THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: JUKE 18, 1911.
?J J
THE EDWARD RQSEWATER SCHOOL-Address of
For the members ot the family of Edward Rose
water, 1 cannot adequately say how deeply we ap
preciate the honor conferred upon his memory by the
dedication of this magnificent school In his name.
We are scarcely less gratified by the sentiment ex
pressed and tributes paid to him by those who ave
spoken here today. We know the achievements of
his lifetime and the notable record ho left as a heri
tage to us all, set an example of lofty purpose and
patriotic citizenship which it will require our best
efforts to emulate, and we hope that the name In
scribed across the front of this school bulldlng-will
be an inspiration, not only to us but to all who may
year by year pass under it and' through tho portals .
to higher levels.
To this dedicatory program I believe that what
I can best contribute Is a brief account cf my father's
, own schooling and his educational equipment,' to-'
gether with his ideas and ideals of public school
educaton. This will, perhaps, lead up to and explain
how he camo to choose the public schools as the
channel for his principal public bequest, in recogni
tion of which, at least in part, the naming of this
I school building was prompted.
Early Educational Achievements.
It is wonderful almost unbelievable to con-
template what in other days would be regarded as
next to a miracle that by. force of his own person-
ality a poor boy, born in a small village in a distant
country across the sea, where a totally different
language is spoken, should here be acclaimed with
a memorial more highly valued than tablets of bronze
or shafts of granite, because this school Is one of
! our living, growing institutions that shape the lives
of rising generations. When he was born, seventy
years ago, there were no public schools with com
I pulsory attendance such as we have today, but even
J then there were schools in Bohemia open to those
ho wished to take advantage of them. - Edward
Rosewater was born in a little village called Bukowan,
. about fifty miles south) of Prague, which then did
sot even possess a school building, and I believe does
not possess one to this day. Ills father had been left
an orphan at the age of seven and lied ' been ap
prenticed to a butcher, but In spite of that, by pur
suing studies in German and Hebrew on his own ac
count, had secured a fair education so that at four
teen he served as a private tutor aa a side pursuit in
addition- to bis regular duties. The mother was a
woman of keen intellect and superior education, to
the extent that education of women at that time went,
so that the development of the boy'B talents was not
neglected. He had lessons at home in all the elemen
tary branches with occasional exhibitions to prove
his father's full acceptance of the old rule that to
spare the rod would spoil the child, with the result
that before he was five he could read and write
Hebrew, and had soon added the groundwork of Bo
hemian and German. Whether it was due to an ex
traordinary aptitude for languages, or to the thorough
ness of his early home training, be never lost, even
through years of disuse, his familiarity with these
three languages.. I shall r?fer to his peculiar linguis
tic abilities again.
as soon as ne was able ne was sent to a school
corresponding to our grammar grades, a school which
taught both German and Bohemian. This school was
In the neighboring village of Plsek, and was main
tained by the government as a publio school, al
I though probably not as a free school. ' I have lately
! come across a document that may be of Interest to
(you, as it is to me, being the school record, duly
attested, of my father in this school for the year 1852.
He was then eleven years old and had finished his
first year and been promoted to the highest class
which was there taught The certificate shows that
be ranked "sehr gut," very good in German In the '
'three branches of conversation, spelling and compo
' sitlon; In his Bohemian lessons he was marked "very
good" in reading; and "right good" in geography;
"good" In history, and "very good" In arithmetic,
geography, science, drawing, natural history and pen
manship. The probable reason why this, certificate was
made out and preserved was that In the following
year he was sent to Prague to attend the 'Real
acbule there, living with relatives In the Interval,
studying under teachers more competent and exper
enced than those In the small village schools. He
was still In school In Prague when. In his thirteenth
year, his parents having decided to emigrate to Amer
ica, he was called home to help get ready for the
trip across the ocean to the fabled land of liberty
and plenty, to which they all looked forward with
great expectations and many misgivings.
v Migration of Family to America.
