USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 51
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American Medical associations, and thus keeps abreast with the most modern thought in professional circles. He pursued a general post- graduate course in New York Polyclinic in 1891.
Dr. Lankford has for several years past been a member of the school board of San Antonio and was elected president in May, 1906. One of the principal achievements in the line of his profession and one that has brought him the most renown is in connection with his plan for the teaching of preventive medicine to the public school children of this city. This teaching is not only along the line of preventing illness for one's self but also the precaution and action necessary to preventing the spread of epidemic and contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, smallpox, the various fevers and especially malaria, and the prevention of nerve strain in school children. It is conceded that the teaching of these principles to the children accounts to a large degree for the unusual healthfulness and attractiveness from a sanitary standpoint of this city as well as the complete absence of any epidemics. Perhaps no better indication of the work that Dr. Lankford is doing can be obtained than from extracts culled from an address read before the Texas State Medical Association, May 7, 1902, and printed in the Medical News of New York upon School Life and Insanity.
Dr. Lankford said: "That insanity is increasing to an alarming extent is beyond all question. If anyone doubts these statements let him inquire of the authorities of any of the states the number of insane cared for now as compared with any given period in the past. It is my pur- pose in this paper to discuss one of the important factors in the causation of this marvelous increase in mental trouble, namely, the high pressure in the school life of our children. The constant and terrific strain upon the brain of the growing child without any attention to the development of the body and with but little care for the general health cannot be other- wise than disastrous. Many of the pupils if examined will be found ex- citable, emotional, wakeful, discontented, and suffering often with head- aches or nervous dispepsia, the girls showing a decided tendency to hysteria, with here and there spots of anesthesia and hyperesthesia dis- coverable. The indirect and remote effects are more appalling still be- cause a much greater number are concerned. If it is true that the mind is co-existent with the nervous system even to its terminal filaments and throughout the great sympathetic system, then it is proper in the scope of this article at least to mention the direful results of this constant high pressure of school life upon the other organs of the body, which condi- tion we might call, for want of a better name, insanity of the nervous system. So intimate is the nerve connection and so important the in- fluence that scarcely a sound organ is found. Gentlemen, there is not the slightest question in my mind that the burden laid upon our children is far beyond the limits of safety, that this burden is a potent factor in the causation of insanity. and that we must lighten the weight, or else in the natural course of events, effect following cause, our children will suffer greatly and posterity will reap degeneration from the seeds we are sowing. What can we do to save our children from this abject slaverv, to promote their proper mental development, and to protect posterity? (1) Reduce the course of study. (2) Develop the body co-
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equally with the mind. (3) Institute a better classification of pupils and study individual tendencies and requirements. (4) Use object lessons rather than books. (5) Introduce industrial training as rapidly as pos- sible. It is absolutely necessary to have abbreviated text books or to drop a number of books from the course and stick closer to the essentials. The textbook writer is a close student and a selfish specialist, and the scope of his branch widens in importance in his mind till he writes a book or a series of books which are the study of a lifetime; and yet our ordinary school child is expected to master twenty such in the years of rapid growth. Better physical development is of paramount importance if we would have a well balanced life. The body needs better care now than at any time in the history of man and should be guarded and developed as carefully as the mind. In the near future the school must be equipped with a gymnasium and all pupils should be required to take the exer- cises, which, of course, will be wisely adjusted to each individual under medical supervision. Better classification is urgently necessary. Pupils should be classified according to disposition and aptitude, studied indi- vidually and developed in accordance with nature's gifts. Industrial training perhaps offers the best relief from the present system of op- pression. We need industrial departments that will train the hands for useful occupation along the lines marked out by nature so that the pupil may be ready for immediate usefulness when school is finished. I would not be understood as opposing higher education or the broadest culture. Those who are capable, industrious and healthy will attain eminence under any and all circumstances, and many will stand very heavy work. I am pleading for the great majority who are struggling under impossi- ble burdens, and urging that our schools shall be adjusted to them, and so arranged that body, mind and morals shall be symmetrically devel- oped, without such a terrific strain, and that they may be given training which will fit them for usefulness and make them competent, independent and contented, with minds intact. Every human creature is responsible to his fellow man in the exact measure of his influence and opportunity, but the doctor has a double responsibility in matters of education, for he follows the child from infancy throughout the period of development and he is expected to advise wisely in all things. The physician's greatest responsibility, as well as opportunity, is in preventing disease, and there has never been in human history a danger that called louder for his beneficent aid than is found in the school life of our children today."
