Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-01-21
THE GREATER ALBUQUERQUE

beauty and gave no promise of be-
ing joy forever.
The Albuquerque of Yesterday.
And when the visitor took a
look over the city from Old Town
to University Heights, his opinion
was not greatly improved. When
rain fell, the streets were a night
mare of sticky slush; when the
weather was dry they were a hor-
ror Of swirling dust Street lamps
were few and far between, giving
just enough light, when not as
sisted by moon and stars, to make
darkness visible. The street car
system was model of about all
that should be avoided, both in
equipment and operation. The uni
versity of New Mexico was mac
cessible except by a long and dus-
ty or muddy trip on foot or by
paying a dollar to a taxi man.
All of that has changed, Our
streets have bithulithic pavements;
we have ornamental lights in pro-
fusion: George Roslington took
over the street car lines, extended
them to the university, banished
the old cars that came out of the
ark with Noah, and replaced them
with the first one-man equipment
installed in the west, and the city
car lines pay, despite the fact that
we have daily more than a thou
sand automobiles on our streets.
Equally important has been the
~, ~ nNn
The Charles Ilfeld company and
the Gross, Kelly company have
erected costly buildings to keep
company with the Putney building
and the Y. M. C, A. building is one
of the most imposing and artistic
| in the west. The Sturges hotel
corner has been reconstructed, the
| Combs hotel has been erected, and
since l first saw albuquerque the
Rosenwald department store build
ing, the Masonic temple, the Fed
eral building, the Electric light
| building, the Melini building and
two modern apartment buildings
have been completed and the Elks
club building, one of the best in
the west, is being reconstructed.
All of this on the west side Of the
railroad tracks. On the east side
we have built high school build
ing that now would cost a quarter
of a million dollars; the buildings
| at the state university have been
tripled and the attendance of COL
| lege students has increased about
ten-fold instead of a few college
students has been increased about
| ten-fold. Instead of a few college
students and the, bulk made up Of
students of high school grade, the
university now has all college stu
dents, and it is going ahead by
leaps and bounds. In addition to
the high school building, we are
now preparing to spend four hun
bred thousand dollars for addi-
tional city school buildings to care
for the needs Of our growing juve-
nile population.
The Schools.
Let me say in passing, that one
| of the great attractions of Albu-
querque as a residence city is its
| splendid schools. Not only have
we ward schools and a high school
that take rank with the best in the
east, but we are rapidly becom-
ing the educational Athens of the
southwest. Here we have the state
university the excellent schools of
the Catholic church, Menaul
school, bigger and better equipped
! than most of the industrial schools
of the east, the Methodist college
for boys, the Methodist school for
| girls, the United States Indian
school, where a better course is
given than ever was given at Car
lyle, while the Albuquerque Bust
ness college is a real school of COM
merce which draws students from
every state of the west.
!! We never have properly adver-
tised the fact that here students
| from gother sections of the United
States may gain a practical know
ledge of the Spanish language
i language second in importance in
world affairs only to the English
and far more important CONNER
cially to our people than is any
other foreign tongue. Latin-Amer-
| lea is the Eldorado of coming ad-
venture. Our commerce with the
republics south of us is growing
/ by leaps and bounds, and the young
man who knows both the Spanish
and the English language has a
great advantage over one who
! knows only one language. Let us
not forget to advertise our educa-
tional advantages, placing especial
emphasis upon our Spanish envi-
ronmeflt.
When I first saw Albuquerque, in
the waste between the city limits
tie had had the courage and the
vision to erect a sanitorium for
persons afflicted with throat and
lung diseases. His venture grew
and prospered. A half dozen
others have come since and have
prospered. More are to come and
they will prosper.
The commercial Club.
There was a Commercial club
here when l came to Albuquerque.
1t had done real good; but the
work of the secretary was sadly
hampered by the time he had to
take in serving cigars and cocktails
to the players or penny ante, bridge
and billiards and in chasing COL
lections in order to meet overdue
interest on the buildings debt, and
for the payment of overdue bills
for coal and electric lights. Thanks
to the public spirited energy of A.
B. McMillen, Max Nordhaus. w. c.
Oestreich, the banks, and other
citizens, the Commercial club was
replaced by a well organized and
we'll financed Chamber of Com
merce and the city now responds
to the aggressive slogan of its Sec
rotary we all step lively"
For Rent" Was Not Obsolete.
When l came here eleven years
ago. there we're For Rent" signs,