' The family, which then consisted of father,
, mother and nine children, landed In New York on
Christmas day In 1854, not one of them able to speak
a word of English or having the slightest knowledge
of the country beyond what had been conveyed to
them In letters from Immigrants from their own vil
lage who had gone ahead of them. They settled In
jCleveland, O., where Edward, as the oldest boy,
and the next younger brother, had to be put to work
,at once at odd Jobs to help out with the household
I expenses. He soon succeeded in securing a place in
ja tinware and stove store, where he picked up a com
xnand of English rapidly, and then obtained a posi
jtlon at clerk, first In a grocery and then In a dry
goods and notion shop.
His ambition, however, did not let him rest In
that sort of work. Wishing to perfect himself for
is, more responsible vocation, he quit his Job and put
lln three months at a commercial college, taking a
course designed to fit him to be an accountant and
bookkeeper. He engaged in this capacity in a whole
sale house Just as the panic of 1857 broke, which
.left him again unemployed With no prospects at
jhome he seized upon this opportunity to start out
and see the country on his own resources, taking up
with a companion named Warren, who had been a
telegraph operator. Without going Into detail Into
the vicissitude of that period, suffice it to say that
with his companion's assistance Mr. Rosewater in a
jfew weeks mastered the telegraphic code, and with
.some further preliminary practice became an expert
(telegraph operator, able to hold a position almost
anywhere that the railroad and telegraph had pene
trated. . When the war broke out he was pounding the
key at Stevenson, Ala., and when It became inipos
jslbla for a northerner to stay there, he moved up to
Nashville, where he remained until the union forces
took . possession. Shortly afterwards he. himself,
went Into the army as a member of the Military
Telegraph corps, making the Rappahannock cam
paign with Pope,' and sending all the commander's
dispatches from the field at the second battle of
Bull Run. For nearly a year he was assigned to
duty la the War department telegraph office at
.Washington, where the official dispatches for the
Victor Rosewater at Dedication
president, secretary of wsr and general of the army
were handled, and In that capacity transmittej over
the wires the original Emancipation Proclamation,
January 1, 1863.
I should have said that all Ibis time he was an
Intense student and constantly cn.'eavorlng to ex
pand his knowledge, particularly of languages and
science. While be was in the south he boarded with
a family of French people for tho particular purpesa
of learning French,, and succeeded eo well that in
later years he wes able to read French and converse
in French. This made tho fifth language he. had at
his command, and still later he by a little self-practice
succeeded in acquiring a reading acquaintance
wth Italian as his Blxth language. , In four of them
English, German. Bohemian and French ho was
sufficiently ut home to make public speeches.
Association With Scientists of Note.
During his year in Washington Mr. Rosewater
also utilized his opportunity to get In touch with a
number of eminent scientists engaged in government
work, especally Professor Joseph Henry of the
Smithsonian, institution, the co-inventor with Morse
of the electric telegraph, with -whom he afterwards
corresponded. All the years that he was in the tele
graph service my father was constantly observing
the phenomenon of electricity, and maklns practical
experiments, and to his last days by his reading and
contact with distinguished scientists, kept abreast of
modern electrical progress. Indeed, as those who
discussed these subjects with him know, he worked
out independently for himself many of the advanced
theories of electric energy that later came to be
generally accepted After he had removed to Omaha
In 1863, an outgrowth of his association with .Profes
sor Henry made him Instrumental in the lnaugura
ton of tho weather bureau by inducing the operators
at various points to note with him the thermometer
and barometer readings dally so that he could trans
mit them by wire to Professor Henry at Washington.
I have narrated all this to show you with what'
laborious persistence and perseverance my father
acquired the groundwork of his own education and
by constant study and application built a substan
tial superstructure In spite of meager resources and
many obstacles. It was the realization of what his
own education had cost him, and of tha difficulties
he had to overcome, that made him such a firm be
liever In the public schools, and made it his concep
tion of real philanthropy to help some worthy boy
or girl to a practical higher education which he,
himself, had had to secure unaided. I know of quite
a few Instances during his lifetime where he provided
the means for needy boys or girls to take a course in
a business college or In some trade school teaching
William E. Annin, Former Associate Editor
I am asked to give my recollections of The Bee ot
1879. The picture ofj the great paper of today, boused
In its palatial quarters with its score of editors and
reporters and Its 200 newsgatherers in different parts
of the state, the west and the great eastern capitals,
rises before me as I attempt to sketch the institution
on that August niornlng when I first presented myself
as an aspirant for a place on Its staff. The time which
has elapsed makes the contrast none the less vivid,
despite the many changes which have taken place in
the Interval.
