276 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY formulate the course of study ; conduct teachers' institutes, etc. The county superintendent of schools is elected by the presidents of the different village and rural districts boards of education ; from the beginning the Clark County school superintendent had been Prof. J. M. Collins. COUNTY HEALTH COMMISSIONER The latest acquisition to the official roster of Clark County is the health commissioner, his jurisdiction including the area outside of Springfield ; however, the county and city health commissioner happens to be one and the same, Dr. R. R. Richison. This office was created in 1920, and Dr. Richison is its only incumbent. While other county offices are in the county buildings, and temporarily in Memorial Hall, this office is combined with the city health office in the city building. There has been a demand for an increase in the salaries of public officials along with increased expenses of living, and a general increase in wages under war time conditions ; with taxes already high, the public does not favor any increase in salaries. When, officials apply themselves, instead of paying their income to others to do the work for them, it is urged that they are sufficiently remunerated ; men are frequently re-elected, and some have held the same office several .consecutive terms ; while there are some chronic jurymen and office holders, the Clark County voters are inclined to "check up" on them. Isaac Hedrick of South Charleston, who was a constable for more than forty years, holds the banner for length of time in office even though it was unremunerative; it is said that he was fearless in the discharge of his duties, and that is the need in the department of law enforcement. MEMORIAL HALL There was need of an auditorium in Springfield that would accommodate large audiences, and it was decided that the way to secure a hall large enough to accommodate the people of Clark County was through taxation, allowing the entire county to pay for it. This had been the method of procedure in other counties, notably Hamilton. The Clark County Memorial Hall in Springfield commemorates the soldiers, sailors and marines, also the pioneers of Clark County, and it was built in 1915, by the tax payers of the county ; the agitation of the question was begun in 1912, and in 1914 the bonds were sold and a site was selected ; a strife developed among different localities in Springfield similar to that engendered in early history about the location of the jail and courthouse. When Frank L. Plackard, a Columbus architect, submitted plans and specifications, Gov. Judson Harmon appointed as members of the building committee : Gen. J. Warren Keifer, David F. Snyder, Silas Printz, Harlan Titus and George W. Netts. On July 20, 1914, Miss Leona Yeazell was appointed secretary to the building commission, with an office in the Bushnell Building ; on the following day the commission advertised for bids, and September 5, the contract was let to James Bentley & Company of Toledo ; the cornerstone was laid March 1, 1915, and it required two years to complete the construction work ; it was completed June 1, 1916, and since then it is a community center used by Clark County citizens. While bonds amounting to $250,000 SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 277 were sold the final cost of the building was $12,000 in excess of that amount—war-time prices accounting for it, in the advance of materials. The Clark County Auditorium seats 2,700 people; it has a good stage, and the acoustics are satisfactory ; the smaller rooms are used by the G. A. R., the D. A. R., Spanish War Veterans, Clark County Grange, Farmers' Institutes and citizens' meetings of all kinds. In the emergency of a courthouse fire, February 26, 1918, Memorial Hall housed the Clark County court and some of the county offices, saving the county $12,000 a year in rentals. When Memorial Hall was built, the county commissioners were : Smith, Neer and Mills, and to them the building was turned over by the building commission, the commissioners retaining Miss Yeazell as manager. CHAPTER XXXI POSTAL SERVICE—CLARK COUNTY POSTOFFICES In the Bible Job exclaims : "My days are swifter than a post." The postal service is known to have been used as early as the thirteenth century in some countries. When the Constitution was written in 1783, it provides for the postal system in the United States, although at that time it was considered as an adjunct to the United States Treasury. People used to regard letters as present day citizens think of telegrams, although their friends were often dead and buried before the letters reached them ; now that practically every family in Clark County receives daily mail, some of the stories of the long ago are "stranger than fiction" to the present generation. No news was always good news, and a letter sometimes disturbed the peaceful tranquility of the whole community. While most Clark County residents have postage stamps in their homes in readiness for the letters when they write them, time was when they paid postage on receipt of letters ; today if a letter is minus the postage, it is returned to the sender. The story is told of the man who pawned his hat to "lift a letter." It had been a long time since tidings had reached from the home folk, and he would make any sacrifice to have the message. There was no such thing as a postage stamp, and "Collect twelve cents" was written where the stamp now marks one corner of the letter. Wafers and sealing wax were used bef ore postage stamps were on the market. The system of collecting postage at the time of delivery worked hardship on many settlers ; the law did not remain long on the statutes. While the settlers were always anxious for tidings, the contents of some letters meant nothing to them. Now those who write the letters pay the postage ; there was a time when the letter was so folded that the superscription became the face of the letter ; for many years there were no envelopes, and some ingenuity was required to fold the letter. Necessity always has been the mother of invention ; in time the envelope saved the necessity of so carefully folding the letter, with one blank side for superscription. Now that some parts of the United States have the air mail service, it seems like a far cry from the day when mail was carried on horse back by personal messenger, and by stage—and once a week was as often as any one heard from the outside world. Now that