late R. F. Schor who was a schoolmate of the writer, also served at various times. As to the teachers in the Evansville schools, they certainly have been selected with rare good judgment. The position of a teacher is very trying, as it is his or her duty to daily govern children of all sorts of dispositions. There are good children naturally, and there are bad children naturally and they come by it by heredity and it is hard where so many different dispositions are brought before the teacher daily, to govern them and teach them correctly as a whole. The duties of a superintendent are also great, for on him falls the lot of harmonizing factions, of stopping all those petty disturbances which are sure to crop out, to get rid of troublesome elements and to create an inter- est in better work. It is the first duty," says a well known instructor, "to build up a strong teaching force and use the material that he finds already in the teaching department, rather than to attempt to strengthen the weak places by wholesale dismissals. Every teacher should be given an opportunity to improve after the need of that improvement has been found. When the teacher is found who for possibly lack of assimmilation, cannot reach the high standard, he or she should be dropped. There are some teachers who, although possessing even brilliant educations themselves, are unable to im- part knowledge to their pupils, while there are others who do not possess so much learning who seem to get rapidly in touch with their pupils and teach them with no trouble at all. It is in selecting the right teachers for the right places, that the work of the superintendent comes in. Certainly the progress made in Evansville public schools reflects great credit on all those connected with the management of the same."
CHAPTER XX.
THE LABOR QUESTION-ADVICE FROM AN OUTSIDER-LABOR DAY-LABOR TROUBLES PRACTICALLY UNKNOWN-MORALS OF EVANSVILLE-1T IS REALLY A GOOD CITY-A MORAL WAVE OVER THE ENTIRE COUNTRY-WORK OF HON. JOHN W. BOEHNE AND HON. JOHN J. NOLAN-"CHARLIE" HEIL- MAN MEANS RIGHT-HEATING AND LIGHTING-ADVANTAGE OF GAS FOR COOKING-THE NEW HEAT AND LIGHTING CO., AND WHAT IT WILL MEAN.
THE LABOR QUESTION.
One of the greatest things that agitates any city of any size in this coun- try, is the labor problem and Evansville has among her citizens perhaps the greatest majority who belong to this class and by this I do not mean the average laborer who works for a daily wage with no thought for the future whatever, but the wage earner who works in the different manufacturing plants and who as a rule owns his little home and tries to put by a little for a rainy day. Evansville is full of homes of this kind and on some of the streets, especially in the lower part of the city, there are whole squares of modest cottages each of which is owned by the mechanic or laboring man who lives in it. Considering thas vast army of men and the great amount of work that has been done in Evansville to give it is present proud position, one would naturally infer that there had never been labor troubles of any kind, and that the mere fact that the owning of their own homes showed that our laboring men were of a better class than the riff-raff who flock to the great cities and are always a prime mover in any labor struggle. For many years there has been a Central Labor Union with its various different branches in this city and knowing personally nearly all the officials, I think I can say that they are fair and square men who do their best to keep on good terms with their employers but who naturally believe in that old adage, "The laborer is worthy of his hire." The man who could ex- pect a wage earner under the present high scale of prices of everything to eat and wear, to work on uncomplainingly under the same old wage rate that was in force years ago, would simply be foolish. These men must live and support their little families and the very fact that their work is hard and their hours long, makes it necessary for them to have substantial food. And they ought to be paid good wages for every hour they put in.