The above indicates the scientific understanding of conditions which has led to Dr. Lankford's work in connection with the public schools. His system for instruction in the schools has been of a most practical char- acter and in order to gain a knowledge of his work we quote liberally from his article on Public School Children and Preventive Medicine read before the Eighth District Medical Society of Texas and afterward printed in the New York Medical Journal and the Philadelphia Medical Journal. After speaking of the intimate connection between the health of the pupil and his mental capacity he says in speaking of the school children: "They must, first of all, have well developed and healthy bodies, so that the mind may have opportunity to do the best work. To this end I shall mention some of the things which should engage the at-
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tention of the school board and health officers: First, I would place physical training. Second, ample play grounds should be provided and outdoor sport encouraged. Third, the course of study should not be too heavy, and should be adjusted to the condition and taste of pupils. Fourth, the course of study should include not only manual training, but a very diversified course to meet the requirements of pupils and keep them happy in their study, and this course should be suitably limited. Fifth, outdoor class study of botany, geology, sanitation, etc., is very de- sirable. Sixth, night study should be absolutely prohibited below the sixth grade, and limited in the higher grades. Seventh, the greatest care should be observed in constructing buildings so that heat, light, and ventilation may be perfect. Eighth, girls particularly, should study foods and food adulterations, and have good instruction in cooking. Ninth, girls should be instructed concerning the evils of tight lacing, of the sus- pension of heavy skirts from the waist, and of those woman-killing French high-heeled shoes and other deformities of dress. Tenth, the eyes and ears require special attention. Many children are suffering with curable diseases, and many more are greatly limited in opportunity by defects in sight or hearing which can at least be improved if not relieved entirely. Eleventh, every pupil in the public schools should be thoroughly instructed in the laws of sanitation ; the causes of disease, and the methods of prevention. Twelfth, this all means that every public school should be under medical supervision, so that the health of the pupil may have the best possible care and so that he may be trained in sanitary science, that he may do the best for himself and the community. The first duty of the nation, the state, the city, is to protect the health of the citizen, and the highest duty of the individual is to lend every possible aid to the promotion of the public good by protecting the public health. The intellectual as well as the historical life of a nation must depend upon the education of the masses, and if the masses have the benefits of edu- cation upon prophylaxis, the nation must have the best chances for con- tinuance, because the health of the citizens will be best conserved, and so, if we are patriotic, we must look into our school systems, see what is going on, and lend our assistance. Perhaps I can best illustrate the possibilities of the training of public school children in sanitary subjects by relating our experience in San Antonio, which has attracted such wide attention. Last November we had a few cases of yellow fever which caused a little suffering, several deaths, and an inexcusable in- terruption of commerce that cost millions of dollars. In the commo- tion during the efforts of the city to relieve itself of the embarrassment, it was observed that there were some men who seemed too old to learn, or were not open to conviction, and it looked as though we were trying education at the wrong end of human life." Then followed a plan of what a trained pupil may do for the promotion of public health and his ideas were brought into immediate practical use in the school through a campaign of education of the school children on insects as disease car- riers. The best recent medical literature on the subject was procured and furnished to the teachers, who were to inform themselves thoroughly on the subject for the purpose of instructing the children. "They became deeply interested in the subject and began to teach their classes. A bottle
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of eggs and wigglers was kept in every school room, where the pupils could watch them develop from egg to wiggler, from wiggler to pupa, and from pupa to mosquito, and large magnifying glasses were fur- nished in order that the children might study to greater advantage. A good deal of rivalry sprang up among our ten thousand public school children, on the question of finding and reporting to the health office the greatest number of breeding places found and breeding places de- stroyed. It seemed to me that in bringing this great question of pre- ventive medicine before public school children we had hit upon a power for good that could scarcely be estimated. Mosquitoes have been very perceptibly diminished in San Antonio this season, and malaria nearly eliminated, and we believe the pest can be exterminated entirely. The board of education proposes to follow up this work with a study of tuber- culosis, typhoid fever, contagious diseases, and sanitation in general. San Antonio is the best informed city in the world on the mosquito, and our board is determined to push this work systematically along various lines till every pupil of our public schools has become an intelligent sani- tarian as far as nature has given him the power."
While Dr. Lankford gave an idea of the work that was being done in connection with the schools he did not mention what is known to all citizens of San Antonio, that his was the plan and he was the motive power behind all this investigation and study that yielded large and beneficial results. He has lectured upon the subject, has given instruc- tion through private conversation and has been a factor in promoting conditions in school life for healthfulness that cannot be over-estimated. He stands as a representative of the highest type of ethical practice in medicine and surgery-not how to derive personal benefit from health conditions that work hardships to others, but how to relegate to the realms of oblivion all that tends to prove detrimental to the health of the public and the individual and thus frustrate man's plans for successful work in various walks of life.
THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY AT SAN ANTONIO.
