Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-08-14
,,.so PER AsNum IN ADvAncz
PROFESSOR DOWNS
TALKS OF DENVER

Mr.. Downs, who has Just returned
from visit Of several weeks In Den
yer, speaks of his Impressions Of that
city. 1t is the educational and literary
center of the state. In Its public II
brary 1t has now about $4,000 vol
umes. including fine books of refer
ence. Durango has no public library.
There is no opportunity. outside of the
small library at the High school. for
her people to consult books of refer
ence. They are obliged to go to Dem
yer to look up things which they have
no facilities for finding out here.
There are no opportunities In Duran
go for teachers. II they want to pur-
sue a course of study. they have to
go away In order to do 1t. The ladies'
| society has gathered few books
| which are now in one of the rooms Of
the High school; but. situated as we
| are, away off here among the mount
aims, Durango ought to have a free
public library, so that she may be the
center of intellectual life for the sur
rounding towns and counties, SO that
the people who wish to study may
come and stay here instead OF being
obliged to cross the range In order to
continue their work. 1t has been up
hill work for the ladies' association
to gather the books that they have,
and no provision has been made for
public library building. The city
really ought to have such place as
complement to the public buildings.
Another thing which is OF import
ance to Denver at present Is the selec-
ton of state superintendent OF
schools. Mrs. Grenfell is willing to
succeed herself but Miss Emma M.
Herey OF the county Of Arapahoe Is
working against her. Miss Herey In
bright. active, ambitious young wom-
an and would like to be state super
tendent. There are clubs formed In
Denver in favor of each Politics
ought not to be brought into educa-
tional matters, 1t Is not right. In
Massachusetts, the state superintend-
ent is appointed instead of being elect
ed. If it were so here. 1t would re-
move the cause Of trouble. The prac-
| tice of getting the institute to endorse
one party or another Is unfortunate.
Another thing that Is going to de-
velop in Denver is the vacation school,
They have been running a vacation
school in the Hyde park school, which
| custom is likely to spread and become
very popular The school was held
| this year for about half the vacation
period 1t gathered In children who
would otherwise have been running
around the streets, and relieved pa
l I'd In
Then 1t also gave pupils who have
fallen behind their classes on account
OF absence from contagious diseases or
other causes, opportunity to catch up
with the regular work of their classes.
1t is helpful in this way and many
Others and bound to develop.
There is great educational revival
in the line OF lifting the debts on the
| institutions. Chancellor Buchtei has
| been around through the state, and
the University OF Denver now sees its
way clear to free itself from the
weight of debt which has been resting
upon 1t. This Is a promising institu-
tion, enrolling last year 200 pupils
The Baptist college In the suburbs Is
doing the same thing. It seems that
the state is in a pretty prosperous con-
dition. The population Of Denver Ii
now nearly double what 1t was In
1893. The streets are thronged with
people, great many tourists from the
east are there and money Is plentiful
Buffalo Bll's Wild West show comes
into the town. and carries away $780,
900 in two days Another show takes
away $4,000 more, turning thousands
away from Its doors. Large business
blocks. Offices and other buildings, as
well as residences are going up all
the time.
One thing that has been threatening
the very existence OF the place is the
water famine that they are undergo
ing. In spite of all the rain they have
had In that part of the state, washing
out railroads and destroying bridges.
none has gone to the Denver water
sheds. They have had to stop the
street sprinklers. reduce the time for
sprinkling lawns to two hours a day,
and seem to be In quite a bad way.
| Mr.. Downs says that he finds things
at the High school In quite a crafty
ing condition. The contract that WAS
let the first week in July for the addi-
(tion to the school building has been
carried out, the basement Is com
plete and the upper stories are being
raised. Everything is going along
well. and there is no reason why there
shouldn't be eight rooms ready for
occupancy in the school building on
September 2. nor that the school
should not begin at that time, al
though few Of the rooms might
have to hold half day sessions for
awhile.