USA > Indiana > Public men of Indiana : a political history, 1890-1920, v. 2 > Part 11
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they received has left no doubt in their minds of the affection felt for them and the sincerity of the welcomes home given for them in their native towns. Everything was done to show the feeling of the peo- ple toward the soldiers.
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CHAPTER XXII
THE LITERATURE OF THE STATE AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
rTO say that there has been progress in the litera- ture of the State in the last three decades would imply that it was susceptible of improvement or progress, when the facts are that its productions of literary genius and characters have so long existed that the implication would be erroneous.
Its literature had reached the height of perfec- tion in previous years when General Lew Wallace produced his "Fair. God" and "Ben Hur," which awakened religious reverence, romantic pleasures, and the purest philosophies of life; when Maurice Thompson in "Alice of Old Vincennes" pictured the French settlement and the capitol of the Indi- ana territory as it was in 1702, and in pleasing, romantic narrative unfolded the clear views of pioneer explorations, triumph and civilization; and when James Witcomb Riley's collections in poetic description and Hoosier dialect revealed and ap- pealed to every phase of human emotions and imaginations. But it is only just to say that these standards of literature have been well maintained. Well worthy of classification with these great authors are Daniel Waite Howe, whose contribu-
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tions were based on legal and historic interpreta- tions; Charles Major, and his wife, who assisted him in the collaboration that presented the cus- toms and characters of royalty in past ages in the form of fiction under the fitting title "When Knighthood was in Flower," and that has again been dramatized and exhibited on theatrical stages of the world; and Gene Stratton Porter, whose productions have interested and fascinated more readers than any other publications of the twentieth century.
Writings of every form and character, but in which fiction appears in the greater abundance, have emanated from the gifted pens and intellects of many Hoosiers who have extended their reputations far beyond the boundaries of the State. Among these are Booth Tarkington, Meredith Nichol- son, George Ade, Kin Hubbard, Frederick Landis, William English Walling, Mary Brush Williams, Grace Julian Clarke and Kate Milner Rabb. Wil- liam Dudley Foulke, a Hoosier by adoption, is the author of many books of interest, among others the "Life of O. P. Morton," "Masterpieces of Fiction," "Lyrics of War and Peace," "Fighting the Spoilsmen," and his own autobiography.
An instructive and able writer of the State's his- tory is Professor Logan Esary of the University of Indiana.'
John Clark Ridpath, a native of Putnam County, and for many years a Professor of His- tory in De Pauw University, in 1885 published his Cyclopedia of. Universal History, that formed
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the ground work of his History of the World, pub- lished in 1890, and his History of the Great Races of Mankind, published in 1893. At a later date he published his History of the United States.
The volumes of these works reveal such great research, industry, compilations of material, or- derly arrangement of subjects and an elegance of literary finish that make them seem almost impos- sible of production as the work of but one man.
The sovereign State by legislative enactment immortalized the song, "On the Banks of the Wabash," by Paul Dresser, by adopting it as the State's poetic emblem, and fittingly commemorated the name and fame of James Witcomb Riley before his death by requiring annual celebrations of his birthday.
It seldom happens that all the members of a large family have records of literary attainments and of usefulness in private life, and noted activi- ties in public life deserving of permanent historic preservation. The family of Dr. Abraham H. Landis furnishes a noted exception to the general rule, and ample evidence that heredity performs a most important part in the formation of human character and in life's achievements. His was the life of a surgeon, soldier and sufferer in the War of the Union and doubtless his sacrifices contributed much in the maintenance of parental reverence and devotion that was a distinguishing feature in the lives of each of his descendants. He was a native of Butler County, Ohio, in the active practice of his profession when the Civil War began and was
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among the first to enlist in the 35th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and became its assistant surgeon; was captured at the battle of Chickamauga and con- fined in Libby prison; was in the battle at Kenesaw Mountain, where his leg was shattered by a cannon ball that made him a cripple for life. With his wife and seven children he became a resident of Logans- port in 1875, where the old family home is still maintained by his daughter, Frances Q. Landis, who had the assistance and companionship of her sister Katherine J. in its maintenance until 1921, when death separated them.