the whole community reads the daily news and expects them as a matter of course —news from the four corners of the world, who pays any attention to the minor details connected with the U. S. mail service ? The Star Route U. S. mail system was introduced in 1882, and like all other advance measures, it was later installed in Clark County ; it served the community until the coming of rural free delivery. Who knows anything about the rural carriers and their difficulties? Who ever left a dressed chicken in the mail box for a Christmas gift to the rural carrier? Whatever the weather he brings you the news of the world. While the U. S. Mail Department is so organized that it looks after itself, some people would be greatly handicapped were the carrier indifferent to - 279 - 280 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY their interests. A tablet has been unveiled in the custom house in Cleveland in memory of Joseph William Briggs, author of the city mail delivery and collection system. Mr. Briggs conceived the idea while working as a clerk in the Cleveland postoffice, and he was the first American letter carrier. To Perry S. Heath is due the credit of the rural mail delivery system. It is a twentieth century product, and the experiment was made at Muncie, Indiana. SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY When Assistant Postmaster Harvey M. Tittle began assembling the following data, he thought it would only amount to a pleasant pastime—a "little before breakfast job," but going into it thoroughly, he changed his mind about it. Mr. Tittle has been honored by being named first vice president of the Supervisory Postoffice Employees' Association held in Washington, D. C., in 1921, after having served the association four years as its treasurer. He has been connected with the Springfield office since 1899, and when Civil Service was installed December 1, 1910, he was the first local employee to be advanced from a clerkship to deputy postmaster. He became deputy January 6, 1911, one month and five days after the installation of civil service. Although a republican, Mr. Tittle served in this capacity through the two terms of the Wilson democratic administration, and Postmaster Charles P. Dunn commended him for faithful service. Mr. Tittle was contemplating a comprehensive history of the Springfield Postoffice, because he felt that some record of it should be in existence, and he was asked to make it a county-wide survey adapted for use in the History of Springfield and Clark County. He takes the position that no single institution reflects the growth and prosperity of a community with greater accuracy than does the United States Postoffice, and a newspaper clipping, October, 1921, gives Springfield fourth place among seven of the largest offices in Ohio, $140,459.79 being the gross postal receipts. The offices showing more volume of business are : Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus. In 1820, when the first Clark County census was made, in this summary of Springfield's advantages, is the line : "And a postoffice at which mails are received in elegant f our-horse coaches," and another item from the later stage coach period says : "Springfield, in a word, is the great crossing place of all the existing mail routes, and of the principal rail and turnpike roads." Mr. Tittle writes : In 1804 the first postoffice was established in Springfield—at that time it was in Greene County—the mail was received by messenger who carried it on horseback from Cincinnati to a number of points in this section of the state. This messenger was scheduled to pass through Springfield once each week. It was a fourteen-year-old boy, James R. Wallace, who performed this early service. He came from Kentucky, and later he located in Springfield. He was associated in business with Pierson Spinning under the name Spinning and Wallace. In 1820 stage coach mail service was established and it continued until the coming of the railway mail service in 1846, the second road being built two years later. In the '30s and '40s, when the mail stage system over the National Road and convergent lines reached its highest perfection, the mail and passenger service was separated, special stages being constructed for hauling the mails. As early as 1837 the Postoffice Depart- SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 281 ment decreed that the mails which had been a secondary consideration compared with the passenger service, should be carried by specially arranged vehicles, into which the postmaster should put them under lock and key, not to be opened until the next postoffice was reached, and the owners of stage coaches took advantages of their mail contracts in an effort to evade taxation. They demanded other privileges because they were carrying the United States mails, and the department had to regulate the service. These stages were of two kinds designed to be operated on routes where the mails ordinarily comprised, respectively, a half and nearly a whole load ; in the former, room was left for six passengers, and in the latter for three. Including newspapers with the regular mail, the later stages which ran westward over the National Road rarely carried passengers. Indeed, there was little room for the guards who traveled with the driver to protect the Government property ; such factor in the mail stage business did the newspapers become that many contractors refused to carry them by express mail, consigning them to the ordinary mails, thereby bringing down upon themselves the frequent savage maledictions of a host of local editors. Nevertheless newspapers were carried by express mail stages as far west as Ohio in 1837, as is proven by a newspaper account of a robbery committed on the National Road, the robbers holding up an express mail stage, and finding nothing in it but newspapers. The mails on the National Road were always in danger of being assailed by robbers ; especially at night on the mountainous portions, though by dint of lash and ready revolver the doughty drivers usually came off safely. It is probably not realized what rapid time was made by the old time stage and express mails over the National Road to the Central West ; even compared with the fast trains of today, the express mails of sixty years ago, when conditions were favorable, made marvelous time. In 1837, the Postoffice Department required in the contracts for carrying the Great Western Express mail from Washington over the National Road to Columbus