Speaking of these officials, the majority of them are of this class of men, though I regret to say that we have had in the past, many firebrands
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in the labor element who cared very little for the welfare of the laboring man but cared much more to be able to pose as his friend and in the mean- time, create all the trouble he could between him and his employer and still further in the meantime, draw a fat salary for so doing. I have never had very much use for walking delegates and I say this very frankly. For many years I personally employed a great many men and the only trouble that I ever had with them was through the agency of one man who was a natural firebrand, discontented, high tempered and intemperate, and a walking delegate who did not understand the most common rules of courtesy. But taking it all in all and considering the number of the labor- ing class here, the real strikes have been few and far between. And there never has been any real suffering as a result. I am told that in one or two branches of industry here, the wages are not what they ought to be, but of course I am not in a position to judge as to this. I believe that the feeling between employer and employee in this city is better perhaps than in any city of the size of Evansville, in this country. It is safe to say that there never was a good strike, just as there has never been a good law suit. They both cost money and one side or the other, always suffers. At this time there is an open rupture in this city and conservative people think that it will be of short duration. It seems that after being apart for many years, the employers of labor being daily met with the saying that labor had a right to organize, became imbued with the belief that they also had the same right and this resulted in the formation of the Master Build- ers' Association, which is a combination of every branch of trade which takes part in the building of a house. It would seem at a glance that this is a good move, for two bodies of men represented by two heads, can very naturally settle up the matter much more quickly than if a dozen different organizations are interested in the matter. At this writing it seems that both sides will shortly get together and it would be a safe prediction to say that this step will be an aid in preventing any strikes in the future, because where both sides are thoroughly organized, they will give each other a cer- tain amount of respect and be more ready to compromise on points that are in dispute. The Evansville workmen take great pride in their organiza- tions and they are all of wonderful benefit to those who happen to be out of work, for while there is never any very large sum in the treasury to be wasted on men who do not care to work and it is sad to say that there are some such men in all organizations, there is still a sufficient sum to keep the wolf from the door and unless a strike is very long protracted, there is no real want. Labor day in Evansville has grown to be a great affair and the parades given by these men who earn their money by the sweat of their brows, reflect great credit upon them. Some of the floats that appear in their yearly parades, are beautifully designed and it is a pleasant sight to see the bone and sinew of the city, marching to the mar- tial strains of the music, to enjoy their day of outing with their wives and children and their sweethearts.
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Labor day is comparatively a modern institution, but it is safe to say that it will never be given up and just a word here before dismissing this subject. The writer has many warm friends among the laboring classes and to them he would say that when any disputes arises, when they think that they are wronged, and feel that they are entitled to perhaps better wages, shorter hours or whatever they deem fit, they should remember that it is not the man who can make the longest and loudest speech; who can most bitterly inveigh against capital, who can speak most pathetically of the wrongs of the "Poor laboring man" who is the best to send to represent them. The cool level-headed man who knows what his work is worth and knows conditions and can understand that an employer, though ostensibly doing a large and paying business, may still be doing it at a very small profit, is by all means the man to send. To such a man an employer will always tell the truth. He will meet him man to man and together they can adjust their differences. But the other man who goes in full of fight, of talk and sometimes full of something else, rubs the employer the wrong way. He very often makes the employer hesitate in doing what he really would like to do for his employees. I speak from my own experience and I know that this is the experience of many others.
In a recent advertisement of the city of Evansville which has been sent broadcast, the term is used, in bold type, "Labor troubles are prac- tically unknown." As stated above, this is so nearly a fact that no ques- tion as to its verity will arise. With the boom which is certain to strike Evansville with work for everyone at good wages, with real estate values growing greater and taxes less, it is hoped that we can soon be able to leave out the work "practically" and state boldly to the world, "Labor troubles unknown." In this same printed matter to which I refer, the expression is used, "There are three absolute essentials to the successful conducting of all industrial enterprises. These are, fuel, labor and transportation." The facts given above being based on absolute truth will certainly show to anyone that the city of Evansville has the three absolute essentials.
Maps are a great thing. A man does not build a little cottage or a stable, without a plan, which is virtually a map and a map is of wondrous use in showing the location of Indiana. For that reason a map of the state of Indiana and a portion of the surrounding states, has been given a prominent place in this work. If there were room to show the map of the whole United States, that is, the part east of the Rocky mountains, for they will always be a barrier beween the United States proper and the far west, it would show that Evansville occupies more nearly a central position in a map of the United States, than any other city of any con- sequence. There are expert manipulators of maps who are able, by a few. well-drawn lines, to make a map show almost anything, but let them dis- tort the map of the United States as they may, they cannot help showing that this city holds the central position. This map also shows the vast area of grain counry and tobacco country and underneath the great beds of coal
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to which we have so often referred. If there are any who still believe that natural gas is the proper fuel, and of course everyone believes in oil, it is a fact which can be pointed to with pride, that either one can be brought into the city of Evansville in vast quantities by piping, less than 20 miles. In these days of piping, this would be considered a small task.