Of the editors, reporters, foremen, clerks and
"prints" who In 1879 helped to make The Omaha Bee,
scarcely a halt dozen remain. The rickety old desks,
tables, cases and Imposing stones are replaced by new .
and handsome furniture. The single cylinder Hoe
press which we thought then a marvel of speed and '
watched In youthful rapture is replaced by mon
ster web machines throwing off their thousands ot
papers an hour. The little corner in which the
wheezy Baxter engine threatened with Instant death
the surrounding neighborhood has given way to an,
acre of boilers, dynamos, monster Corliss engines, ele
vator pumps, switchboards, wetting machines and the
innumerable pieces of paraphernalia with which the
modern newspaper structure Is equipped. Let me ask
some ot the sprightly young gentlemen connected with
that newspaper today, and who glide up through seven
story space In the cabs of handsome elevators to ac
company me on a visit to The Bee building and The
Bee establishment as it was ten years ago.
First Impressions.
The dusky two-story red brick structure In which
The Bee was then printed was scarcely less interior
to the office from which it has lately moved than its
late quarters are to those It today occupies. A large
bee-hive painted on its front warned all applicants
for positions that work and not style was what was
required ot Inmates. Inside, on the ground floor, the
counting room divided with the Job office the honors .
of gloom and dirt. A semi-circular counter, sur
mounted by a hideous cast-Iron railing, kept at bay
employes dunning for advances on their salary and
a public, not too impatiently rushing to get In adver
tisements. At the rear, a dozen type cases, a battered
proof press, and three or four Imposing stones on
rickety stands announced the presence ot the Job of
fice, and pointed the way to the editorial back stairs.
They were dark and crusted with dirt; and, as I
climbed them and entered the editorial rooms, I
thought that I had never seen such a dingy set of
quarters as those into which I stepped. The editor's
den was situated In the center of the building, with
no light except such as straggled in through a glass
sash partition which divided it from the composing
room In front. The windows were thirty-five feet
distance from the desk, and the sunbeams were forced
to dodge a score of stands, cases and imposing stones
before they could Teach Mr. Rosewater's table. On
the other side was the city editor's room, similarly
situated with respect to the rear of the building, and,
cut oft from its windows by the Job office and editor
ial rooms of the Pokrok Zapadu, that exciting Bo
hemian Journal, then as now edited by sturdy John
Roslcky. ..The combination ot smells and noises, the
odor of printing ink, roller composition, turpentine
and old clothes, the calls ot "Slug Five, does A 2 end
even," and "Pull out," the clanking ot the proof
press, the unintelligible Jabber ot a party of Bohem
ians in the rear room consulting the editor about a
marriage license, Joined to an acrid controversy be
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practical accomplishments, to make them self-supporting.
So when Mr. Rosewater was elected to tho legis
lature In 1871, now forty years ago, the principal
measure of legislation on which he centered his ef
forts was one to reorganize the schools of Omaha and
and centralize their management in a single elective
board of education. , Those who opposed this bill
sought to nullify it by attaching a proviso, which he
accepted, that it should not become operative unless
ratified by popular vote a sort of anticipation ot
the referendum of today Strangly enough it was
this very proviso that changed the whole current of
his career, for' In order to crystallize public sontlment
in favor of the proposed board of education he
started The Bee, at first for free distribution, and .
only afterwards as a permanent business enterprise.
The overwhelming vote endorsing the school law
was a vote of popular confidence in its sponsor and
his newspaper. It goes without saying that by voice
and pen he was a constant champion ot the free pub
lic schools, advocating and promoting everything
which, in his Judgment, promised to Increase their
efficiency, to raise their standards and to make their
pupils better citizens. At great sacrifice of time and
money, he fought tho enemies of the public schools
who would degrade them Into agencies of Intoler
ance or religious bigotry. He opposed the applica
tion of political tests, equally with religious tests, to
tho teaching force, and was a strong factor in pro-
I
tween the city editor and an angry subscriber, made
a scene which left an indelible Impression on my mind.
The Editor-in-Chief.
' There were no drones on The Bee of old days.
Each man wasexpected to do six men's work, was will
ing to do four's, and generally compromised on five.
