Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 July 1902 — FROM THE CAPITAL [ARTICLE]

FROM THE CAPITAL

One of the State’s Most Interesting Institutions Described. INDIANA SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND Not an Asylum, but ah Educational Institution Where Children Receive Scholastic and Technical TrainingAffairs Administered in Accordance With Strict Business Principles— Movements of Indiana Senators. [Special Correspondence.] Indianapolis, July 15. —One of the most interesting and at the same time one of the most beautiful places in Indianapolis is the Indiana Institution for the Blind. The main building, set in the midst of ample grounds, which are shaded with fine old trees and adorned with well-kept flower-beds, looks like the ante-bellum capital of some Southern state. When the institution, one of the pioneer state schools for the blind, was located here more than half a century ago, the grounds were on the outskirts of Indianapolis. Now the real estate is the most valuable owned by any one state institution; occupying a half block within a half mile of the center of business, it would bring more than >500,000. It is a somewhat remarkable fact that of the million and a half dollars spent by the state for the education of the blind, nearly one-third has been returned to it in convertible property by the Increase in the value erf the spot upon which this great work has been carried on.

Despite the fact that this institution has been in operation since 1847, the character of its work is so little known by the general public that nine out every— ten tax-payers of Indiana if questioned wotild say that it is an asylum where the blind are cared for as helpless wards of the state. While the attendance is greater now than it has ever been, yet many counties of Indiana are unrepresented at the school, and it is said that two-thirds of its students come from within a circle having a radius of .seventy miles, with its center at Indianapolis/ - Out of the 164 students enrolled during the school year recently closed, none was present from Speneef, Dubois, Perry, Crawford, Clark, Scott, Jefferson, Switzerland, Ohio. Ripley, Dearborn, Franklin, Noble, Lagrange, Steuben. Benton, Newton. Jasper, Pulaski, Lake Starke or Porter counties, and the enrollment from these and other counties comparatively remote from the capital has been insignificant since the establishment of the?4nstitution. Yet there is no educational institution in the state more useful to its students or doing a work so peculiarly its own. Character of the Work.

For nine months of the year, and through a course extending over the regular common and high school period of twelve years, children with eyesight so impaired as to be unable to carry on the work of the public schools are taught not only the common branches, with the more important subjects of ordinary high school study, but are given an industrial training which has enabled many of the graduates of the institution to earn a livelihood after leaving' it. Music, for which the blind manifest a special aptitude, is made an important branch of the work of the school. One interesting department of the work is the manufacture of stereotype plates from which multiple copies of musical exercises are printed and distributed among the pupils. The subjects of these selections range from the simplest ballads to concerted compositions by Mosakowski and Mascagni. Another indication of the tendency of the blind toward all that pertains to music is the popularity of the course in piano tuning offered in the industrial school. The institution has turned out a great many efficient piano tuners, an unusual delicacy of hearing coming to the rescue of the sightless ii most cases. Fully 100 of the 164 pupils in the school are entered in some one or more of the musical courses.

The chief problem with the blind is one of occupation, not only because it is necessary to many as a means of livelihood and opportunities for the exercise of their natural industry are few. but because observation being denied, the long hours must be made less tedious by busy hands. In the industrial school, besides piano tuning. the boys are taught broom and chair work; the girls sewing. Last year more than 2,500 brooms were made at the institution, and nearly 400 chairs were caned. Nearly a thousand articles were made with the needles of the girls, not only sewing, but crocheting and ornamental beadwork being taught Attendance and Administration. The Indiana Institution for the Education of the Blind ranks not only among the largest but the most efficiently managed schools of its character in the country. The attendance has gradually increased year by year since 1847. The present superintendent, Mr. George S. Wilsorn who came from the superintendency of the Greenfield schools to take charge of the institution five years ago. has shown a marked aptitude for the work assigned to him. He has materially reduced the per capita expenseof maintaining the school without decreasing the advantages offered. In 1895 the per capita cost of maintenance was

>267.76; during the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 1901, it was a little less than I >204.06. Fourteen teachers, four laborers and six general officers are emI ployed. With the comparatively meager appropriation of little more than >30,000, the institution does a work of the greatest value, and highly creditable to the state. The management of the institution.. during the administrations pf Covered in a bi-partisan board. The Strictest business methods prevail in the management of its affairs. - All supplies are purchased from the lowest and best among competitive bidder?, are paid for only on vouchers approved by the board and filed with the_auditor of state, and are distributed only on requisitions approved by the perintendent and made of record. The system of bookkeeping is the same as that enforced in the various state institutions at this time. The administration is one of economy and strict accountability from a financial standpoint, and from an educational standpoint the institution has never accomplished better results than are now manifest