The Seattle Republican. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1???-1915, 1901-04-12

Iowa to Be Visited by Chamber
of Commerce.
PROF. BARNARD DROPPED.
After having served the city in the
capacity of superintendent of public
education for eleven years without
cessation, Superintendent Frank J.
Barnard has been unceremOniously
dropped from that position by the
school board and his place filled by
Frank B. Cooper, who is now resi-
dent of Salt Lake, Utah. 1t can be
truthfully said that no city in the
West has a better educational status
than has Seattle, and all because Mr..
Barnard has labored necessarily that
Seattle might boast of just such a
public school record. He has given his
time and his talent to the bettering of
the school conditions in this city and
has succeeded most admirably, and it
is with many regrets that great ma
jority Of the citizens Of this city learn
that he is to be dropped from that po
sition July 1st next. All men have
their faults, and it is more than 1hely
that Prof. Barnard has his, but no
man, woman or child can deny the
fact but that he has made made Seat
tie a splendid school superintendent,
and placed the public schools in this
city on an equal footing with that of
any other city anywhere in the Uni
ted States, whether it be East, West,
North or South, and perhaps ahead of
any in the West. The Republican has
no comments to make on the dropping
of Prof. Barnard on the part Of the
school board, but it is Of the opinion
that if it was efficiency as we'll as pro-
ficiency that the school board wanted
in a superintendent it could not have
done better than to have had Frank J.
Barnard succeed himself as superin-
'tendent of the public schools of this
city.
GAMBLERS GETTING GOBBLED.
1t is very gratifying to see that the
Law and Order League has finally
aroused itself and have sworn out
warrants for the arrest of the gamblers
and divekeepers in this city. During
the week many gambling houses have
been closed up, owing to the fact that
lllO Law anu OIUGI hGdSuG udS DG6u
making relentless war upon them, and
the proprietor of every house that at
tempted to run public games has been
arrested. A very remarkable point in
this closing up of the gambling houses
in this city lies in the fact that the
chief of police absolutely refused to
take any steps towards closing up
gambling houses, which were being
run contrary both to the laws of the
state and the city, when a committee
of the Law and Order League waited
upon him and asked him to do So In
stead Of making some pretense to close
up gambling when he was appealed to
by the committee, he absolutely
laughed in their faces, treated them
with cold contempt, which so aroused
Mr.. Blaine, who was spokesman of the
committee, that he told him tnat gam
bling would be stopped, and be stop
ped at once even though he MeredILn)
would not interfere. What Mr.. Blaine
said proved to be true, for the sheriff
was APPEALED to and the warrants plac-
ed in his hands, and the gamblers
were at one earrested and their prop
erty seized. The Republican cannot
see why the chief of police, whose duty
it is to protect the citizens from law
breakers, should absolutely refuse to
arrest men that are daily breaking the
laws. An official who does not arrest
lawbreakers when he knows that they
are breaking the laws is no less Grim
inal than the lawbreakers themselves.
1t is a fearful state of affairs when the
citizens are compelled to leave the
chief of policies Office and go to the
sheriff for official aid that law
breakers may be brought to justice and
their practices squelched, and yet that
is the exact condition of affairs in
this city at present.
MOVE THE COURT HOUSE.
A petition is being circulated by
| some enthusiast with the view that the
| same be signed by a large number of
property owners, voters and taxpayers
| for the purpose of inducing the county
| commissioners to purchase the Yesler
| property for a county court house and
| to erect thereon a building to cost not
| less than $780, 900, and to pay $220,000
| for the property. The present court
! house, the petitioner says, can be used
| either for a public school house or
some other kind Of a public building,
ali of which is quite true, and it also
might be used for a private residence,
or a hotel, or hospital or any old
thing all of which is quite true; but
the entire scheme is so impracticable
and so void of any business propensi-
ties that it seems a waste of time to
further impose upon the citizens the
visionary idea of undertaking such a
change. That it was mistake to have
the court house placed in the location
that it now occupies is quite apparent
to everybody that has to attend to
business up there, but it is up there