Mr. Rosewater and Al Sorenson constituted the
staff before my arrival, the first bearing the title of
editor and proprietor and the latter carrying the bur
den of the city department Mr. Rosewater was par
excellence the all-round man ot the establishment.
He seemed to have obtained the secret of two of the
attributes of Deity; be was omnipresent and appar
ently omniscient. He WTote heavy editorials and
pungent editorial paragraphs; contributed local politi
cal news to the city page, clipped selections for the
news columns, selected Items for those startling chest
nuts dubbed "Connubial Bliss," "Peppermint Drops"
and "Honey for the Ladles," regulated the business
office a dozen times a day, and took subscriptions
on the streets and advertising contracts from the mer
chants. I used to think his only sorrow was that be
bad not In addition been born a steam engine so he
could run the presses, They were about the only
thing In the establishment that he did not move. In
addition to his ordinary duties above named, he con
stantly developed strong Interest in local politics, and
always had a dozen fights and twice that number of
ward politicians on his hands. On city or county
election days The Bee office was usually depopulated
and every man, from editor down, after rushing in
copy, early took a whirl at the polls. After a hard
day's work on election day, followed by an all night
session in collecting returns, the editor would bob
up serenely at 9 o'clock the pext morning with his
arm full of exchanges and his mouth full of sugges
tions about the paper, the last always pertinent, but
not as uniformly agreeable. His Indomitable energy,
his uncompromising persistency and his Invincible
pluck were at onoethe wonder and admiration ot the
office. Carrying the heavy financial burden of a paper
depending alone upon its excellence for popular sup
port, and fighting Its battles single-handed, in the
darkest days he never doubted its ultimate success,
and, hopefully increased expenses with every increase
of receipts. Overworked himself, he took his own
high tension as the norm of work, and found It dif
ficult to understand why all of his employes could
not endure cheerfully the" same racking. This made
him often very unpleasant as an employer, but it dis
ciplined his employes, who found no difficulty else
where la more than attaining the level of work of
other offices.
Tho Local Pooh Bah.
The city . editor was another Journalistic "Pooh
Bab." He had no other copy to edit but his own, and
was expected, with the aid of "paid locals," to fill five
columns daily on the fourth page. He was religious
and society reporter, reflector of the doings of the
courts and railways, dramatic critic and sporting, fire
and commercial editor at one and the same time. His
duties began at 6 o'clock In the morning when he com
menced to turn In copy for the morning edition, then
.printed at 7:30, and ended when the news gave out
for the day. -In that Interval of from twelve to eigh
teen hours he was expected to cover, solitary and
alone, the twelve scattered square miles of stores and
dwellings which ten years ago comprised the bailiwick
of Omaha. The early morning round began Immedi
ately after breakfast. It comprised a rapid visit to
Exercises "June
curing for the teachers' merit appointment and pro
motion, permanent tenure, adequate pay and re
tirement pensions. He was particularly opposed to
the misuse of the schools to further selflBh schemes
or private business enterprise, and to wasting the
precious opportunities of the children through In
competent instruction or diversion ot their attention
to inconsequential.. Moreover, he insisted day In
and day out that the school buildings be made safe,
kept clean, well ventilated and properly heated, and
that the comfort and health of the children In school
should be a prime consideration. He was specially
outspoken against every species of abuse and, Ill
treatment of the school child, as well as against every
injustice to the teacher.
Motives Back of Public Bequest.
In the resolution reciting the reasons Impelling
the School board to name this school "the Edward
Rosewater school," reference Is made to the bequest
in his will to provide for a scholarship to give some
deserving boy who has gone through the High school
manual training department a complete course in a
school of technology of first rank. I cannot aay Just
when this idea was conceived, but I know that for
many years before his death my father was deter
mined to make some public benefaction in the inter
est of education to the extent that his means might
warrant. He executed several wills, the one modi
fying the other, and the plan 'grew in deflnltenesa
the coroner's and undertaker's, the district court, the
county clerk's office to .transcribe the real estate
transfers, an interview with all the city and county
officials, as brief usually as a society call, and a hasty
return to the editorial rooms in order to write up the
material gleaned before noon. This little journey
was followed" at 12 o'clock by a visit to the depot to
take In the overland westbound train, to pump the
depot officials and to interview distinguished travel
ers, real or Imaginary. After this another flying trip
was. made before 2 o'clock to the coroner's and court
house, when copy was prepared and handed In for the
afternoon edition,, proof read, visitors received, ad
vance agents of shows entertained, and numerous
other minor matters attended to. . After the paper
went to press he was often at liberty for the rest of the
evening, excepting when a fire broke out, or an enter
tainment presented itself to be reported, In which case
he was expected to be on hand. Omaha has never
seen a reporter, with the reportorial "legs" of Soren
son, In the years gone by, when be made the local
pages of The Bee the despairing envy of all competi
tors, even when they Included such news rustlers aa
poor Sam Donnelly of the Herald, Edwards, Miner and
Cuddy of the Republican and Kent of the News.