It would take page after page of this part of this work, to tell of the wonderful manufacturing industries of Evansville. They will probably be handled in speaking of the men who have made them what they are, but many do not know that Evansville is the center of one of the greatest wheat belts in the world and that its milling industries are far beyond the knowledge of people who have lived here for years and yet never have realized to what extent flour is made.
MORALS OF THE CITY OF EVANSVILLE.
While Evansville has often been called a wide-open town, a Dutch town, a beer-drinking town, it does not now deserve any of these names and it is a well-known fact that the past several administrations have done very much to bring about a better standard of morals in the city. Several years ago and for many years prior to that period, Evansville had been virtually a wide-open town, which, being interpreted, meant that the saloons were open night and day and all day Sunday, that all sorts of dance halls were allowed, that wine rooms in the back room of saloons were permit- ted, that women of loose character were allowed to ride and flaunt their finery on any street, that games of poker, craps and other games could be indulged in, yet when the change finally came there was a determination easy to be seen on the part of the majority of our citizens, to stop this and run the place on a more moral plan. About the first step was to order the saloons to be closed at II o'clock each night and to remain closed on Sun- day. This order was received with a smile by many of the saloon keepers, who could not eralize that such a step could ever be carried out in "Beer- drinking Evansville." They assumed to comply with the law, but the side doors were open and as much drinking went on as ever. It was also about this time that the slot machines were in full sway and the earnings of the laboring element went into these pitfalls from which there was absolutely no chance for one to get his money back, as the odds were always in favor of the machine. Case after case was brought up and a series of fines soon convinced these men that the law, as it stood on the statute books of the state, would be enforced. To Hon. John W. Boehne, at present represent- ing this district in Congress, much credit is due. He was elected and his pledge was that he would make this a city with the lid down. His disas- trous defeat was predicted on every side but his election showed that a great many of the much-abused saloon keepers were only too glad to be allowed to go to bed at a reasonable hour and to get a chance to go out with their families on Sunday, instead of being cooped up in their saloons. The wine
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rooms were abolished at once and heavy fines were put against those who tried to still maintain them. Gambling rooms were abolished at once and orders were given that fast women should not be seen on the streets to- gether. It must not be imagined that all this change was brought about without a great deal of difficulty. All sorts of schemes were gotten up to evade the law but Mayor Boehne, having made up his mind that the citizens elected him to bring about certain changes, never hesitated in his duty and a succession of fines which were rapidly imposed soon brought delinquents to an idea that the law was not the farce that they had always supposed it to be. After Mr. Boehne was elected by the people to a seat in Congress, his mantle fell on equally good shoulders, and the Hon. John J. Nolan, in spite of many rumors that he would take off the lid, was as steadfast in his desire to make Evansville as nearly a moral city as possible as was Mr. Boehne. Mr. Heilman, the present mayor, was elected on a platform which calls for the same observations of the state laws and it is to his credit that he is striving to enforce them. It is only just to say that it is a greater task for Mr. Heilman, as he has always been a jovial, good-hearted fellow who numbered his friends among all classes of people and he lacks the sternness of character which is one of the attributes of Mr. Boehne. But be this as it may, the right step has been taken and it has met with the approval of the people of Evansville and without a doubt the lid will be kept on as it is for many years to come. There is a wholesale purification going on in most of the great cities of this country and a more implicit obedience to the laws is being demanded, and while it cannot by any means be called a fanatical wave, it is a moral wave, and is the best thing that ever happened in any community. To those who have reached mature years and have the strength of character to keep away from temptation, some of these things do not mean much, but it must be remembered that we have children coming up to take our places in this world and it is our duty as parents and as honest men to throw around them every safeguard that is possible.
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