and St. Louis, that the following schedule be made : To Wheeling, thirty hours ; to Columbus, 45 1/2 hours ; to Indianapolis, 65 1/2 hours, to Vandalia, 85 1/2 hours, and to St. Louis, ninety-four hours. Even in the early days speed was considered by the department as an important factor in the rendering of satisfactory mail service. Richard McBride is said to have been the first man to handle the mails in Springfield. He was immediately succeeded by Robert Rennick, who was commissioned postmaster on November 9, 1804 and who, in 1806, was brought to trial in the Fythian Court in Springfield for killing an Indian. He continued in office until April 1, 1824, on which date he was succeeded by Maddux Fisher ; since then no postmaster has served for twenty consecutive years. In turn, the Springfield postmasters are: In 1804, Robert Rennick ; in 1824, Maddux Fisher ; in 1835, Peter Sprig-man ; in 1839, William Werden ; in 1841, John A. Crane ; in 1845, Cyrus D. McLaughlin ; in 1850, Isaac Hendershott ; in 1853 (second appointment), Cyrus D. McLaughlin ; in 1855, William C. Boggs ; in 1861, Robert Rodgers ; in 1866, James Johnson, Sr., was commissioned but he was not confirmed by the United States Senate ; in 1867, Ellen Sanderson ; in 1877, John A. Shipman ; in 1884, James Johnson, Sr. ; in 1887, Francis M. Hagan ; in 1890, Perley M. Cartmell ; in 1894, Thomas D. Wallace ; in 282 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY 1898, James H. Rabbitts ; in 1910, William F. Bevitt, and in 1914, Charles P. Dunn. New Carlisle and South Charleston postoffices have been in existence almost as long as the office in Springfield ; however, the remuneration of the postmaster depends upon the population and the volume of business, there being first, second, third and fourth class offices. The first post-office in Springfield was opened in a small log cabin on the north side of Main Street and east of Fountain Avenue ; it was here the mails were handled by Richard McBride. Upon assuming the duties of postmaster, Robert Rennick removed the office to what was known as Rennick's Mills. The next change appears to have been in 1839, when Postmaster William Werden removed the office to the Werden House, Trappers Corner, corner Main Street and Fountain Avenue ; in 1847 Postmaster C. D. McLaughlin removed it to East Main near Spring Street. In 1855 William Boggs removed the office to the Union Block, and in 1861 Robert Rodgers removed it to the corner of Main and Limestone streets. Within the tenure of office of Mrs. Ellen Sanderson, the office was migratory, she holding forth at the South East Corner, Lagonda House and Black's Opera House, respectively. John A. Shipman removed the office from the Opera House to the Arcade where it remained until it was housed in the Federal building. In the early day, when the office was small, postmasters were permitted to suit their convenience by removing it. They were required to furnish quarters in which to conduct the postal business, and the office may have been located at other points ; however, there is record of those mentioned. Springfield was recognized as a first-class postoffice January 1, 1880, after having grown step by step from the lower classifications. In that year $39,291.29 was the gross receipts, and in forty years the amount has increased greatly, the office now ranking among the most important in Ohio. SPRINGFIELD MAIL DELIVERY In September, 1879, city delivery of mail was established in Springfield, with six regular carriers ; there was one substitute carrier. The carriers were: T. B. Flago, James Bryant, E. T. Ridenour, Cal Reid, Edward Conway and John Arnett the substitute was George Zollinger. Others connected with the office were : John A. Shipman, postmaster ; Charles Showalter, assistant postmaster and money order clerk ; Orin L. Petticrew, superintendent of carriers ; Theodore H. Brown, mailing clerk ; Walter Limbocker, general delivery clerk ; William Rice, stamp and registry clerk ; Edward Wright, paper distributor ; Hilliard Robison, janitor. Of these employees, when the character of the office was changed, the last to remain in service were Theodore Brown and Orin L. Petticrew ; Mr. Brown retiring August 31, 1920, and Mr. Petticrew's death occurring January 4, 1921, both being long service men. Mr. Brown had been in the office fifty-two years, while Mr. Petticrew had forty-four years of service to his credit. Since the Springfield Postoffice was established in 1884, it has shown a steady increase in business ; except in panic years the gross receipts have shown material gain each year. However, the greatest strides have been made within the last twenty years ; since it was designated as a first-class postoffice in 1879, its growth is indicated as follows, the figures representing the gross receipts every fifth year : In 1879, $36,629.14 ; SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 283 in 1884, $53,688.65 ; in 1889, $70,666.27 ; in 1894, $99,851.70; in 1899, $117,696.83 ; in 1904, $158,594.02 ; in 1909, $265,186.74 ; in 1914, $418,- 588.81 ; in 1919, $1,008,403.04; and two years later-1921, the receipts have increased to $1,390,356. 63, showing an advance of $382,953.59 in the volume of business, and in time of business depression throughout the country. The Springfield Postoffice is one of the largest dispatchers of second class mail matter in the United States ; millions of pounds of magazines are dispatched monthly to all parts of the country. While the volume has increased from year to year the exact figures are not available, however, the following figures will show the increase in the volume of this class of matter handled within the last twenty-two years : In 1899, 3,061,639 pounds ; in 1904, 4,859,462 pounds ; in 1909, 9,427,499 pounds ; in 1914, 15,640,234 pounds, and in 1921, 30,204,102 pounds. For many years the postage rate on second class matter was 1 cent a pound to all parts of the country. On July 1, 1918, the postage rate was changed to a zone basis, the whole country being divided into eight zones. Under the present system the advertising portion of periodical matter and newspapers is charged on a sliding scale, according to the zone to which it is addressed for delivery, while the editorial or reading matter is charged with postage at the rate of PA cents a pound to all zones. While the publishers submit their own estimates, no periodical passes the postoffice without accurate measurement of its advertising and its news columns, and a