The oldest son, Walter K. Landis, graduated from the Logansport High School, was editor of the Logansport Journal and Marion Chronicle, and for a number of years a staff correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette. In 1898, as an official in the United States postal service, he organized the pos- tal system in Porto Rico and later became post- master at San Juan, serving for fifteen years, and then became a fruit grower and continued in that occupation until his death in 1917.
Charles B. Landis graduated from the Logans- port schools and Wabash College; was editor of the Logansport and Delphi Journals; resided at Delphi when nominated and elected to Congress from the 9th Congressional District in 1896 and was re-elected for five succeeding terms; was a Republican leader in Congress and participant in many debates upon important public questions, and made the closing argument that caused the unseat- ing of Brigham H. Roberts on the charge of being
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a polygamist. After retiring from Congress he became associated with the Dupont Powder Com- pany as one of its managers and served as director of publicity during the World War. Died in 1922.
John H. Landis graduated from the Logansport High School and the Ohio Medical College, prac- ticed medicine at Cincinnati and became health officer, serving for ten years, and made a national reputation as such and wrote many medical essays that were recognized as text writings by the med- ical profession. Died in 1918.
Kenesaw Mountain Landis, whose judicial fame and career form a great part in the annals of American jurisprudence, was given his name in commemoration of the battle in which his father was a participant. He graduated from the Union College of Law in Chicago, where he practiced until 1893 when he became private secretary of Walter Q. Gresham as secretary of state in the cabinet of President Cleveland, upon whose death he returned to Chicago and resumed the law practice. Was appointed United States district judge by Presi- dent Roosevelt in 1905 and resigned in 1921 to become supreme commissioner of organized base- ball. His fearless opinions as a federal judge fill many pages in volumes of federal reports. Among these his decision in the celebrated Standard Oil case, in which he imposed a fine of twenty-nine million dollars upon the big violator of the anti- trust laws, will for all time stand out as a monu- ment to his integrity and judicial courage.
Frederick Landis, the baby boy of the family,
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inherited his full share of the activity that char- acterized his elder brothers, took the same course in primary education that they did in the Logans- port public schools and then graduated at the Ann Arbor Law School and began the law practice at Logansport and continued in it from 1895 until 1902, when the prevalent political fever seized him and he became a candidate for Congress in a Re- publican convention that lasted for four days and closed its session after 1,012 ballots, on the last of which he was nominated and won at the general elections in 1902 and again in 1904. On his retire- ment from Congress he became a lecturer and writer, and as an author has contributed some ex- cellent gems to his State's literature. His story of "The Glory of His Country" was dramatized into a celebrated play, and his picture of "The Copper- head" has been exhibited on many stages. His production of "The Angel of Lonesome Hill" gives its own interpretation of Roosevelt in the White House and has attracted and fascinated many readers. He stands in the front ranks with Hoosier writers of the present time and has also become renowned as a platform orator. He is now en- gaged in furnishing instructive and amusing daily "Hoosiergrams" in the Indianapolis Star that abound in wisdom and are well seasoned in sarcasm. Dead - 1934
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CHAPTER XXIII
T HE first newspaper published in the North- west Territory was issued on July 4, 1804, called the Western Sun, first published weekly, then semi-weekly and for the last forty-seven years daily, at Vincennes.
Probably the first newspaper published in Northern Indiana was the Goshen Democrat, by Dr. Erastus W. H. Ellis, in 1837.
The wisdom of able writers on current and polit- ical topics has from these early days continuously radiated from the editorial columns of journals published in every city and town of any size in the State to satisfy the cravings of the Hoosier intellect for current news, local gossip and political information.
Of the eminent men of the State who have been editors was Robert Dale Owen, the founder of the State's common school system, who edited the New Harmony Gazette that was established in 1825, and was succeeded by the Indiana Statesman in 1842, when Alexander Burns, a relative of the poet Robert Burns, became its editor. It would require the cataloging of thousands of names to exhibit the State's producers of political literature.