This library, though its present handsome building and excellent equipment and service are due to the munificence of Mr. Carnegie, had its beginnings as an institution in individual and association efforts at maintaining a library. October 30, 1872, the Alamo Literary Society, having a library of several thousand volumes, adopted plans for a hall to be erected on a lot on Houston street, given by Mr. S. A. Maverick. The hall was never finished, and the library was scattered. A later and more successful movement, resulting in the Alamo Free library, was inaugurated by some young ladies of St. Mary's church, who got pos- session of a small room in the back of the church, and began to lend books to all who would pay the small fee required. This proved so popular that larger quarters were soon needed, and a room on Commerce street was taken. The enterprise was kept up by bazaars and entertain- ments, and later a brick building was secured on St. Mary's street, large enough to enable the management to open a free reading room. In 1897 the monthly fee of 25 cents was dropped, and the library was made free until merged into the Carnegie.
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Another library, started and maintained by women, was merged in the Carnegie institution at founding. This library was started in 1892, in connection with a woman's exchange, and was maintained at first en- tirely by donations, and later by entertainments and monthly fees. In 1894 the library and exchange were put in separate rooms, and a librarian appointed. In 1899 the exchange was abolished and its room occupied as a free reading room. The library had a well chosen collection of books. and was known as the San Antonio Public library. Both these libraries received support from the city during the construction of the new build- ing, and when it was completed their books were turned over to the city. forming a valuable collection of about 7,500 volumes.
These first efforts at furnishing the city with library facilities were made by women, and it is largely due to their public-spirited endeavors that the movement was continued to the founding of the present insti- tution. Mr. Carnegie's proposition, addressed to the mayor and council in January, 1900, was as follows: "If the city will furnish a suitable site. so that a detached building can be erected thereon, lighted from all sides, he will give $50,000 for the library building, provided the city will agree, through its council, to maintain said library, free to the people, at a cost of $5,000 per year." The donation was accepted February 5, 1900. A lot for the building, on Market street, corner of Presa, was donated by the Kampmann estate. The architects chosen for its construction were J. Riley Gordon Company and Harvey L. Page, and it was erected under the supervision of the city council.
The building is designed in the style of the Italian renaissance, buff brick, with stone and galvanized iron trimmings, and cement columns. The north extremity of the building is the stack room, three stories high. The library room is about 81 by 73 feet in dimensions, with galleries and dome above supported by Corinthian columns. The library offices are also on this floor. The gallery on the second floor is not utilized at pres- ent, but affords space for an assembly hall on the south side. One of the unusual features possessed by this library is the large circular balcony, on the south side, overlooking the river. The library has a remarkably open, airy appearance, and the pleasant environment and excellent con- veniences are features to be appreciated by everyone who uses this book- home. The usual partitions, enclosures, notices of rules, etc., are con- spicuous by their absence.
The library board of fifteen members is appointed by the mayor and the council. The annual tax levy for support of the library is two cents on the $100 valuation. The library has received an endowment of $10,000 from Mr. G. Bedell Moore, as a memorial to his wife, and a cash donation of $5,000 from Colonel G. W. Brackenridge. These funds are used for standard works other than fiction.
At the beginning of 1907 the library officials were: Board of trus- tees-William Aubrey. T. D. Cobbs, Mrs. L. Goodman, M. D. Monser- rate, Dr. F. Terrell, Mrs. D. H. Ainsworth, Mrs. H. P. Drought, Mrs. H. D. Kampmann, Arthur Rochs. Ph. D .; Mrs. H. C. Rice. M. J. Bliem, M. D .; T. H. Franklin, W. L. Herff, Reagan Houston, E. H. Terrell. Officers-E. H. Terrell, president ; Mrs. L. Goodman, secretary ; Dr. M. J. Bliem, treasurer ; Benjamin Wyche, librarian.
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DAUGHTERS OF THE REPUBLIC.
Organized at Houston, November 6, 1891, the general association of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas has become one of the strong- est and most effective societies in the state, and in its special field of preserving historical memories and monuments and encouraging liis- torical study has done and is doing a work whose value will be estimated higher with each passing generation, that the teachings and inspiration of history, and especially local history, are becom- ing better appreciated by the American people was one of the changes noted by the Hon. James Bryce in his recent visit to this country after an absence of some years, and there can be no doubt that this change of sentiment is to be attributed largely to the persistent efforts of such organizations as the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. When the signs of commercial supremacy are brought prominently to notice on every hand, the example of high enthusiasm and business-like energy directed to the accomplishment of purposes that are artistic and poetic rather than commercial is a distinct proof that our civilization is far from sordid and that the practical and the beautiful are advancing with equal pace.
Briefly to sketch the significance and purposes of this order, the constitution states its objects to be : (1) To perpetuate the memory and spirit of the inen and women who have achieved and maintained the in- dependence of Texas. (2) To encourage historical research into the earliest records of Texas, especially those relating to the revolution of 1835 and the events which followed; to foster the preservation of docu- ments and relics, and to encourage the publication of records of indi- vidual service of soldiers and patriots of the Revolution. (3) To pro- mote the celebration of March 2 (Independence Day) and April 21 (San Jacinto Day) ; to secure and hallow historic spots by erecting monuments thereon, and to cherish and preserve the unity of Texas, as achieved and established by the fathers and mothers of the Texas revolution.