calculation of the mailing expense ; they check their measurements together, and thus each is anxious to be accurate. When the postoffice was removed from the Arcade to the Federal building in 1890, it was believed that the new quarters would be ample for many years ; however, it soon became apparent that the facilities were inadequate to handle the ever-increasing volume of business, and in September, 1898, an auxiliary station was established in the plant of The Crowell Publishing Company ; this facilitated the handling of their own publications, and is still in operation ; while copies are measured in the postoffice, the bulk of the publications does not reach it. Several months later the work room in the Federal building was enlarged by appropriating a portion of the public lobby, and in 1909, an addition twenty-eight by eighty-four feet was built at the north side of the main building ; this afforded relief for a short time, but it soon became necessary to transfer the eleven rural carriers to the basement, in order to provide additional space for an increased city force. The continued increase in the business of the Springfield postoffice again made it necessary to provide additional floor space, and in 1914 the basement of the extension was converted into postoffice work room with an entrance on Spring Street for the loading and unloading of mail matter ; a mail chute leading from the work room on the main floor to the work room in the basement was also installed, and while this again relieved the congestion to some degree, it afforded only temporary relief. In 1920, the second floor of the main building was remodeled, and converted into an additional work room, an elevator being installed connecting the work rooms on the three floors ; however, the congestion is again almost as great as ever, and the problem of providing adequate quarters can be solved only by the erection of a new postoffice building in Springfield. 284 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY RURAL FREE DELIVERY On August 1, 1899, rural free delivery of mail service was established in Springfield ; the first rural carrier was Alden A. Cook ; his salary was $400 a year, and he furnished his own equipment—a vehicle drawn by two horses. There are now eleven rural routes from Springfield, and twenty-four in Clark County, distributed as follows : five at New Carlisle; two at South Charleston ; two at South Vienna ; one at Selma ; one at Plattsburg ; one at North Hampton and one at Tremont City. The development of the rural free delivery service not only caused the discontinuance of practically all of the star routes that operated in the county, but it also caused the following named postoffices to be discontinued : Anlo, Beatty, Bowlesville, Cold Springs, Dialton, Donnelsville, Eagle City, Hustead, Lawrenceville, Mad River, Orchard, Pitchin, Snyderville, Villa and Wiseman. The star routes, formerly supplied mail to postoffices not located on railway lines, the patrons calling at the offices ; under the rural free delivery system, the mail is delivered at their doors or in a mail box along the mail route nearest their homes ; sometimes they go a long distance to the mail box. The rural carriers sell stamps, issue money orders, register letters and the small postoffices are no longer necessary for the convenience of patrons. The eleven routes from Springfield cover approximately 285 miles, and all the routes in the county will average more than twenty-five miles in length ; the eleven Springfield routes serve 2,489 families, an average of more than 225 families, and that average will hold on the other routes, approximately 22,000 persons being served by rural delivery. Besides daily papers, most rural families receive weekly and monthly publications ; a pro rata number of letters is written in the country. Correspondence pertaining to business is heavier in the towns. Contract postal stations have been established for the convenience of patrons of the Springfield office ; these stations sell stamps, issue and pay money orders, register letters, accept parcel post packages for mailing, etc., making it unnecessary that patrons call at the postoffice for this class of service ; the first station was established July 1, 1899, at the southeast corner of Main Street and Fountain Avenue, and at 307 West Main Street, those in charge being Theodore Troupe and Edward Coblentz. There are now eleven postal stations in Springfield ; most of them are located in the residential districts. POSTAL SAVINGS The first postal savings depository in Clark County was established October 21, 1911, at the Springfield office, by Postmaster General Frank H. Hitchcock, but owing to the low rate of interest paid on deposits, and to the stability of local banks which paid a higher rate of interest, this depository has not expanded with the same degree of rapidity as has been the case in some other cities where there have been bank failures. On July 1, 1917, the Springfield office was made a central accounting office having under its jurisdiction all other offices in Clark County, consisting at the time of Bowlusville, Catawba, Donnelsville, Enon, Forgy, Medway, New Carlisle, New Moorefield, North Hampton, Plattsburg, Selma, South Charleston, South Vienna and Tremont City. On March 15, 1920, the county system of central accounting was dis- SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 285 continued ; the state was divided, Cleveland becoming the central accounting office north and Cincinnati south ; the larger offices throughout the state are designated as direct accounting offices, and they report to the department at Washington. While some difficulties were encountered along the National Road in an early day, Clark County has been exceptionally fortunate in the matter of mail depredations ; covering a period of almost one and one-quarter centuries during which the postal service has been in operation only four arrests of postal employees have been made, three of them regular and one temporary employee ; in 1900, an attempt was made to rob the vault then located in the Springfield postmaster's office ; in it was stored the greater portion of the stamp stock, but the attempt was unsuccessful. The robbers were frightened away after they had drilled a hole near the combination and through the door of the vault. While the business of the Springfield office has been increasing, in a measure the same is true of other offices except for the periodicals published in