The seeds of the State's common school system were sown and germinated in Posey County, some-
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times humorously mentioned by outsiders as con- taining the imaginary Hooppole Township. The county was named in honor of General Thomas Posey, a hero of the Revolutionary War, who in looks bore a striking resemblance to George Wash- ington, and its county seat, Mount Vernon, was named in honor of the home of Washington.
General Posey was the military governor of the Indiana territory, and when it became a State was a candidate for governor but was defeated by Jona- than Jennings.
Posey County was the home of Robert Dale Owen, a descendant of one of the families of edu- cated pioneers who were social reformers and spir- itualists from New England, who formed the New Harmony society and community.
His career can be here only briefly touched upon. He served three terms in the Indiana legislature and as chairman of the Committee on Education where he devoted his energy to the building up of the State library, the establishment and endow- ment of the common school system and the ad- vanced legislation conferring upon married women the right to own and control separate property free from their husbands or their domination, and that abolished dower rights and substituted a fee simple right to one-third of the estates of their husbands. for which they in after years honored his memory by their voluntary contributions that placed his bronze bust on a handsome pedestal in the state- house grounds. He was one of the most active members of the Constitutional Convention of 1851
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and drafted the admirable constitution that still stands as the organic law of the State; was for two terms a member of Congress, where he introduced and procured the passage of a bill for the estab- lishment of the Smithsonian Institution, and other educational measures, and was later ambassador to Naples.
The educational foundations of Andrew Car- negie and John D. Rockefeller were preceded by a half century by one established by a pioneer citi- zen of Posey County, Indiana. In 1839 William McClure, of New Harmony, made a will in which he provided that all of his property and its pro- ceeds should be "applied for the diffusion of useful knowledge and instruction among the instituted libraries, clubs and meeting places of the working classes." General Alvin P. Hovey, as its exec- utor, distributed this bequest amounting to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars throughout the West.
George William Curtis, of Posey County, rep- resented it in the State legislature of 1911 and 1913, and as chairman of the Committee on Educa- tion in the first session wielded a potent influence in procuring the passage of a bill providing for uniform text books in the high schools and a child labor bill that has taken its place among the best that have been passed in the United States. In the session of 1913 he was president pro tem of the senate and was active in the support of voca- tional and other educational measures. The first manual training school in the West was located in
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Posey County and the Pestalozzian system of in- struction was first employed there.
Major Gustavus V. Menzies of that county was also an enthusiastic promoter of the educational progress of the State as a State senator, and was one of the ablest lawyers of the State and for many years a State leader of the Democratic party and six times a delegate to its national conventions. attending the last in 1916 as a supporter of the nomination of President Wilson, and died in De- cember, 1917.
It was fitting that a county that contributed so much to the cause of education should be honored by the selection of one of its citizens as state super- intendent of public instruction in 1910, in the per- son of Charles A. Greathouse, who was re-elected in 1912. He is a native of the county, born in 1869, and educated at the Indiana University and was the creator of many changes in the administra- tion of that office necessitated by the new conditions that arose.
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CHAPTER XXIV
TT would require many volumes to give anything like an accurate account of the progress of the cause of education in Indiana from the time that provision was made in the constitution of 1851 for the maintenance of its public school system.
Among other agencies for advancing it was the enactment of the law providing for the election of a state superintendent of public instruction every two years.
Both political parties have been careful to select as their candidates for the office men of great learn- ing and educational ability.
Among those who have filled that office in past years were George W. Hoss, Milton B. Hopkins, James H. Smart, John W. Holcombe, Harvey M. LaFollette, H. D. Vories, Horace Ellis, David M. Keeting, Fassett A. Cotton, Robert J. Aley, Charles A. Greathouse, and Linnaeus Neal Hines.
Of the last named special mention of some facts will be made by one who was personally acquainted with him and his ancestors. His grandfather on the maternal side was Rev. Jabez Neal, an edu- cated and eloquent preacher of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, an associate of George W. Julian, and follower of Wendell Philips, Joshua
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R. Giddings, Owen Lovejoy and other martyrs in the anti-slavery crusade. His home in Hamilton County, near the village of Deming, was one of the stations of the underground railroad where fugi- tive slaves found protection from their hounding masters. He was a sincere and fearless expounder of the cause of anti-slavery, both in the pulpit and outside, and was equally active in the cause of education.
