The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-08
A SERMON ON PARKS
REV. MIR. MILBURN DISCUSSES THE
.NEEDs OF INDIANAPoLIS.v
He Also Favors Night schools i'm Con-
nection with the City System
other SermOns.

Rev. Joseph A. Milburn, pastor of the
Second Presbyterian Church, spoke last
night on 1.-The Needs of indianapolis In
part, he said:
Indianapolis has taken a very large
step towards betterment in every sphere
during the past few years. We have many
beautiful streets. well paved, and. as COM
pared with other cities, well cared for. We
have long stretches of sidwalk that are
pleasant and agreeable to the eye. Archi-
t~ecturally, too. there has been a perceptible
advance. Indianapolis has been unhappily
conspicuous in the past for its deficiency in
architectural beauty. Until this last year
there were but two really imposing build
ings, the Statehouse and the Blind Insti-
tuition. But now we behold, upon looking
about us, several fine and stately struct-
ures. both public and private, and there
are evidences on every hand of a growth in
taste in the sense of beauty. There is the
Public Library, whose lines are noble, and
the Manual Training School. in the process
of erection on the South Side. In addition
TO these there are many private residences
which do ample justice to the progressive
and artistic spirit of our people.
"And what is better yet, there has been a
conspicuous moral Improvement within the
past year. 1t is not so long ago that the
city was run on the wide-open policy, when
1t was under the heels of the rumseller and
the gambler; when the lawless element had
the right of way and decent citizenship
was a secondary quality. But to-day, whilst
vice has by no means been extirpated, and
whilst there is considerable wrong-doing,
insolent lawlessness is virtually conquered.
and even the saloon and the gambler have
learned TO respect the civil authority. The
Sabbath is no longer desecrated, and the
saloons close their doors promptly at the
statutory hour.
But still there is much to be done to
make Indianapolis the city that it ought
to be and to bring it into line with the best
light and the most progressive theories of
the day. The first step that Indianapolis
must take towards its physical well-being
is In the extension of its park system. The
present parks that we have-University
Place, Military Park and Garfield Park
are by no means adequate TO the needs
parks, and are to what a real park should
be as an infant is to a full-grown man.
Besides these, there is Fairview Park.
which is a beautiful place, but it is a pri-
vate enterprise. What the people want is
a peoples park, and not one under the
control of a corporation. A public park is
er thoughts and better living and tends
toward purity; virtue and decency. Such
a park would be a good investment
for the city and enhance the value of real
estate. 1t lis said that such a park would
involve a great outlay of money. That is
true, but SO do jails, insane asylums, hos
pitfalls and other institutions.
"A second step along the line of i'm
tenn in vogue in our city. The first i'm
provement must be in the way Of supple
menting the education we now have, and
the second must be in certain changes in
our educational theories and methods. Our
public schools have never been graded lower
than second among the schools of our
country. My criticism is first against the
limitation of public education to the day
school and second against the theory of our
present system of public education. If ed
ucatlOn De a good, and so II is conceded, Ii
is a lamentable fact that it does not reach
in this State those who are most in need
of it, the most vicious, the most ignorant
and the element whose spirit is most alien
TO. American institutions. You, of course,
all know there is no compulsory education
law, so that there are many whom our
public institutions fail to reach, and yet
these many are the very ones that they
ought TO reach. Now, a compulsory educa-
ton law usder existing conditions, Is a thing
and probably the greater number it may
work good results. but in many other
instances IL may work very unfortunate
and cruel results. There are cases in which
compulsory education must entail direful
consequences upon the home and family.
The remedy, 1 think. is in the ~conjoint ac-
ton of a compulsory law and a night
school. Here there is a chance for i'm
proyement; it is in the establishment of
night schools with an adequate corps of
teachers in the various sections of the city,
which, In conjunction with a compulsory
educational law that should be passed by
our next Legislature. would make educa-
ton not only a possibility, but also a neces-
sity for every boy and girl within the limits
of indianapolis. The second educational
Improvement touches the character of our
present system. Our theory of education
is good as far as it goes, but it is partial and
falls utterly TO prepare the youth in this
country for citizenship. 1t is far too
academic and literary and far too little
technical, practical and unitarian. The
present system is all right in it's way, but
efficient citizenship; it should be technical
and manual. The further and last step
hut not the least in the Improvement of
our city, lies along the line of a more Sc
| rious regard for its moral welfare"