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WINNETKA WEEKLY TALK Nearly Everybody In Winnetka Reads The Talk VOL. IX, NO. 6. WINNETKA, ILLINOIS, SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1920 "TWENTY PAGES PRICE FIVE CENTS EXPLAINS STAND ON SCHOOL SITE ISSUE President Bell of School Board Characterizes Report He Ap- proves Horace Mann Site as "Humor" REVIEWS "CENTRAL" PLAN Fears Heavy Cost of Erecting Build- ing As Proposed by Winnetka School Association Determined to dispel doubt as to his position in the Village school site issue President Bell of the Board of Education, in an interview this week with a representative of the Weekly Talk, declared that state- ments made in last week's issue of - the Winnetka Weekly Talk under the name of Frank D. Fulton on behalf of the Winnetka School association, as to the attitude of the Village coun- cil and the Plan commission, may be misinterpreted and should be made clear to every voter in the village. He douted, he said, that the report that the Horace Mann site had his approval "would have any effect except adding a little touch of humor to the campaign." "Touch of Humor" "I read with great interest Mr. Fulton's article in the "Talk" that the Horace Mann site had my ap- proval," said Mr. Bell. "I don't imagine such a statement would have any effect except adding a little touch of humor to the campaign. "The statements made in behalf of the Winnetka School association as to the attitude of the Plan Commis- sion may, be misinterpreted and should be made clear. "A careful reading of Mr. Fulton's article discloses that he claims only that these bodies have approved the Horace Mann site as suitable for some kind of school, but the casual reader might readily infer that they had approved it as a site for 'the new centralized school. This is not the fact. Must Cling to Facas "The Village will gain nothing by locating its schools under any mis- apprehensions of facts. I have re- ceived a communication from the chairman of the Plan Commission which states the attitude of these bodies." This statement appears elsewhere in this issue. Mr. Bell was asked for his opinion on the proposed building shown in the Winnetka School association advertisement in lase week's Weekly Talk. He said: Fears Heavy Costs "We should see the inside of it before we say how good it will be as a school. Let's see what it costs. It appears to me from the drawing that the plan is to duplicate the Horace Mann school on the north half of the block. This school re- quires the most floor space per child of any of our schools and therefore it doesn't seem economical to duplicate such a type of school." HOLY NAME SOCIETY IN ANNUAL BANQUET MONDAY The Annual banquet of the Holy Name society of Hubbard Woods, took place on Monday evening, April 12, The Parish hall, which was ar- tistically decorated for the occasion by a number of the women of the parish), presented a beautiful ap- pearance. The dinner, which was also prepared and served by the women, left nothing to be desired. All the men of the parish, members or non-members of the society, as well as the Holy Name Juniors, were invited. Frederick Haarth, in welcoming the guests, referred to his early struggles when there were only a few parishioners, the heavy debt in- curred, the gradual growth of the parish, the payment of the debt in full this year and the setting aside of a substantial sum toward the erec- tion of a new church. Frererick Kramer, of Wilmette, spoke eloquently of the good work being done by the Holy Name so- 'ciety. ADVANCE ISSUE The Winnetka Weekly Talk will be issued next week on Friday, April 30, instead of on the customary day of publication. CHURCH ORGANIST RESIGNS Ellis E. Chase, organist at Christ church has resigned his position with the local church to become organist at St. Peter's church, Chicago. "Misinterpreted" Expressing surprise over what he terms "misinterpretation" of fact in an article appearing in last week's issue of the Weekly Talk under the name of Frank D. Fulton, Village president John S. Miller, Jr., has re- quested the publication of the follow- ing copy of a letter addressed by him to Frank D. Fulton. The letter is complete as follows: April 21, 1920. Frank D. Fulton, Esq., Chairman, General Committee, Winnetka School Association, 932 Euclid avenue, Winnetka, Illinois. My dear Mr. Fulton: In the Winnetka Weekly Talk for Saturday, April 17 last, appeared an article by you on the question of the location of the new school. Some of the statements in it have surprised me, and in view of my conversation with you a few days before the ap- pearance of the article, I want to call your attention to certain infer- ences which I think the article care ries, and which may not have been apparent to you when writing it. It has been the policy of