Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-05-05
In. Puhlic school RulIding.
EDITOR CITIZEN .


 In this present aa, of great enlightenment. we Very apt to rush into grtnd and masnlhcsnt cobwebs or schenes f,r the benent Of a few spec uia,Or- at he expense of the publlc niiances-
 Various rumors are afiOat the air IS teemiRg with sucl grand ufierts king
 A school house k To be built-a magnificent structure costing S4a0u at the expense of the Ci y reslsury. and To ne located at amp Lowell or some O her equally favorable locaity. The pre-enr -choal is Co be sold m ineiiats ", and the cilldren of this cfy are Q t- l-lt Nlth- out school fscili iee or be compel led tO walk the suburbs of ti.is city Co re eve b=neht Of a gtsnd scheme. and the poor taxpayers are a1- l
 In other cities as favorubly located and sr- l lchteurd as ucs0nifes ihe real estate agent m | commenting the various houses he has Tor | rent and thelr peculiar hdEtnthGe-. l- clos-ly 1 oued ty fh,a mater famll-a= Co the school abilities and their locah ies; here IS no sx- 1 ceplon 70 he rule. that school houses as well as meeting houses, are the centers 't population at the present tune. h-ee-q arters of the clll l dren are reqli ed 70 walk half a inile to school and the 'hool trustees during the hOt su1 nler months. md It conducive Co the ciildrer- he m give them a vacation. These same srh'o trustees have the assurance 10 a. the credulous paf..r famllIas to send their children halt ile further to school or he compeilel to move their families Co its vicinity tO the detrlnent of -he pre=ent properts owners and the beneht or a lew real estate speculation h- L- "hIAoAh-
 We give Mir. Wetmore credit for sin cerity, but his argument, If 1t can be called such, rests upon a very untenable foundation. He says the site selected Is in the interest or ''for the beneht of a few spectators at the expense of the public finances,r when he knows very we'll that all of the opposition to the action of the School Board, IS from men who are largely interested in the north ern part of the town, who have hitherto succeed in controlling the location of public buildings ID that part of the city, contrary to the will of majority of she tax payers of Tucson.
 The talk about the location of the building in the in- terest of real estate spectators IS entirely in the imagination of rhe writer; and the great stress laid upon the distance of the site from the center of p pulation and the center of town, utterly fades away when the facts are brought forth. The site selected is just one block east of the old school build ing. and a very little more than two and 6 half blocks south. but which can be reached by walking diagonally across the Military plaza, in the average dis tance of three blocks -a three minutes walk. We shall now see how the question stands on the basis of ppo1latiln. At the taxing of the census in 1sSO all of that porti of the city of Tucson, north of Congress street, contained but a fraction over 200 peob-e, while that portion south of Congress street, contained population of over 4,5O0 people and 1t Is well known fact that the south part has in- creased more rapidly since that time than the north part. So after all the faultfinding it will be seen that the location selectel by the school boari is nearer the center Of population and of the town, than the old site on Congress street. The dis tance argument amounts to nothing, as 1t only increases the distance from the north part of the city one fourth of a mile, while 1t brings 1t nearer to twice the number Of pupils in the south. Not a child ID Tucson will have Co walk more than three fourths of a mile, while more than two-thirds of all the children will be within a circle of half mile. Our correspondent bemoans the hardships of children who during the hot sum- mer months" will have to walk SO far to school; but he forgets that most of the children who reside in the southern part of town have been doing that same thing ever since schools have been l taught in Tucson. When the question l of raising the revenues with which to l pay for the new school house is reached, | We find that about two thirds of the taxes ! of Tucson, are paid by property owners south of Congress street. We would | suggest to Mir. W, to post himself upon | the geography ot Tucson, and its taxa ble property, before he seeks to instruct the public, and especially the school board, who in our opinion are much bet ter poste1 as to where the valuation lies, and the location of the inhabited portion of town than he IS.