Springfield. The salaries of local employees, and the conditions under which they work are also improved ; in the old days a clerk or carrier entered the postal service at from $400 to $500 per annum, with no assurance of promotion ; neither were they protected by civil service laws, the force being changed with each new political administration. On January 16, 1883, "An Act to Regulate and Improve the Civil Service of the United States" was passed by Congress, and through the establishment of a Civil Service Commission and the promulgation of Civil Service rules, employees were encouraged to make the postal service their life work. In 1907, Congress enacted a law making $600 per annum the entrance salary for both clerks and carriers, and providing an annual increase of $100, until the annual salary reached $1,100, and an additional $100 increase was provided for exceptionally efficient employees, approximately seventy-five per cent attaining to this standard ; these salaries have been increased from time to time until July 1, 1920, when the present salary scale was adopted and made effective. The entrance salary is $1,400, with maximum grade for ordinary clerks and carriers of $1,800 per annum ; in addition, there are two grades of special clerks with salaries at the rate of $1,900 and $2,000 per annum. There is also improvement in the hours of service ; under the old system, postoffice clerks were required to work as many hours as were necessary to handle the mail, although carriers have had an eight hour law for some years. Under the present system all employees except supervisory officials are scheduled to work eight hours a day ; said time to be divided into tours that will cover a period not to exceed ten consecutive hours. These changes have brought about conditions that render postoffice positions more desirable ; they have made it possible to secure a class of employees that are efficient and reliable. In addition to the changes affecting the welfare of employees, Congress has enacted laws providing compensation for employees injured while in discharge of their official duties, and for their retirement on annuity after reaching a designated age, and having performed a specified number of years of service. The following list shows the names and length of service of the employees of the Springfield office who were the first to benefit under the retirement law, having reached the age limit, and been retired August 286 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY 20, 1920: Theodore H. Brown, clerk, fifty-two years service ; Charles D. Swaynem, clerk, thirty-six years service ; Theodore H. Gugenheim, clerk, sixteen years service ; Isaac Scholes, city carrier, thirty years service; J. Marion Garst, rural carrier, twenty years service. On December 20, 1921, John N. Bauer, city carrier, was retired on account of age after twenty-nine years service ; for seven years his route had been in Lagonda. Early in 1922, Daniel E. Brunner, city carrier, and Robert M. Robison, rural carrier, were retired because of physical debility. Mr. Brunner had been a carrier thirty-one years, and Mr. Robison has the same length of time to his credit. CHAPTER XXXII FINANCE—THE WEALTH OF CLARK COUNTY An important function of the bank in any community is to aid legitimate business to earn a profit commensurate with the value and importance of its service ; to deny reasonable earnings to industry is to deny its usefulness ; profit is the wage of service. It is to the advantage of society that business shall be profitable. There have been radical changes in the economic as well as the social life of Clark County. While emphasis is still placed on agriculture, it has a multiplicity of other interests. In 1921, a Springfield bank displayed a window sign saying that sixty-five per cent of the people die penniless, and it has been said : "The greatest blessing a young man can have is poverty." While not all accept the truthfulness of the statement, some die in full possession of the "blessing." A paragrapher remarks : "This country has reached the stage where men use the word 'only' in front of ten million dollars," and in Clark County there are those who require six figures in "setting down" the amount of their riches, saying nothing about the sequestered fortunes as yet unknown to the income collectors. The Salvation Army long ago defined its mission as in the interest of the submerged tenth, but with so many penniless persons there is more welfare work than can be handled by one organization; this window sign said that twenty-five per cent of the people have bank accounts of $1,300, and that nine per cent have a financial rating of $5,000, and one is left to conjecture the rating of the other one per cent. A million plus is the highest commercial rating, and there may be as many billionaires as millionaires in Clark County. Credit is a saf e-guard to business, and some are able to "corner the money." While Ohio was governed by the Northwest Territory, its residents paid poll tax ; since its organization as a state, its first and second constitutions levied such taxes for road purposes. While the third constitution forbade the Ohio Legislature from levying poll tax, an amendment may change it and the people have been considering the question again. Under the Ordinance of 1787, which governed Ohio in the interim before its organization as a state, a law was passed December 8, 1800, providing that all able-bodied males above twenty-one years old, should pay an annual tax of 50 cents ; all bachelors not possessed of property valued at more than $200 paid $2.50 a year, but the Ohio constitution virtually repealed the law; the citizens of Ohio never paid poll tax. The Ohio Gazetteer of 1816 says the tax duplicate in Champaign County, which then included most of the area now constituting Clark County, was $2,097,557, and in the office of the county auditor is a bundle of papers yellow with age—the aggregate of the duplicate of the ten townships constituting Clark County not having been ascertained from it. "While there were not many tax payers when the area was a part of Greene County, after 1805 until 1818 taxes were payable in Champaign County ; while one session of court was held in Springfield in 1806, the machinery of local government was not all in operation, and taxes were paid in Urbana. The 1920 Clark County tax dupli- - 287 - 288 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY cate shows a total valuation of $151,066,820, and one