the pres- ent Village Council, and of myself as its President, to treat the ques- tion of the location of the new school as outside of the scope of our official functions. Indeed, I have personally gone so far as to de- cline a position on an active com- mittee for the new school, in order not to permit my official position to lend weight to my personal views. In view, however, of your talk, I feel that insofar as your article dis- cusses matters within the jurisdiction of the Council, I cannot in justice to the other members of the Council, to the people of the village, and to you yourself, refrain from calling your attention to the misinterpreta- tion which I fear many persons will place upon your language. Much as the people of the village may differ in their views we should endeavor to preserve justice, fairness and good feeling in the controversy. You will, I am sare, be the first to agree to that. And you would regret more than anyone else any false impres- sion conveyed by your article. There- fore, I know you will be glad to have you attention called to passages of the article which are likely to be mis- construed by readers. You say, in regard to plans sub- mitted by architects for the suggest- ed school building on the Horace ann block: "This plan has been submitted with the idea that it was the first step towards the consummation of Win- netka's Plan Commission's idea of beautifying the central portion of the village." Now I do not pretend to speak for the Plan Commission, but as Pres- ident of the Village Council I feel it my duty to point out that I re- gard it as the prerogative of the Council, second only to the Plan Commission itself, to determine what is and what is not a develop- ment of the Village Plan; and as I told you in our conversation before the appearance of the article in question, the improvement of the Horace Mann site by the erection of a school covering the greater part of the block does not meet the ideas of the Plan Commission or of the Council, so far as I have ever heard them expressed by either body. You then say: "The plan of the Village Plan Com- mission contemplates the purchase of the western portion of the Hor- ace Mann site, and this plan has ber approved by the Village Council." Does not this carry the inference, (which T am sure could not have been present in your mind,) that the Plan Commission and the Village Council have approved the purchase of the western portion of this block as a site for a school? You will, of course, recognize that such an in- ference is not true. You then say: > "At the referendum on May 1 the School Board will be authorized to purchase this land, and by so doing we will be accelerating the time of purchasing this property, and will ob- tain the use of it when it is needed, incidentally getting the property at a price much lower than it can be purchased later." And: "The Village Plan also plates leaving the Horace school at its present location." And again: "It is pointed out that in addition to having the approval of President Laird Bell, who has stated that the Horace Mann site was the location (qualifying this statement by saying contem- Mann (Continued on Page 8) BLACKBURN COLLEGE HEAD AT MEN'S CLUB President of Remarkable Educational Institution To Tell of Work at Meeting, April 28 The next meeting of the Winnetka Men's club will be held on Wednes- day evening, April 28, at 7 o'clock, at Community House. Dinner will be served as usual. The speaker will be William M. Hudson, President of Blackburn College of Carlinville, Ill. His sub- ject will be "A College With a Big Hearth." "Literary Digest" of January 3. Blackburn is called "A Friendly Little College". The purpose of this institu- tion is to give people of very limit- ed means an opportunity to acquire an education which they can not af- ford without an opportunity to work their way and help themselves. Coal Town College Blackburn is situated in the coal fields of Illinois where the need of an institution of this kind is keenly felt. "Just when it looked as if there was not even a silver-plated lining to my black clouds," says one student who had lost an arm in the coal mines, "a friend came to me with words of hope. He told me of a little prairie college out in southern and women with plenty of grit and gumption, but not much ready cash, are given a chance to work for their education.' "That was the college for me. I didn't lose any time writing to the president, and he wrote right back for me to "come along," which I did. Remarkable School . "Blackburn college is at Carlin- ville, Illinois, just about sixty miles north of St. Louis. Possibly you've never heard of it, but it's got the big- gest heart, and about the least "front" of any institution of learning in the country. At Blackburn there are no ivy-covered impressive