St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-15
some fifty years ago, when the parents
of each scholar were required to pay
tuition fee. LORENZO HoYT.
. Capt. starkey's Memories.

Away back in the fifties l was MEM
Der of the board of education of the city
of st. Paul. elected from the Secondhand.
There were only three or four wards
comprising the city at that time. My
colleagues. as now remember. were
II. E. Baker and Mr.. Grey, who be-
came somewhat notorious afterwards in
connection with some forged Ramsey
county bonds, in which he was deeply
implicated, so much so that in fit of
desperation, and while being pursued
by the sheriff. he ran on the old Waba-
sha street bridge and ended his earthly
career by jumping therefrOm into the
Mississippi river. In responding to the
request, which is the basis of this COM
mnnication, find it exceedingly diff
cult to tax ones memory of events and
scenes that happened over thirty years
ago in connection with and belonging
to our educational matters in this city.
l remember small frame school house
on the west side of Jackson street, be-
tween Fifth and Sixth streets,
sometimes used for school pur-.
poses, at other times used
for places where the ballots of freemen
were received at election tlmes-after-
wards turned into a carpenters work
buildings were provided: the first of
these being the Washington school
house, fine brick building, corner OF
Eighth and Olive streets. 1t was about
this time, and during my membership
as school inspector, the idea was con-
ceived to get another school house in
the Second ward, the Washington being
located in the First ward, and to that
end at several meetings of the board of
education resolutions proposing to build
a new school house in the Second ward
we're introduced, but invariably defeat
ed by a majority of such men as the late
Parker Paine, p. p. Furber, J. P. Pond
and others. All agreed that another
school house was needed, but were
afraid of the cry of excessive taxation.
Strong in my determination, and assured
by the well-known fact that a tax for
school OF educational purposes is to the
American citizen the least obJecti0nal
of any and all other taxes, and the
further very serious fact that our chill
dren were running the streets for want
of more school house accommodation.
l was prompted to try again, using as
an argument the very large number of
children in the Second and Third wards
without any school or educational facil
tiles and the desirability of a school
house being really needed in the
Third ward, whose representatives In
the school board were urgently asked
TO join the Second ward in getting
school house for themselves. This eff
fort proved successful on the ''yOu tickle
me and I'll tickle YOU" principle. The
result was the board resolved to build
two school houses-one in the Second
ward, called the 'Adams," built from
designs of the writer, located on or
about the site of the present high school
building; the other was located i'll the
Third ward and named the Jefferson"
These buildings served their good pur-
pose for some years, the Adams be-
school. And the first Jefferson
school house was, believe,
destroyed by fire, and another and more
costly structure has taken its place. [
am inclined to believe that the several
boards of education which have guided
and controlled our public schools from
time to time are entitled to praise rather
than censure. Year after year magnifi-
cent school buildings have been con-
structed to meet the requirements of the
largely increasing population. some of
which may have been built in advance of
the requirements, but they are there
and will soon, if not already, be occu-
pied by our rising generation, who in
turn will be required to man the ship of
state, and so OH till doomSday. True,
the expenditures have been large and
lavish-the current expenses of running
our schools is large, how can 1t be other
wise under its present system which is
the creation of the charter CT law that
organized st. Paul's board of education.
Alter or amend the charter as
our lawmakers deem best. 1t seems
to be the general opinion of the
disinterested that some changes are de-
Sirable in the interest of economy, but
to what extent | am not prepared to say.
Let the present board in conjunction
with our legislative delegation consult
and agree upon whatever changes can
be made without gripping our present
school SyStem-a system that is credit
to our city, a shining light to other less
favored municipalities, and destined to
make its impress OH the mind and char
acter of future generations. A repre-
sentative form of government is in
imical to free people, hence [ would
favor the election Of school inspectors
by the people, one from each ward.
Questions Of salaries should be de-
termined by the common council and
the board of education Jointly. And in
the general matter Of language taught
none other should be permitted in our
public schools but the American or En-.
glish language. And, lastly, all expen-
ditures should first emanate from the
common council. who should control
the whole school board finances.
JAMES STARKEY.