The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-01-30
EXIT THE GERMAN TEACHER
After Five Years Controversy the Study
Is Abandoned in st. Louis Schools.
Tne SchoOl-Board Bankrupted in Attempting
to Foster the Study-An Anti-German
Board Chosen and II Is Dropped.

DC. Louis Letter in Chicago Tribune.
The battle of languages that has been demon
n1izing the public-school system OF St. Louis for
i've years came to an end to-day. For seventeen
years the language of the ''Fatherand" has oc-
cupied large share of the room in the public
schools. It's debut was informal and modest
but. as the years rolled BY, it developed such a
tendency to spread itself all over the whole sys-
tenn that it aroused the ire of the English
tongue. The latter in the beginning willingly
granted its German rival possession OF
certain portion of the room and other
favors, all of which was received
with a profusion OF thanks. Once
wsll inside, the language of the Teutons, pushed
by it's friends. began assert itself with such
emphasis that the English tongue was forced
into second place and even threatened with total
expulsion The issue finally narrowed down to
the survival of the fittest" and for five years
the battle ragged furiousy. German scored an
nnbroxen succession of victories for four and a
half years. and then came q crushing defeat.
To-day il was turned out Of school, without
morse or benefit Of clergy, and the door slammed
in it's face.
The story of the rise and fall Of the German
language in the pubic schools Of St. Louis 10
fraught with interest. The population of the
city has always been, and Is still, largely COM
posen OF Germans Inc management OF the
pubic schools, until few months ago, was in
trusted TO a school board consisting of one rep
resentative from each ward in the city Along
10 the early part of the '70s the German element
had made such good political progress that it Sc
cured strong representation in the school
board TWAS at this time that the German Ian
guase was injected into the system At
IA rst it was tried in but two three grades,
and, as the expense was not large, no objection
was made to it. The board continued in the
control of the Germans, and the language was
pushed into OrOmipence. 1T introduced
into every grade and branch of the public-school
system. All children attending school were
TO the superintende a specific request that the
child be- protected from the language.
Almost from the beginning the Irish
members OF the board combated Ger
man. They talked, fibustered. and voted
against IL, but they were In hopeless minority.
and German was always triumphant The Celtic
Ders areued that IL was just as consistent for tie
board to order the teaching of Irish az German.
This was met with the rejoinder that Irish was
practically one of the dead languages, and that
Ger man would be found useful TO ali scholars
IL pecially would knowledge OF German be re-
CARED In mercantile pursuits. A Celtc-Ameri-
can alliance was formed early in the struggle.
but despite the agitation the Germans invariably
carried the school board elections.
The German Democrats and German Repub-
licauB voted together. but the public did not take
enough interest in the matter TO vote at ALL AS
N result the Germans felt secure in their pos
session of the board. The English papers occa-
BlOLhLiy denounced the GernAnlZl0g movement.
but the attacks Were sporadic and had but little
effect. Gradually. however, a question began
TO develop that subsequently became the main
issue. This was the money question
The pushing OF the language into the various
grades piled up the expense Over 100 exclusively
German teachers were employed. and it cost
the city $4,000 annually for the luxury. Mean
while the growth of the city required the con-
struction of more school-houses and the employ
ment OF additional teachers, il came to pass
a few years ago that the board discovered
Saaa aHaA
by startling sum. Then an attempt made
70 pass a bill in the Legislature increasing the
continued in business at the old stand with a
big deficit annually staring il in the face. The
revenue of the board Is divided into half dozen
funds, such as the building fund, the general
fund, etc, and towards the end of the fiscal
year, when a fund would become exhausted,
money was taken from one of the more vigorous
from year to year. When the public realized
the manner in which the board was conducting
the school business general request for
frenchment was made. The Republican ranged
itself the side Of reform, and demanded
that the German language be no
l Tn . taught fas+ AIT At pd public expense.
rayed the public strongly against the German
policy. just about this time the board made a
move that furnished the reformersss sharp
weapon. An old bequest of 800. 900, which had
been hedged about that it could not be vio-
lated, was surned over to the board. With a
view OF placing it's name on the scroll of fame,
school with the money. A high-priced lot in a
fashionable part of the city, out of reach of
three-fourths of the children. selected as
the site. A dozen architects competed for the
plans, and the one that won estimated the cost
at 100000. The board accepted the estimate.
and let the contract for the foundations. The
800, 600 was paid for the foundation aud then
the board quit No money. work. The treas
ury is bankrupt. and there is no prospect that
the building will be completed during the pres
emit generation.
At last the confusion and the demo ralization
became scandalous that it was determined to
legislate the board ont of Office. One year ago
the St Louis school board. There are twenty |
eight wards IN the city, and. under the old or
the board consisted of twenty eight |
mem bers. The new law made the membership |
rf the board twenty-one. OF these twenty-one |
wsem bers fourteen were to be elected by dis |
sFfcts and seven at large. The promoters of the |
electing seven directors large, the pro Ger |
man element could be defe ateG. The passage |
D the bill caused great deal of uneasiness in |
me board, and TINS combined with the public
howl for retrenchment. induced the body to at
Tempt pairing down of expenses. This is how
ne expenses were cut down:
Upon examination it was learned that many |
q the German teachers were competent to teach
English 1t was then decided to fill all vacancies
70 the English ranks with German English
teachers. This scheme prevented the employ
ment OF English teachers, and utilized the
English possessed by the teachers who had here
tofore taught only German The barring out of
49, os tor Ine posltiou IN the SCHOOLS |
raised storm OF indignation, and it was
charged to be boycott against the normal
schooi girls The retrenchment accomplished
~ tnis scheme amounted to little. In vain the
tnghsn papers called for a cutting down of the
expense attendant on the teaching of German.
Every time such proposition was presented the
board promptly voted it down. The election for
.he REORGANIZATION of the board was set for Nov
y. but the campaign opened in the early sum
ner. The deficit in the revenue was so large in |
Nay that the board contemplated closing the |
schools three weeks earlier than usual The
unds were juggled. a Joan negotiated and
he city was spared the humiliation
An investigation OF the records showed that
.. GOO or the 5000 school children were taught
German. Over one-half of the is, 900 were in
be first grade, children from six to eight wears
X age. The percentage decreased randy i,