college buildings, no atmosphere of wealth and power. Just two old brick build- ings, built soon after the Civil war, two retired Pullman sleeping cars used as dormitories, and a two-hun- dred-acre farm. That's all. Yet that little college is putting one hundred young men and women on their feet each year." Winnetka residents will be inter- ested in the description of the achievements of this remarkable in- stitution. Company A Annual Dinner on April 26 Members of Disbanded Militia Com- pany To Meet For First Annual Reunion A very interesting affair has been planned for Community House next Monday evening, April 26, in the first annual re-union dinner of Company A, First Infantry, I. R. M. It is just a year since this very efficient or- ganization was mustered out of serv- ice. At that time a dinner was held which aroused so much good fellow- ship and good natured fun that it was unanimously decided to make it an annual affair. The dinner this year is expected to bring out close to one hundred per cent of the former members of Com- pany A, and the plans which have been perpared indicate that any who do not attend will miss an unusually good time. The dinner will be serv- ed at 6:30 o'clock and civilian clothes are in order. The committee in charge of the festivities includes the following: Messrs. Murdock, Rum- sey, Eastman, Sargent, Freeman, Adams, Conway and Fowle. NARROWLY ESCAPES DEATH IN MOTOR SMASH-UP Grover Hendricks, Winnetka mo- torcycle policeman, narrowly escaped death in a collision Saturday night when his machine collided with a car driven by A. C. Thompson of Wil- mette, at North avenue and Green Bay road. Hendricks was hurled twenty feet sustaining a sprained wrist and lacerations about the legs. Hendricks was injured in the pur- suit of a speeder who escaped when the motorcycle crashed into the ap- proaching Thompson car. Police are looking for the speed maniac who was said to have been traveling at a Ta duil™s § Ww Seb Deeldied 8 hi dunn t] fifty mile rate. FB FMETRE ROY fECATIA] : a Illinois, where he said, 'young men TY gpa a% 2 "Unauthorized" Note: The editor of the Winnetka Weekly Talk desires to state that publication of the matter in question as referred to in the following was not an error on the part of the Win- netka Weekly Talk. The matter came to the Weekly Talk offices through the customary news chan- nels and was published as news for the information of our subscribers. Bo April 21, 1920 Mr. Frank D. Fulton, 208 South La Salle Street, Chicago, IIL Dear Sir: I received your letter of the 20th too late to answer yesterday. I con- firm my advice under date of the 18th, that the article published in last week's "Talk" was uiauthorized, and that some of the figures were not accurate. The initial costs of the Board of Education plan are as stated in that article, and as repeatedly stated to the public, to-wit: Erection of building (18 rooms, assembly hall, gymnasium and of- fices about $350,000. Protecting land against floods, $2,500. Cost of five school busses (3 to be purchased now) @ $1,565, $7,825. Total $360,325. The only maintenance peculiar to the Board of Education Plan con- sists of special assessments. We are advised that the only special assess- ments likely to be levied in the next three years (that is, until the general quadrennial assessment, and the con- sequent increase in our resources) will be $500 for surfacing Elm street, and an annual assessment of $75 to $150 for sewers. It is propable that an extensive assessment for side- walks or paving on the other sur- rounding streets will be levied for a good many years. The maintenance cost for three busses would not exceed $2,200. The initial and maintenance costs of busses would apply to either plan. We do not feel that we have the right to ask the children of the northwest part of town to walk, any more than those of the southeast; but transpor- tation is, for young children, certain- ly perferable to taking the electric line. The figures given in the article as published in regard to the costs of the Horace Mann plan were of course entirely speculative. Our figures have been before the village for months, but even yet we have not the data as to either the cost of the land or the cost of the building on the Horace Mann site. To prevent any misunderstanding, I am sending a copy of this letter to the "Weekly Talk", where it will reach the same persons who read the original article, and I will request that it be published. I should add that we do not regard the Editor of "Talk" as responsible for the mistake in printing last week's article. Very truly yours, Laird Bell. CHURCHMAN ORDAINED HERE SUNDAY; ASKED TO REMAIN At the Sunday morning services of the Swedish Free Evangelical church at Winnetka, May 16, Paul T. Sea- shore, who for two years hase been a student at