Only direct descendants of the heroes and pioneers of Texas are eligible to membership. More specifically stated, any woman may be eligible who is of the age of fourteen years and whose ancestors were of the old Three Hundred, or were soldiers, seamen or civil officers of the state of Coahuila and Texas who aided in establishing the independence of Texas, or served the Republic of Texas in maintaining its inde- pendence up to its annexation to the United States, February 19, 1846. Widows and wives of men who rendered such services are also eligible to membership.
The association and its local chapters are legal corporations, able to buy, own and control property. Many valuable historic sites and land- marks are now the possession of the various chapters, besides collections of books, manuscripts and other Texas antiquities. Each chapter is given a name noted in Texas history.
The first chapter organized was the Sidney Sherman Chapter of Galveston. The San Jacinto Chapter at Houston found its field of work in the San Jacinto battlefield, and it succeeded in prevailing on the legis- lature to purchase and set aside for historic purposes the three hundred and thirty-seven acres of the San Jacinto battle ground. Some of the
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members of this chapter also co-operated with the De Zavala Chapter in preserving the Alamo site and buildings, notably Mrs. Adele B. Loos- can, who held the office of historian general of the association and chair- man of the historical committee of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs, and did more for the preservation of the Alamo than any other person outside of De Zavala Chapter. Other chapters are the William B. Travis Chapter at Austin; the Ben Milam Chapter at Temple; La Bahia Chapter, Goliad; Sam Houston Chapter, Lampasas ; Sterling Rob- ertson Chapter, Waco; Gonzales Chapter, Gonzales; Anson Jones Chap- ter, Terrell; Independence Chapter, Brenham; Peebles Chapter, Cuero; Dawson-Eastland Chapter, La Grange; Alamo Chapter, Sherman; Van Zandt Chapter, Fort Worth; Fannin Chapter, Victoria; and the Alamo Mission Chapter at San Antonio.
De Zavala Chapter.
Because of the historic environments of its home and the important work it has undertaken and in part accomplished, the De Zavala Chapter deserves more than formal mention in this history. From its organiza- tion its members have bent their efforts principally to the preservation of the Alamo. The site of the Alamo has long been recognized as one of the valuable properties of San Antonio, and notwithstanding its associa- tions as the "cradle of Texas liberty," in the estimation of many, its commercial advantages and value have outweighed its inspiration of patriotism. It is recognized that the buildings, to the superficial observer, are, in their present condition, unattractive and degraded by environments incompatible with noble monuments. But the reclamation of the Alamo is an undertaking of great magnitude, and the Daughters of the Re- public claim the right to proceed with the work in accordance with their means. Having succeeded in vesting the ownership of the site in the state of Texas, which was the first great step, the chapter is now con- fronted by the task of defending their work against commercialism and carrying on their campaign to restore and beautify the Alamo as the shrine of Texas history and patriotism.
When the De Zavala Chapter was organized in 1891, the Alamo was the property of the Hugo-Schmeltzer Company, who had purchased . it of Honore Grenet. The latter bought it from Bishop Pellicer, of the Catholic church, in 1877. Though converting the old convent walls into a building for commercial purposes, Mr. Grenet did not destroy the es- sential features of the property as he had found it. The price at which the property was offered to the Daughters of the Republic was $75,000, and it was only as the result of a long campaign on the part of the lead- ers in the movement, crowned by the action of the 29th legislature, that the Alamo property was purchased in the name of the state and its control vested with the De Zavala Chapter. The first chairman and treasurer of the Alamo Mission fund was Mrs. Josephine Tobin, and its second
chairman and treasurer Miss Clara Driscoll. Another member of the chapter, Miss Sarah Adams, for some time secretary of the chapter, now vice president and registrar, was and is a tireless and enthusiastic worker. Miss Nellie Lytle, Mrs. Mary Elliot Howard and many other persons in other parts of the state took active part in the various phases of the
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work. and the saving of the Alamo is the more creditable because it re- sulted largely from a popular movement. Hundreds of persons con- tributed to the fund which made the purchase possible, and their names, in bound volumes, will be preserved in the Alamo exhibit.
Besides the great work of saving the Alamo, this chapter numbers among its achievements the placing of tablets upon the Veramendi house on Soledad street, where Bowie won his bride and Milam died; tablets 11pon schoolhouses named for Texas heroes ; a tablet on the convent part of the Alamo Mission ; have erected a monument over Milam's grave in Milam park ; have placed the old bell "San Antonio," dated 1722, in the Alamo chapel : have repaired the Mission San Jose, and have undertaken to preserve all the missions about San Antonio.
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