Tom Fitzmorrls was foreman of the news-room,
.with seven or eight printers to herd. He added to
the duties of cutting up copy, measuring strings and
employing and discharging typesetters the responsibil
ities of editing telegraph, making up the forms for two
dally editions and selecting matter for and arrang
ing the weekly. His skill as a head-liner was phe
nomenal. The most commonplace Item or article, un
der the glow of his Imagination, appeared garbed In
an attractive hue. On occasions when the editors
were out and the calls for copy were loud, be used
to rush In desperation into the editorial room, sleze
the shears and clip miscellany by the column, thus
usurping the functions of the news editor. It Is only
fair to say 'that the paper never suffered by reason
of his Incursions. Later Fitzmorrls gained a wide
reputation for The Bee by his concise and witty hand
ling of the department of state and occidental Jottings,
which were extensively copied throughout the west.
Characteristics ot The Bee Men.
It was a small staff, but I doubt if that of any
other newspaper of the country worked as bard, was
half as ambitious or more faithful to the Interests
of the paper which they served. There was an esprit
de corps which, In spite of hard times, small pay
and the constant contentions in which the paper
was engaged, bound together the little band of work
ers. They were all Bee men to the backbone, tried to
make its fights their own and felt that Its Interests
were their Interests and Its reverses their misfortunes.
They fought Its battles on "soft paper" and drove in
the line of retreat afterward on the streets. Among
themselves and In the office they cursed, perhaps, the
infernal, driving persistency ot the proprietor, ' but
they invariably defended him on the outside. They
unselfishly and manfully did five men's work, each
man ot them, because they knew It was necesary In
order to keep ahead of the procession, but they never
allowed their grumbling to interfere with the regular
outpour ot copy. The Bee advancced steadily, pri
marily, of course, because of the push and the pluck
of Its editor, who was a man of Ideas, but no less be
cause, like a good general, he gathered around blm a
staff of subordinates who intelligently and faithfully
carried out his policy. W. E. ANNIN.
Omaha, June, 1889. ,
3
until It took Its final form. What I wish to
call your attention to is the broad scope ot
this bequest, and the self-effacement of the
donor. The fund is established, leaving the
expenditure of the Income by the Board of
Education absolutely untrammcled except for
the few conditions stated. The award of the
scholarship Is to go to "6ons of Onisha me
chanics." What he had in mind was to pro
vide a higher education in technology or ap
plied science for boys whoso fathers belonged
to the" working classes, who were In their own
field of labor thoroughly Identified with the
city, and who would bo unable to give their
sons a costly education. Tho selection ot
the school and the manner of nwnrd is left
entirely to the school authorities. It was the
object to be accomplished rather thnn the
method of accomplishing it that was in his
mind. It was the good that the bequest
might do and no purpose of self-assertion or
self-laudation that prompted him. The
school board has 6ccn fit to designate this
scholarship "the Edward Rosewater scholar
ship," but that plainly, was far from his
thought, for he could easily, had he so de
sired, have stipulated in tho bequest that It
should be so designated.