the Moody Bible Insti- tute of Chicago, will be ordained in the ministry. Mr. Seashore has been preaching at the Winnetka church during the past year and a half. He expects to con- tinue his theological studies. A call has been extended him from the Winnetka church and also one from a congregation in Minneapolis. He has not yet decided which he will accept. Mr. Seashore came to Chicago a little less than two years ago from Minneapolis. In connec- tion with his course at the Moody Bible Institute, he has done consider- able work in various rescue missions. TRAFFIC VIOLATORS Chief of police W. M. Peterson this week announced a campaign against prontiscuous traffic violators. Car owners who permit machines to re- main uarked in the streets through the night will be subject to arrest without warning. Chief Peterson also announced a drive against contractors who per- sist in leaving building materials and tools in the streets thus obstructing traffic. CRITICALLY ILL John S. Miller Sr. of Chicago, father of village president John S. Miller Jr., was reported critically ill Jue this Ti¥irime g 7 yd SATE Lat SCHOOL ASSOCIATION OFFERS SOME 'FACTS' Touch Every Phase of School Cons troversy in Presenting Expert Opinions Favoring Horace Mann Site FIGHT ON THE BUS ISSUE Condensed Argument = Circulated Throughout Village Expected to Win Many Followers Winnetka's liveliest civic contro- versy, a battle of words, has resolved itself into a head-swimming, nerve- wrecking conglomeration of facts, statistics and opinions in wide di- versity from architect, builder, edu- cator and lawyer, civic leader. and average citizen. Both factions in the unprecedented: school site con=- troversy claim to be armed with un- disputable facts. No sentiment is wasted and, with Referendum day close at hand, the fight is on to a fin- ish. It is the greatest civic battle in the history of the village. Remarkable in the eyes of every person interested in the campaign has been the apparent phenomenal growth of sentiment attached to the plan of the Winnetka School asso- ciation, a civic body less than two months old, but which within com- paratively few weeks has contrived and, in the opinion of some citizens, succeeded in presenting a most ade- quate and feasible plan for construc- tion of a modern appointed school building on the so called "Horace Mann school site." Condensed Argument _ While every citizen of Winnetka is presumed at this stage of the battle, with the wealth of literature spread broadcast throughout the village, to have become more or less thoroughly acquainted with local school needs and prospects, the plan of the Winnetka School association has been so effectively condensed for the reader as to make it worthy of repetition at this time. The plan and argument in favor of the so called "Horace Mann school site" is briefly as follows: Enlarged Horace Mann The central site for a central school will give your children: A school in the center of popula- tion and transportation. A school on a school site of over six acres. A school allowing additional com- plete unit playground for lower grades as well as a large separate unit playground for upper grades. A school on a site that does not require drainage. | A school on a site that does not require school authorities to furnish bus transportation for which you would have to pay year after year. A school that would harmonize with the Village Plan commission idea in beautifying the center of the village. A school on a site that will provide a central and accessible location for the Kuppenheimer Memorial hall. A -school, the erection and main- tenance of which, including cost of additional ground, will be more economical and can be built by sec- tions as needed. Winnetka School Association. Horace Mann Site Purchase price all additional land $75,000 with minimum credit in sale of 4 houses $10,000. Options have been offered... oii. ivi ins $ 65,000 Filling, drainage, tiling, pre- paring land J... doen aide vet 000 Total ........c lin ede, $66,000 West Elm Street Site Paving, sidewalks, sewers, water main, representing only amount chargeable to school site fund based on School Boards' own figures $ 35,732 Purchase, 5 safe, standard busses. 8 ide vie 25,000 Filling, drainage, tiling, pre- paring dand cae. i. vie dees 49,000 Total soi... ov hininssnosnty $109,732 Busses Big Factors Proposed operation of busses in transporting children to and from school has developed one of the out- standing poinfs of controversy, at least from the opposition standpoint of the Winnetka School association. "We have consulted experts," says the association leaders, and have yet to find one who has a word of favor- able comment for the proposed bus system. "The Wayne works, manufacturers of the busses which the School Board (Continued on Page 8) | i | | Adil