St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-13
Citizens Will Properly Ask
Why Inspectors Wanted
Suppressed.
Alleged Failure Of the Ruttan
System Of Heating and
Ventilating Schools.
Class Rooms Made Unfit for
Pupils to Stay in Without
Danger.
The secret is ont.

ton.
Why any member of that board should
have protested against the reading and pub
LEGATION OF this report is passing understand
Ing. There Is no reference of any kind to
any member of the board. The sum and
substance of the report is that mistake has
been made by the board in furnishing the pup
lie schools with the Ruttan system of heating
and ventiating The school inspector
who would oppose the reading of such re-
port must be very thin skinned indeed The
report had been drawn up for the public, and
those whe were opposed to its deductions
certainly committed grave error and placed
themselves in an unenviable position when
they attempted to suppress 1t. The public
were certain to hear Of 1t. and the mere fact
that an Intellectual effort had be ell made to
keep It from them only added their sus-
piclons to what may have been purely disin-
terested motives on the part of the DIRECTORS.
When the newspapers published the pro-
ceedings OF Friday nights meeting of the
board or education there was a general de-
mand for the production of the suppressed
report, and in the Second ward the citizens
unanimously requested the Withdrawal of Mr..
Helnemann's resignation as a member of the
school board. Mr.. Heinemann is the
representative from that ward. To
bring some weight upon him and to
get at his report, a meeting of Second ward
taxpayers was called for last evening in the
vacant store below Alcayde hail, on East
Seventh street. There was representative
attendance. and in addition to Mr.. Heine-
mann, School Inspectors Croonquist and
Rodger were present. These gentlemen
make up the committee on retrenchment
whose report has so stirred up other members
on the board Of education. w. T.Von Deyn
was called upon to preside, and, whatever
secretarial duties there might be to perform,
Sam Brant was selected to do it. Mr.. Won
Deyn was commercially short in explaining
the objects the meeting was called upon
to attain They. were o. to back up the
withdraw his resignation as a member of the
school board; (2) to hear the report which
the educa ion board had attempted to shelye.
Mr.. Heinemann would first read he report.
This Was Suppressed.
Mr.. Heinemann met with cordial recep-
ton from his fellow citizens. There could
be no doubt but what they thoroughly in
dorsed his action on the board OF education.
Mr. Heinemann prefaced the reading of the
report by requesting his audience to dis
abuse their minds Of anything sensational;
it was but plain statement of facts
OF the Ruttan heating and ventilating system
of the public schools. Cleveland school
was first referred to. The committee visited
this school one Saturday and found the at
dry closets were noticeable TO a considerable
degree, even in the Railways. 1t was evident
that the dry closet system was defective in
Its practical working. MIR. Bailey of
the Ruttan company afterwards visited
the school and claimed the foul atmosphere
was accustomed by the neglect of janltor in
manipulating the machinery. The teachers
of the school, however. complained they
class rooms. Health Commissioners Hoyt
was requested to make O personal examina-
ton of the school. He did So He re-
ported the ventilation perfect. Any
tn.rf0
the fireman, and not the Ruttan system.
The closets and uriuals were absolutely
free from odor. offensive or otherwise.
The report here set forth: with all
the department of health, your committee
still adheres to the opinion expressed be-
fore" To bear this out, MIR. Heinemann
read letters from S. A. Farnsworth. principal
OF the Cleveland. Principal Farnsworth
wrote that at times tn air was so bad in
four of the rooms that it was not fit for pu-
pills to sit in - 1.-The system has never worked
well in this building" 1.-The system is
Largely a Failure
so far as ventilating the building, five cases
of quite violent Illness occurring among the
pupils sitting near the outlet register
many of the rooms with very bad door,
and four of the rooms really unfit for occu-
pancyn
Mr.. Heinemann read letters respecting the
ventilation of other schools, which were in a
Ruttan system of ventilation and heating has
been adopted. Only one OF these need be
given-a joint note from the teachers of the
German school, which reads:
I'VE, the undersigned. during the occupan-
cy of our respective rooms. have suffered
considerably from bad air from the vaults or
insufficient pure air. or in severe wea her
from lack of heat. In two of the rooms we
have been obliged to dismiss the rooms sew
eral times on account of one of these rea-
sons.
Letters were also read from outside sources,
in the majority of which the Ruttan system
was condemned.
Mr.. Heinemann proceeded with his report
Many defects were found in the ventilation
of various schools visited. Mr.. Bailey. of
the Ruttan company, admitted such defects
and expressed the willingness to have them
remidied. 1t seems that the Ruttan system
of ventilation and heating was always re-
quiring something added here or something
cut Off there, and it was difficult to compre-
bend what was meant by the so-called Rut-
tan system of heating and ventiiating. The
numerous alterations required hardly entitled
1t TO be spoken of as system. The
cost of maintaining this system of heating
and ventilation WAS shown that the expendi-
ture- OF fuel for 1889, which was SIS
93S.43, increased to S23, V36. A for ISS.-9O
This enormous increase was largely attrib-
utable to the heavy expenditure to maintain
the Ruttan heating and ventilation SYSTEM
The board of education
No Il