His daughter, Sallie Neal, was a well educated woman and a school teacher when she became the wife of the soldier Hiram Hines, mentioned in the first volume of this work, the father of Linnaeus, and Linnaeus received his primary education from his mother in schools that she taught and at home under her direction and discipline.
Soon after the marriage of the parents of Linnaeus in the year 1869 they tried their fortunes on the frontier in Southwestern Missouri on a farm in Jasper County in that State that had to be made by clearing away the forest that covered it. In a log cabin that they constructed on the banks of Dry Fork in Jasper County, Missouri, was where Linnaeus and his brother, Fred E., now judge of the Hamilton Circuit Court, were born. In the fall of 1874, when Linnaeus was two years old, their parents returned to Hamilton County, Indiana, which remained their home until their death and where they carried out their plans of educating their seven children, all of whom, except one that died, graduated from the Noblesville, Indiana, high school, and attended colleges, and one, Harley.
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is now a member of the faculty of the University of Washington at Seattle.
After completing his high school course Linneaus entered Indiana University on a scholarship given by the university. After finishing his junior year he withdrew to teach for a year, and re-entered in 1893 and completed his senior year, and then be- came a teacher in the Evansville, Indiana, high school and continued in that employment until 1899, when he entered Cornell University and took a post-graduate course. Finishing that course he became superintendent in the following list of schools: Union City, Indiana, 1901-1906; Hart- ford City, Indiana, 1906-1908; Crawfordsville, Indiana, 1908-1919.
In 1918 he was elected on the Republican State ticket as state superintendent of public instruction, taking the office March 15, 1919, and was re-elected at the general election of 1920 and resigned the office in October, 1921, to accept the presidency of the Indiana State Normal School at Terre Haute and its branch at Muncie, Indiana.
In addition to his official duties he has had other interests and activities in the cause of education as president of the American School Hygiene Asso- ciation, the hygiene section of the National Educa- tional Association, and the school administration section of the same organization.
He was for a few years chairman of the legisla- tive committee of the Indiana State Teachers' Asso- ciation; also served as editor of six annual volumes of the proceedings of the association. He is a mem-
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ber of the National Education Association, was elected to membership in the National Council of Education, and is now chairman of the council committee.
In January, 1917, he became editor of the Educator-Journal, published in Indianapolis, the second oldest school journal in the United States, and is still connected with that magazine. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge, Phi Kappasi Fraternity, the Methodist Episcopal Church and numerous civic organizations.
To maintain a status in all these requires great activity and industry as well as intelligence, and being the fortunate possessor of both a massive brain and frame, and a genial nature he has no trouble in keeping the proper pace.
Prominent as an educator, lawyer and legislator was Levi P. Harlan, of Marion County. He was a descendant of the family of Harlans that figure prominently in the historic annals of the United States, one member of which was a United States senator from Iowa, another from Kentucky long a member of the Supreme Court of the United States. A kinsman of the latter was Austin B., the father of Levi P., who first settled at Connersville and later moved to Marion County, where in 1853 Levi P. was born on a farm near what is now Irv- ington. At the public schools and Butler University he received his education and for a time engaged in teaching; was elected county superintendent of Marion County schools and held the position for ten years, then studied law and began the practice
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in 1885 and has continued in it since; was elected State senator as a Democrat in 1908 and again in 1912, serving as one of its most popular members.
Among the thousands of others who are promi- nent in school work is Homer L. Cook, who held the office of secretary of state and was a member and speaker of the Indiana House of Representa- tives. Mr. Cook was born near Wabash, Indiana, in 1867. Was educated in the common schools of Marion County, Indiana, graduated at the Indiana State Normal, 1895, and did two years' graduate work at Butler College and Chicago University. Taught school eleven years, four of which was in the Indianapolis schools. Was county superinten- dent of schools of Marion County, Indiana, 1903- 1907. Was member of Indiana House of Repre- sentatives 1911 and 1913 and was speaker of the house in 1913. Was elected secretary of state in 1914 on the Democratic State ticket and served one term. Has been in educational work for thirty- four years.
