Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 January 1908 — FIRE AT GOODLAND [ARTICLE]

FIRE AT GOODLAND

Public School Building Is Totally Destroyed.

LOSS PROBABLY ABOUT $15,000

With Insurance of Two-Thirds That Flgure -Was Erected Twenty Years Ago.

The school building at Goodland was totally destroyed by fire between five and six o’clock Tuesday evening, entailing a loss in the building and contents, exclusive of books belonging to pupils, of perhaps $15,000. The fire is said to have started from unknown causes in the basement, and as the town has no waterworks the people could .only stand by and see it burn. It is reported that there was SIO,OOO insurance on building and contents. It is fortunate that the fire did not occur during school hours else it might have caused considerable loss of life. Arrangements will be made to open school in various vacant store buildings in the town Monday it is understood, and next spring a new building will be erected. The building burned was a substantial brick and was erected in the summer of 1888, being built jointly by the town and township. Its original cost was some SIO,OOO to $12,000, and it was the pride of Goodiand for many years, being one of the best school buildings in this section of the state at that time. Repairs and alterations have since been made that have added to its cost, and it would probably take $15,000 to SIB,OOO to replace it. The loss is a severe one to Goodland, and especially at this time.

ABOUT THAT ‘‘ITINERANT’ ORDINANCE. Dr. M. D. Gwin, author of the ordinance introduced at the last meeting of the city council to tax “itinerant doctors,” mention of which was made in this paper last week, states that the ordinance will not prevent people from calling in a physician from other towns or counties who is a “regular practioner.” The object of the ordinance, he states, is to shut out “quacks,” as the “regular” calls the traveling doctor, and that like ordinances have been passed in several cities, and that in urging its passage Ke was acting under instructions from some state health officer. No “located” practitioner will be harmed by it, be states, and that it is only intended to protect the innocent people from the mdasly “quacks.” The Acts of 1905 give city councils practically unlimited powers, power tp do many foolish things if they see fit, Whether or not this ordinance is a wise measure is a mooted'question The power to erect a high fence about Rensselaer and keep everyone out whom the powers that bedo not want to enter, practically rests with the city council under this law, but most people would question the wisdom of doing it The passage of the ordinance would shut out Dr. Remmek, the optician who has been making regular trips here for several years and who has msnv regular patrons here and force them to go to some other town to consult with her, as an example, it being practically prohibitive.