Omaha daily bee., 1895-03-11
NEWS FROM COUNCIL BLUFFS
Attitude of School Board Members on the
High School Question
CLAIM THEY ARE SINCERE IN The MOVE
New Building is Needed To Relieve tho
Congestion In the Central Part OF
i. the city Proposition Likely
to lie Defeated.

The members Of the school board claim
they have been pergistently mlsrepresented in
certain quarters with reference to their atti-
tude on the new High school question. All
this time they have been ye6rning with q
heartfelt desire for a building that should
better accommodate the steadily increasing
company Of young ideas that must be taught
the art Of target practice, when the opposition
says with an emphasis that will not take q
denial that that board does not want a'build-
ing, but merely wants TO give the voters a
chance 70 express their Views.
"As a matter OF fact" said one of the
board yesterday we're all IN favor OF new
building in spite Of the fact that we are all
taxpayers, and some OF us heavy ones
When we say we are in favor of it we ought
to be believed. There are a good many
people in town who are not able to send theii
children away to school, and l, for one, be
lieve in giving them the best chance possible
Of getting substitute for the foreign educa.
tion. Many of the men who are opposing the
project are wealthy and they say they cannot
AFFORD 10 ray the increased taxes. One o.
these men is the principal stockholder in Q
large agricultural implement house. One o
the stockholders had occasion to sell out &
short time ago and he received S1.50 fol
assessed at 10 cents on the dollar. That is
fair specimen Of the men who are making thu
howl on account of the increase in taxes"
Tho assertion Is made that there are 1,1O'
seats in the school buildings of the city tina
are unoccuped, and 1t Is claimed that b!
re-districting the city these empty seats coulC
be filled up and the new High school coulC
be dispensed with for time. In reply t
this the members of the board say tina
| there Is one empty room in the Madison
| avenue building, two in the Thirty-seconC
street, and two in the Harrison street. be
sides 100 seats in the old Pierce street build
| ing and 100 more in the Fifteenth street
The two latter have been condemned becaus
| they are too damp, while the other three ar
| in the outskirts of the city. In some case
| pupils have TO walk a mile or a mile and
| half to go to the Madison, Thirty-secon
| street and Harrison street schools, and t
| enlarge tho districts would be simply to adj
| to the distance traversed by the children
The buildings in the central part of the city
on the other hand, are overcrowded, an
| there Is where the increased room is needed
| Even the most enthusiastic members of tn
board, however, do not believe that the propo
| stion will carry. In spite of the fact tina
| the amount of money to be paid each year 70
| interest on the 100000 worth of bonds woul
| not be large to the individual taxpayer
the face of the bonds will have to be pal
are not willing to bank on the futur
grandeur of the city to quite such an eXter
as to lumber their children up with debt {
those dimensions.
All women who want to vote on the bon
proposition, but who failed to register las
week, will be allowed to swear in their vot
| today by means of an affidavit.