Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1899-05-13
SATURDAY, MAY -.


OUR SCHOOLS.
Patrick Henry before the Contin'
entail Congress, said: II know OF
no way of judging of the future but
by the past;" such 10 the value oi
history ne a teacher; may not the
people of Baxter Springs learn q
valuable lesson from their history
of the pastr
Our history only covers q period
of SO years; less than a third OF q
century; yet It naturally divides
itself into several periods: The
prehistoric; the civil war; it's birth
40 town; its phenomenal growth
it's equally phenomenal decay;
when homes which cost Eve thous-
and dollars were sold for FIVE hun.
dred; ito slow but healthy revival;
the FIRE age; the Kansas boom; and
the last, but not least, six years OF
its existence. Only by comparison
and contrast can mankind perfect
their ideas. Let us contrast this
last period in our history with our
nearest neighbor, Lowell.
Both places entered upon an ed
vocational era. Both were egotistic-
al and airy at first in the name of
their institutions. One selected
Polytechnic; the other College and
Normal; both were only academic
and when Prof. Cosand came into
power he changed the former.
Baxter Springs started with an
able faculty under Prot. Bowman,
while Lowell began with only a
young Quaker.
With extensive advertising and
hard work Prof. Bowman opened
with fifty pupils or more, while our
sister opened with less than half
that number.
Splendid work was done that fret
year In Baxter, but only very ordin-
airy work In Lowell. The second
year was the crucial period in our
history. Prof. Bowman advertised
extensively and had every reason
to believe that his numbers would
double, but in this he was disap-
pointed. The people of Baxter did
not begin to comprehend what 1t
costs to build up an institution ne
was contemplated. We had no men
in Baxter willing to step forward as
Lowell had, to say We will make mp
all deficiencies in paying your fac
ulty, or 40 Webb City has to ad-
vance money to build up each de-
partment. No man ever worked
more heroically than Prof. Bowman
did to prepare and insure the sue
cess of the third year. He not only
had an agent on the road during
the vacation, but secured the influ.
ence of Supt. Herod and all his own
influence TO work through the coun-
" normal, but Baxter Springs was
doomed. There was no increase
and the faculty had to be dimin'
ished and it's quality of work drop
ped to lower standard. The peo-
pie of Baxter charged Prof. Bow.
man with extravaganza when he
had done Il all for them. We be.
iieve we can find a mere rational
cause in the very people of Baxter
Springs. We believe the words
Shakespeare put into the lips OF
Caseius in his play of Julius Gaze
sar will apply to Baxter when he
says, "the fault, dear Brutus, 10 not
in our stars, but Ia ourselves"
Today the Lowell Academy is
flourishing and It 10 q beautiful
sight-but rather humiliating-to
see 60 many of our young people
driving out TO Lowell to enjoy the
advantage of educational priv.
ileges.
Citizens of Baxter Syringe, let us
learn that TO be an educational
town we must be intellectual and
virtuous. Parents are not 90 in
sane 40 TO wish to send their sons
and daughters where morality and
virtue 10 not found. In conclusion
we wish to congratulate our town
for what our new school board has
already done for the future we'll
fare of Baxter Syringe. At their
first meeting they selected Prof
Curran of Girard ne our superin'
tcndeut of public schools. We have
known Prof. Curran for some seven
or eight years. We visited HE worn
several times while he was priuci
pal In Cherokee, and there 10 no dis.
count on his work az a teacher
Since then he has been superin'
tendeut of those schools and for the
past four years has been county
superintendent of Crawford county
Now furnish him with good a.
sistants and In two years you may
be able TO zee our schools where
they we're when Prof. Bowman left
the public schools. E.O.N.