The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-06-25

beer and wine. As an evidence. at least.
Of the superiority OF Tell City products the
government has just placed contracts with
these plants for all its desks for Cuban off,
ces. giving advanced prices. Desks in the
White H use are from Tell City.
WHERE EVERYBODY WORKS.
Tell City. in every sense of the word, is
an Industrial town. The homes are no less
bee-hfves OF activity than are the factories.
The children. women and old men work in
cessantIy. They are all expert basket weav-
ers. chair Gamers OF toy makers. There is
no way OF getting hold Of the value OF their
output. but the statement is a safe one.
that IL is as large as the total manufactur-
ing interests of the average town of three
thousand population. The children are
raised strictly on the town motto-"Let
there be no drones." They are. from the
first, inculcated with the doctrine that by
their iabors and honesty. and by those
things alone. they may aspire to become
members OF the community. Luckily they
come from hardy parents and are healthy
and full of brawn-making material.
The cooperative plan could be carried out
An no other city in the United States as 1t is
carried out here. The foundation Of the
town does not lie I'm its factories so much
as in the people who have made them. OF
the 1900 population, about 100 are Swiss or
os Swiss decent. LOO are Germans and the
remaining 200 are Americans who have
adopted the Swiss-German manner OF life.
They are peculiar people, but they have a
trinity OF great virtues-industry. frugality
and cleanliness. They are abnormal in all
OF these. Their frugal principles. however,
do not reach even the borderlaDd of parsi-
mony- They are the best dressed people in
Southern Indiana. as well as the most
cleanly in appearance. A stranger entering
the city Is struck by this fact. Even the
poorest observer will notice that the town is
the cleanest he was probably ever Inland
he will also be struck by it's beauty. If the
stranger arrives during working hours he
will. without doubt. mistake it for the dead
est community on earth, or possibly for a
deserted city. But when the big. whistles
blow the work-end hours. there is a trans
formation and the streets are crowded with
people hurrying home or to eating places
All OF the business of the town is transacted
at night and the merchants might as vel.
close their stores. as far as the home trade
f. concerned, during the working hours OF
the day. This Industrial beehive, where
every child. as well as every adult, has its
duties TO perform, and where there are nc
drones. has another distinction which may
be interesting. II is the only Republican
community in that section of the State.
OWN THEIR OWN HOMES.
The surprising percentage of home own
srs. which is probably the highest Of any
city or town in the United States. as well as
Indiana. can in very great measure be &C.
- C2nnrad for hror10h a onCporotfrA Ao-,e
building club. Young men are advised to
marry young and settle down to useful
lives. The cooperative club advances them
money-generally about 500 to begin with
for the purpose of building a home. The
borrower pays in $50 a week from his earn
ings for three years and ten months. OF
half that for twice the length of time. But
he also shares In the profits. When he has
discharged his principal and has paid in the
Sis interest he finds SO earnings have &C,
cumulated and await him. This only
leaves him out $40. There are many Other
most interesting cooperative helps. Re.
garding the homes. 1t is also a safe state.
ment that there is a smaller per cent. oil
fne residences and a larger per cent. Of
pretty homes and cottages in Tell City. thar
IN n other city or town I'm the United
States: that these homes are better painted
are in better repair and the lawns are bet.
ter kept than in any other city. In prices
the houses range from $500 to S2,00o-fev
going over the last-named figure. Land
scape gardening is INDUCED in and tn.
home district looks like a summer garden
Tell City is essentially a city of home own
ers- These cities never go to the wall.
The cooperative plan worked out in fac
tories and other establishments exists in al
branches of government. Mayor Fem i
one OF the workmen He started at the ap
prentice bench in one Of the furniture fac
tories The city is a model in every re
spect- 1t has six miles Of graded and curbet
streets lined with heavy foliage. There Il
q commercial fire protection and public
water plant. The homes and streets ar,
lighted with electricity. There are fu
churches, three Swiss-German social clubs
e theater and a city hall that discounts a
least sixty OF the ninety-two courthouses il
Indiana. The school system is without
superior. Though the German language /
used almost exclusively among the citizens
ail have good English educations, and man,
are students of the classics. The tax rat,
Is but 30 cents. 1t is the only successful
colony in the United States. 1t has passes
through three of the Nations most tryin,
panics. which have disrupted the bushes.
OF the country from one end to the other
but still II grows, expands and progresses.