year later it was reported as $143,496,260, indicating a depreciation of $7,500,000 in twelve months. Clark County, outside of Springfield, is rated at about $55,500,000, agriculture representing the principal industry. While in 1801 there was little taxable property in Springfield, 120 years later the tax duplicate indicated $95,546,460 in collateral in the city. While Springfield has about three-fourths of the population, it has less than two-thirds of the taxable property. LIBERTY LOANS The liberal response to the different war loans indicated the fact that Clark County people believed in letting their dollars work for them, the agents being the different banking houses, as : American Trust and Savings ; Citizens National ; Farmers National ; First National ; Industrial ; Lagonda National ; Mad River National ; Springfield Morris Plan ; Springfield National ; Springfield Savings' Society in Springfield and the Bank of South Charleston, South Vienna Farmers' Deposit Bank and New Carlisle Bank and National bank ; other financial bulwarks in Springfield are : Springfield Building and Loan Association ; Merchants and Mechanics Loan Association ; Clark County Collateral Loan Company ; Springfield Collateral Loan Company and Springfield Loan Company, and after the above list was supplied by William A. Luibel, the Security Savings and Loan Company was incorporated, banking by mail being a feature. The banks outside of Springfield all cooperated in the different Liberty Loans, and in fact the bankers floated the First Liberty and the Victory loans ; while the general public responded on the second, third and fourth loans, the masses had to be educated to the necessity ; the farmers were slowest to respond, and they stayed in the game until after the armistice, leaving the bankers to float the Victory Loan as they had floated the first one. In the First Liberty Loan $1,162,350 were taken by 2,868 subscribers ; the second loan amounted to $2,682,800 taken by 5,819 subscribers ; the third loan of $3,829,250 was taken by 5,691 subscribers, and in the fourth loan many more realized the necessity—the amount of $16,674,000 being taken by 11,314 subscribers. In the Victory Loan the Clark County quota was $2,540,050, and while the. Figuregram was not quite clear, it is known that the county went "over the top" again. The second, third and fourth loans were popular subscription as a result of better organization, and 25,692 persons had part in them, some paying in each loan and some being plus subscribers in the Victory Loan. While Springfield was the loan center, the response was from all parts of Clark County. It is estimated that those who subscribed to the Victory Loan had helped float all the others, and counting them again it is conceded that 28,694 citizens of Clark County had part in supplying Uncle Sam with the necessary funds to prosecute the war. There is a tablet in Memorial Flail inscribed : "In recognition of the patriotism of the people of Clark County who over-subscribed their war-savings quota in 1918, this tablet is gratefully erected by the Ohio War Savings Commission," and the county achieved credit in all of the war activities. SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 289 EARLY BANKING IN SPRINGFIELD In the archives of the Clark County Historical Society is a paper written by George W. Winger which contains much valuable data, and some excerpts are taken from it. The first bank in Ohio was the Miami Exporting Company. of Cincinnati, incorporated April 15, 1803, with $500,000 capital, and then followed banks in Marietta, Chillicothe, Steubenville and Zanesville; the first general banking act was passed in 1816, the charters of all banks expiring in 1843, under provision of this act. In 1845, the banking business in Ohio was in a deplorable condition ; wildcat banking was the rule, and bank swindles were frequent. In the panic of 1837, the Zanesville bank was the only one that did not repudiate its obligations, and there was a time when conservative men did not accept bank paper without first investigating the standing of the bank issuing the money, As early as 1810, a man named Merryduff who kept a general store in Lisbon tried writing his own money, and his currency was acceptable to his customers. The people were honest or they would have imitated his writing, and thereby have caused him to redeem bills not issued by him. Since that far-off day some Springfield banks have issued their own currency, emulating the Merryduff enterprise. In 1845, an act passed the Ohio Assembly which ended wildcat banking in Ohio. Springfield suffered the inconvenience of the wildcat banking system until the establishment of state banks in 1845, and more or less up to the creation of national banks in 1863; that were operated under Federal authority. Ohio was flooded with worthless currency, but when the state banks were opened people soon began depositing in them. The state banks almost eliminated private banks ; they were the banks of issue, and the corporation banks had their difficulties. In 1847, Springfield business men felt the need of a bank and January 25, the Mad River Valley Bank opened its doors with Levi Rinehart as its president, and associated with him in official capacity were : John Bacon, James T. Claypool, T. R. Nolan, Charles M. Clarke, William Werden and William Berry. The first depositor vas Absalom Mattox, clerk of the court who deposited $457.75 of Clark County money. The first loan was $500 secured by a farmer—Adam Baker. While the origin of banking is lost in antiquity, although it is generally agreed that it was instituted in the twelfth century in Venice. it is known who made the first deposit and who availed himself of the borrowing privilege first in Clark County, and "nothing ventured nothing gained," seems to encourage the habit, although speculation has ruined some enterprising citizens. On May 15, 1851, the second bank was organized in Springfield, and since that time as business has demanded it other financial institutions have been welcomed in the community. Oliver Clarke who owned much land now occupied by the city was its president, and in 1860 came the third bank owned by three brothers—the Foos Brothers ; in 1863, the national banking law was enacted with the dual purpose of providing currency for business, and to finance the Civil war. On the same day, December 3, 1863, the Springfield Bank and the Foos Brothers Bank begun an effort to secure a national charter ; the Foos application