Omaha daily bee., 1890-02-22
a RIVAL.
An Omaha Man Tells n Massachu-
set,'s Paper About This CITY.

setts Paper ABOUT Ihts Civ.
Prof. S. G. Chandler writes the fol-
lowing letter under a recent Omaha
date to the Springfield (Ntass.) Repub-
lican:
Nothing is of greater importance to
the reputation of a town or city than
the interest il takes in the ed
ucation of children, and in this respect
Omaha stands u%nrivaled. The money
raised last year from all sources
tor educational purposes was
$476,559. The city has eighteen
large brick school buildings Of from
eight to twelve rooms, and seventeen
wooden school buildings, which add
over forty rooms more. Besides these,
it has a magnificent high school build
ing placed on n high eminence, with
ten acres of ground, and commanding
an enchanting view of the Missouri
river and prairie country around in all
directions. The school had 1856 pupils
enrolled last year. The instruction here
in the four years course fits the scholar
for business or for a5mittance into any
eastern college. 1t has a class of over
fifty eXpectant graduates this year The
legal school popu alton, according to
the census of last April, was ~, 243. The
enrolment attending school, last year
was 12,49S. IL should be understood
that besides these attending the public
schools there are about SIX thousand
going to private and p%arochial
schools. Then it should lie noticed that
there are over three hundred attending
evening schools from Z to 8 o'clock
during the fall and winter months.
Il, ese are employed during the day,
and are of ali ages from fourteen to
twenty-five years. 1t is the purpose of
the city board TO obtain the best quail
fed teachers, and l can confidently say
that from what | have seen and earned
among them, they are worthy of their
high calling and are doing splendid
work.
Omaha now reports 50 miles of pave
ment, 70 miles of sewers, 80 miles of
street railways, 1870 miles of water pipes.
Its wholesale trade is nearly $50, 600, 900
annually. The lumber of firms in Omaha
doing business at the close of the last
year, wholesale and retail, was 2,S2S.
The combined capital of the
wholesale houses is reported to
be $l4, OOO, 900. There are eight
national banks, with an aggregate
capital of So, 1915 900, three state banks,
and six savings banks. The mere mem
! ton of these is sufficient to give the
reader an idea of the capital and bust
ness of this wonderful ~push-ahead peo-
l DiCs Ibo VOL uSI Vi UuS DllllIuTH
department OF the Platte, embracing
Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and
portions of Idaho and Iowa, are
located here, and the money dis
bursed for supplies and transporta-
tion was last year 81 800 ZOO. There is
a variety of manufacturing done here
some ll2 shops, with an aggregate CAPT.
tai of 81, 1855, 900. This does not include
many small and individual industries,
nor the great railroad shops, where at
least 1000 men are employed. There
are thirteen distinct railways that cen.
ter in Omaha, and other roads thread
the country from the Atlantic on the
east to the Pacific on the west, and
the British possessions north. to
Mexico and the gulf south. South
Omaha is closely allied to Omaha, q
city of 10000 inhabitants, and has the
third greatest slaughter Inc packing
houses in the nation. The freight re.
ceipts OF the two Omahas were at the
close Of 1889 2.S00, 900 tons, and the ship
menus over ] 100000 tons. About ,O00,.
600 hogs we're slaughtered, 224 900 cat
tie and $4,000 sheep, and the companies
paid out over $40, 900, 900. This
is, perhaps, sufficient to give read
ers interested In the growth Of Thu,
city, a knowledge of its present bust,
ness operations. Taking into consider
alton its convenient location to draw
trade and supplies from the vast coun
try around, and the h~ealthiness of it
climate, and the noble start it has al
ready achieved, 1T requires no p~ropheti
foresight to predict that Omaha has tn,
future of a great metropolis.
There are five daily newspapers, witt
a Sunday edition, published here, ant
five weekly papers. One OF the dailie
is in German, one weekly in Bohemian
one in Danish, one in Swedish, one II
German aud one in English. TIL
OMAHA BEE is the most popular an,
widely circulated paper.
nI,o lillian Of Iuo.d NolSon