El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-09-15
When Shall We Have That School House?
communicated

permit me the use OF your columns Tor
the purpose of giving data for an ap-
proXimate answer to the question
above.
In the first place, it is evident that
we are not to be allowed TO erect
building without the issue of bonds.
"Bonds: bonds!' is the cry all around
the stress especia ly in the vicinity
of San Antonio and Oregon streets
Bankers like bonds. There Is natuf al
affinity between the two. So 1t has
been determined, that bonds must be
issued, and the simple proposition to
use the $24OO in the hands of the school
board and add to that sum the $39UO
left over from the state flood fund, Tor
the purpose of erecting at once four
room school house in the second ward
to accommodate $50 to children
and thus relieve the pr, ssure at the
present schools, has been cultivatedT
and has thrived under cultivation I'M
til it has grown into propositions to
vote $40 900 in bonds, for the second
ward school to enlarge the Mesa
This is an illustration of the wonderful
salubrity of Ell PasO climate and the
marvellous fertility of Ell PasO soil.
Cultivation in this section will
produce wonders il finance as
readily as in the vegetable world. Yet
the rapid development of the second
ward school idea in the minds OF nose
who dictate the city's financial policy
and care nothing for schools except as
| they may sci We to further their person
al ends, is not alone sigualiz,d by the
budding and b ossOmins OF this little
$4,000 seed into a $40, 600 or $40, 900 six
per cent loan. A sturdy oak OF much
grander proportions is beginning to
| lift aloft it's head where we innocent
second warders only planted modest
little acorn. AS l remarked above,
tween bankers and bonds. and it is now
proposed to load down our little five or
six thousand dollar proposition not
only by increasing it to the dimensions
named, but by lacking on to 1t other
propositions running up the bond issue
to S1OO, 900, or $500, 900. Just exactly
how this is to be done has not yet de-
veloped. The building of the second
ward and Mexican schools, the enlarg-
ing of the Mesa school, and the cree
ton of city hall can easily be made
to exhaust q bond issue OF 800, 900; and
there is no reason to doubt that this
soil and climate can be depended upon
to in due time enlarge this sum to
$2O5, 900, which is, we are told, the
limit to which the city can go alter
lcanceling the water bonds.
l
of the second ward to provide facilities
for educating their children NOW, and
to thus relieve the pressure of the 9th
err schools NOW, has overreached itself
Ito parapbrase little, ''they bullded
BIGGER than they knew" And you
know the old adage says, great bodies
move slowly This modest little pro-
position to do something AT ONCE, so
small and SO honest that it could easily
be managed in week and with funds
already on hand, has grown by Guilt
walton until it has assumed gigantic
proportions; and just in proportion as
it's size has increased its speed must
necessarily decrease. Ell Paso cannOt
be expected to rush headlong into a
bond issue of hundred or two hun
ldred thousand dollars. The mater
must be discussed pro and con; time Is
needed to mature plans; and meanwhile
poor second warders can send cir
children q mile and q half across the
lefty and across dangerous railroad
crossings to crowded and ill arranged
lschool rooms, or-kee p them at home.
The well-to-do can send them to Austin,
or to the agricultural college at Las
lCruces or anywhere else they have q
mind to. 1t will not do to separate
the school proposition from the other
propositions for bond issues, because
the school proposition is popular and
can be depended upon to pull the
lother proposition through. In other
words that familiar political trick
known as order" must be tackled on
to the school proposition: and as is fire.
quently the case in such instance, the
"rider'' is much larger and heavier
than the ''hOrse" that is to carry him.
; How our little school pony will run
with such a heavy rider it is impos
sible to foretell. He will be expected
of course to carry the whole loao
through to victory, but it is greatly te
> be feared that he will break down uD'
der the load aud never reach the goa
at all.
Torevert to the original question o.
any caption, when shall we have thai
school house? 1 answer, not until mex
September any way. It may even be
, deferred 50 long as to become factor
. in the city political campaign OF Apr1
1899, when The present incumben Of
the mayors Office may be candidate
) for reelection. 1t will most certainly
, figure in the city campaign of ne X
, spring, and probably IN the county ane
state campaign next fall. Since 1t has
assumed such proportions, the question
may be safely depended upon 10 move
along with the dignity end deliberatior
becoming its magnitude. 1t matters
not tn at the $4,000 have referred to a:
. available TODAY could be used to
finish and furnish school house
: of four rooms (which would accommodate
: 200 scholars and be ready for occupan
, cy before Christmas. 1t matters mo-
that such school can for this money be
built of brick, with subs tantial wall;
and foundations capable of sustaining
a second story of like dimensions ter
years hence when the need shall arise
1t m alters not that such building
would entirely relieve the pressure a,
the other English schools for five
years to come and render further build
ing in that time unnecessary. 1t mat.
ters not that the Mexican school build.
has unoccupied room sufficient, by be-
ing in order, to relieve the pressure
there and furnish Accommodations for
all Mexican children applying for ad-
mission. 1t matters not that this
school building is more centrally locat-
ed for the accommodation of the Mex
lean population than any one the city is
likely to build, owing to the high price
of property in the vicinity; nor that tn e
cost to tie city for rent is less by prob
hi hal no n ha ha ri 70