was forwarded by mail, while the Springfield Bank sent its request by express, reaching the comptroller's office first, and thus February 1, 1864, the Vol. 1-19 290 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY Springfield Bank having acquired the title of First National Bank, was opened with Dr. John Ludlow as president, and while others have served the present president, John Ludlow Bushnell, is descended from the first president, his father Asa S. Bushnell and his grandfather, Dr. Ludlow having filled the position—an unique situation, three generations in one family holding the same position. In 1865, the Mad River Bank applied for a charter as a national bank and as Springfield increased in enterprise and population, the banks multiplied and they have always met the financial needs ; while deposits were small in the beginning, the discount rate was liberal and banking always has been profitable in Springfield. January 1, 1870, when the first public statement was issued the deposits amounted to $646,024.61 in local banks, while fifty years later-1920--the bank clearings in Springfield alone amounted to $91,059,064.28, although a later statement shows a loss in 1921, of $19,321,457.45, the industries of Springfield running much lighter because of business depression. In times past some of the captains of industry have been bank presidents : Benjamin H. Warder and Asa S. Bushnell holding such positions till the end of their lives, and today manufacturers hold such positions. Years ago there were men who specialized in the settlement of estates, but finally the trust companies were organized to handle that line of business, the American Trust and Savings Bank being first in that particular field in 1907, and estates are carried through to final settlement by corporations rather than individuals. The greatest financial test encountered in Springfield came in 1887, when some of its leading industries SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 291 failed, but through careful financiering the banks in Springfield are still regarded as places where people go to exchange cash for credit, credit for cash and credit for credit. Money is a symbol of values, and accounts are collected in different commodities. The Latins called a herd of cattle pecus, and wealth expressed in cattle was pecunia, and thus commodities come to have pecuniary value in business transactions. In the vein of light philosophy, some one remarks : "What we want to know is what's become of the `gink' who used to say, 'I do not care about the money ; it's the principle of the thing,' " and it was Dean D. H. Bauslin of Hamma Divinity School who remarked : "As long as men bow down to money they will have no other God." While banks sometimes lose in speculative or wildcat propositions, a bank is known by the depositors who patronize it, and among Springfield banks are some who have dealings with the fathers and grandfathers of their present day depositors. Safety first applies in banking, and while safety deposit boxes are furnished by all banks, the personnel of the organization enters into the consideration ; while there are tax-dodging investments, the banks of Springfield have the confidence of investors. In the World war crisis—a time to try men's souls—the Springfield banks have withstood adverse conditions. They have passed safely through a period of anxiety, uncertainty and perplexity and only the Houston Bank of South Charleston succumbed to the unusual financial strain and it has now paid in full the $500,000 in deposits from local clients. The failure contemplated $1,750,000 in all, and while it is said that a fortune runs out in the third generation, in this case the man directing the enterprise was a brother to those who accumulated the fortune; while it was an inheritance, the fortune ran out in the same generation. This failure is regarded as one of the worst bank calamities that ever happened in Ohio, and citizens as well as corporations have suffered because of the scarcity of funds occasioned by it. The affairs of the bank were interwoven with other Houston interests, and meanwhile depositors grow impatient waiting for their money. It took a long time for the banks to build up the necessary confidence in the minds of depositors, and the Houston failure was a blow to it, and among the settlers the practice of hiding money in unsuspected places obtained; auger holes were filled with money and plugged again. A Madison township family sold a hogshead of grain after the death of the father—John Reeder. The buyer found $200 in silver buried in it ; while there may still be honest folk—there was no question about the ownership of that money, and it was returned to the Reeder family. Daniel Hartzler who had quarry interests along Mad River, and who built the mansion on the W. W. Keifer farm now designated as Fort Tecumseh, was murdered there in 1867, because it was rumored that he kept money there. While the bandits who murdered Mr. Hartzler did not obtain much money, they made their escape with a horse and buggy from the farm, and the county had a long drawn murder trial as a result ; in these days of improved highways, holdups are frequently staged in the country, and people appreciate their banking opportunities ; they do not keep their money. The bandits were in hiding about the barn, and when Mr. Hartzler entered the house they followed him. While he defended himself, he was unarmed and unprepared, and when they shot him in the leg his wife fled to a neighbor's house, and while alone he bled to death ; SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 293 first aid administered at once might have saved him. The bandits had reckoned without their host, as Hartzler put up a strong defense; he confused them, and relatives were involved in the difficulty. Circumstantial evidence was strong against them as one had his hat when he was arrested, and the Hartzler episode is still used as an argument in favor of depositing money "where thieves do not break through and steal." INCOME TAXES While an income is not an objectionable feature, the income tax has been the source of considerable study. The local internal revenue and income tax office is in the Federal Building, and while there is always someone in charge it is directed from Cincinnati ; there are four revenue and income tax collecting districts in Ohio, and Springfield and Clark County are in the group of thirteen counties of the First Ohio Revenue District. In 1920 