Neither was the commemoration of his
name In a school building like this ever
dreamed of by him, although I know he
would have appreciated It more than
any other honor that ever came to him. And
if he had been consulted he would probably have In
dicated a preference for this very school, because it la
a school to which many children are sent who, like
himself, are foreign born or of foreign born parent
age, and who will have to work their way up In the
world by their own efforts. He would have been' at
tracted by this school because the children taught
here come from the families of wage-workers, and he
always preached the nobility of honest toll, andalso
because they value the privilege of the public school
morethaa those who would not greatly miss It It it
did not exist Knowing that he, himself, would feel
that no more appropriate tribute could be paid to
hli memory than the dedication of this school after
him, "the Edward Rosewater school," I naturally
take real pride in It, and wish for all who may drink;
at the fountain of learning within these walls the
fullest measure of success, and that they may al
ways look back to the days spent here as the hap
piest and the most profitable time of their lives.
SOUTH OMAHA, THE MAGIC CITY. Nothing But a
. Farm Forty Years Age Marvelous Changes.
Forty years ago there was no South Omaha, the
six and one-half miles of territory now covered with
business blocks, residences, packing houses and stock
yards were cultivated-farms. The farm houses were
thinly scattered over the prairie and the cornfields
were plentiful.
In the spring f 1883 the score of farmers In thla
portion of Douglas precinct planted their corn on land
worth, as they believed, $50 an acre. Right where
the Transit house now stands was a little log school
houso, presided over during the winter of 187.9 by
M. O. Maul of Omaha. Among the children who at
tended school that winter were Henry and Herman
Drexel, Tom Hoctor, Patrick Begley - and Balthaa
Jetter.
In 1884 the building of stock yards was com
menced, the place having as early as 1883 been named
by the parties most Interested "South Omaha."
The Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha (lim
ited) was formed and incorporated under the laws ot
Nebraska on the 1st day of December, 1883. The
capital was $1,000,000. Business was not to be com
menced until $600,000 of stock bad been subscribed,
but as that amount was at once taken it was stipulated
that operations should commence on that day and con
tinue until the 1st day of December, 1950. Tho com
pany organized by electing W. A. Paxtou, president;
A. H. Swan, vice president; John H. Donnally, secre
tary; James M. woolworth, attorney. The following
gentlemen constituted the first board of directors:
W. A. Paxton, A. H. Swan, Frank Murphy, B. F.
Smith, P. E. Her, John A. McShane and Thomas
Swobe.
On April 8 work on the stock yards was com
menced under the immediate direction ot William A.
Paxton. The first point of attack by the workmen
was the low swamp or marshy slough that extended
from the present west end of the stock yards to what
Is now the Hammond Packing company's plant. Work
was continued without Interruption until August 13,
when the first shipment of live stock was received.
The shipment consisted or. iweniy-uve cars oi came
from F. Wolcott of Medicine Bow. Next day the cat
tle were reloaded and shipped on to Chicago.
"What are they doing in South Omaha?" asked
The Bee about the middle of May, 1886. "Does the
business there amount to anything? Are they get
ting much live stock at the yards? Will it ever be a
great cattle and hog market? And will it ever
amount to anything as a slaughtering point? These
and many other similar questions are daily asked by
citizens of Omaha who do not realize that, just south
of our city limits, a business is growing up that in
the near future will surpass, in point of capital em
ployed and business importance, the entire wholesale
and manufacturing Interests of Omaha In 1886. It
was only a short time ago that a few enterprising
men met on the open prairie, set their stakes and
said: 'Here we will build packing houses that shall
have a capacity sufficient to hapdle all the live stock
of the northwest; here we will lay out town lots to
be built upon and occupied by our employes and by
others having Interests here.' That something more
than talk and cheap advertising are necessary to
make a showing was at once realized by the stock
yards company, and it is to be doubted if any enter
prise in the west has been pushed with greater vigor, .
or if any company has been more ready to take ad
vantage ot the opportunities presented it than the
Union Stock Yards company of Omaha. They have
worked quietly and without any display, if anything
they have been too quiet and should have made more
noise In the world.
"The town of South Omaha Is building up rap
idly and hundreds of men are finding there pleasant
and agreeable homes, while town lots are Increasing
In value at a rate which promises to rival the boom
In Omaha city lots. It Is not surprising that those
who are posted on the affairs of the stock yards are
enthusiastic over the outlook and future prosperity
of the business enterprises established there."
On October 16, 1886, the village of South Omaha
was organized. E. P. Savage was elected first chair
man of the village trustees.
Today South Omaha is the third largest packing
center In the world and the stock yards company is
Increasing Its facilities for handling stock every year.