" Professor R. G. Boone, at one time a member of the faculty at Indiana University, wrote a history of education in Indiana covering the entire history of the State up to about 1892. Since then there has been no serious attempt to work out in detail a history of the educational movements in this State. His book gives an account of the educational move- ments up to the date of publication, and, of course, what has been done since then is largely a projec- tion of what was then in existence or in contem- plation.
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In regard to illiteracy, the figures show a marked decrease during the last thirty years. The statisties are not immediately available, but there has been a general improvement along the line.
Our compulsory education laws have been a growth covering many years, and so well enforced that there are no longer any excuses for illiteracy.
The system of vocational education was estab- lished in 1913. This was done under the adminis- tration of Governor Samuel M. Ralston and State Superintendent Charles A. Greathouse. Governor Marshall, in 1912, appointed a vocational educa- tion commission which for two years made an ex- tended study of that type of education and drew up a bill which was introduced into the legislature of 1913 and passed practically unanimously. The law has been amended in some particulars but the principal features have been retained. The law contemplates providing means for helping those in industrial pursuits to get greater skill in those pursuits, helping boys and girls on the farm to secure greater knowledge of agriculture, helping girls in both rural and city schools to get special training in domestic seience, helping persons of any age to secure instruction in evening classes, and helping persons of school age to secure instruction in industrial, agricultural and domestic science lines in part time classes.
This law has been a great success. One of its features is that from funds established by a small State tax rate the local school corporation is partly reimbursed for expenses incurred by establishing
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vocational classes. The general results have been most gratifying, in that education has come to have practical phases that did not exist before. Of course the tendency in the beginning was to expect too much of the statute, but after ten years' opera- tion we have settled down to the actual application of the law to our educational system.
The Federal Government gives a certain type and amount of co-operation with our State govern- ment in vocational education. The federal law pro- vides for certain reimbursements to local schools under certain conditions.
The consolidation of schools has been a great success. The handicap of the rural school has always been that the school has not been as good, nor has the school term been as long as that of the city. The consolidation of schools means that the country children may attend graded schools. It also means that the general preparation of the teachers in such schools is better than in the old type one-room schools. With better schools the people grow more intelligent and acquire greater interest in developing their school facilities. We have a few counties in Indiana where the consolidation is practically 100 per cent. Patrons of these schools in any county could not be persuaded to go back to the old system of one-room district schoolhouses.
There is every argument for consolidation. The transportation features of the consolidated schools are very interesting. Transportation first was begun with horse-drawn hacks. Soon these hacks wore out and the trustees are now buying motor
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busses, which find no difficulty in going in all weathers and over the good roads that are always built in consolidated school districts. The children get to school quickly and safely and the conditions surrounding their transportation are almost in- variably satisfactory.
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CHAPTER XXV
D BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHARACTER SKETCHES ANIEL WAITE HOWE was prominent as a soldier of the War for the Union, and emi- nent as a lawyer, jurist and publicist. Was a descendant from New England stock of pioneers and soldiers of the Revolution. His father, Daniel Haven Howe, was the son of Nathan Howe, who was a captain in the War of 1812.
Daniel Waite Howe was born on October 24, 1839, in Switzerland County, Indiana, graduated from Franklin College in 1857, was the first to enlist four years later in the War for the Union in Company H of the Seventh Indiana Volunteer Regiment, and was with his company at the battle of Carricks Ford. Upon the expiration of his term of enlistment in that regiment he enlisted in the 79th Indiana Regiment, in which he became a lieu- tenant and next a captain of Company I. Was in the battles of Stone River, Chiekamauga and Mis- sion Ridge. On June 23, 1864, at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, he received a severe wound, in consequence of which he was honorably discharged from the service and shortly afterwards entered upon the study of law and in 1867 graduated from the Law School of Albany, New York, and prac- ticed his profession at Franklin, Indiana, until
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