the income tax returns from the First Ohio District were $100,000, and since Cincinnati and Dayton are larger centers than Springfield, it is haphazard to estimate the amount returned from Clark County. It ranges from a few cents to vast amounts, and so many considerations enter into it that many require advice in estimating it. The corporations paying income tax have their own expert accountants, and at the last minute they leave the report in the Springfield office or mail it to Cincinnati. SAVINGS DEPOSITS It is said that the economic barometers in the form of savings deposits are increasing, and when a bank account is once established it has a tendency to check reckless expenses ; while some lay something by for the proverbial rainy day, there is another contingent that does not look to the future. The provident man is able to say : "Here it is, boys," when guests arrive while his less frugal neighbor inquires : "Where is it ?" when they must be fed. It is the province of the bank to teach frugality. The descendants of those who came early and applied themselves, now sit in easy chairs ; they live on Easy Street, and wear horn rimmed spectacles while those who accumulated the fortune received payment for their labor in commodities other than money. When money was scarce they received salt pork and cornmeal in return for their service. While the pioneers were not stinted in the way of sassafras tea, or in reading the works of Josephus, there are residents in every community who have inherited more funds than their ancestry ever gave in to the assessor. An estate in New York valued at $350,000 in 1867, was allowed to accumulate—to "grow rich on itself," until it attained to $1,928,700 and without expense to anybody, and thus property advances in value. However, statisticians are agreed that heirs who come into possession of money they do not earn acquire accelerated habits in spending it, and chattel mortgages sometimes follow in the wake of inheritances. The man who wore the double shawl in winter while accumulating the fortune, had as much pleasure as the younger man wearing the modern overcoat has in spending it ; those who have been economical cannot enjoy reckless expenditures. When Ross Mitchell who accumulated considerable property began his business career in Springfield, Benjamin H. Warder advised him tto take out life insurance and borrow money on the policy to invest in 294 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY real estate, and it proved to be a, good policy ; when he died he owned a good many farms, and a good many business properties in Springfield ; since the heirs did not wish a division of property in court, appraisers were chosen who divided it into three groups, and the three daughters cast lots for it ; each had agreed to accept her portion, and all have been satisfied about it. While gold is the monetary standard, there was a time when silver would buy more than the Urbana shinplasters, as some of the settlers designated paper money ; while values were fluctuating in the reconstruction period following the Civil war, there has been no question about the dollar in the wake of the World war. While the war forced the enlargement of business, and readjustment has been the difficulty, the dollar has not depreciated ; the wage scale and the prices asked for commodities have soared above precedent, but the dollar has had about the same purchasing power ; the profiteer has taken advantage of the situation in Springfield and Clark County ; the area is within the United States, and it is a widespread condition. S. T. Russel, of Springfield, has broadcasted a folder ; Scientific Money, which he designates as a system that fixes the value of the circulating medium so it cannot change, and makes it perfectly elastic under all conditions. In the booklet he says the World war has ended, and the business of all countries is struggling to resume normal conditions. The war has taught the people many things, but they were so accustomed to extravagant customs that they easily lapse back into them. School children bought thrift stamps, and many of them continue their savings, and while the Christmas Savings are usually drawn out at the end of the year, the banks have found some who prefer establishing permanent savings accounts. More than half a million dollars was distributed among Springfield depositors at the 1921 Christmastide, which the bankers regard as a flattering showing, proving that citizens recognize the value of thrift ; unless they became permanent depositors they are not of much advantage to the bank, but the saving habit is encouraged ; it was estimated that 5,000,000 Americans had Christmas deposits in 4,000 banks, aggregating $150,000,000, and if some became regular depositors the system has served an excellent purpose. A statement appeared in print recently that it costs the National banks an average of $59 a year to handle $1,000 of deposits, and $1 more would bring it up to six percent, and that explains why banks pay a low rate of interest. When a wealthy woman acquired a spendthrift husband, her friends learned that she "kept up the interest" by not allowing him to spend the principal. While many small investors in Liberty Bonds have sold them, it is said they are all retained in Springfield, and the coupons are now being clipped from them. When people quit saving money, banking will become a lost art, and since the modest depositor today is sometimes the influential business man tomorrow—the banks show uniform courtesy to all depositors. The "Blue Sky" Bureau at Columbus estimates that citizens of Clark County have lost $684,000 in the last three years through investments in worthless stocks, when Liberty Bonds would have served their purpose better, and that leads to the suggestion that the ordinary citizen should consult his banker for financial information, as he goes to his lawyer for legal advice, or to the family doctor—and in the bank this technical service is rendered without cost or obligation. SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 295 The jokesmith's version of Auld Lang Syne is : "The man to whom you loan a buck, You'll very often find— Wants old acquaint—quite forgot, And never brought to mind," but that viewpoint does not reflect the sentiment of a number of Springfield citizens who are now and then victims of swindlers ; it is safe to investigate before cashing checks for strangers. It becomes expensive to make change for strangers who raise their $2 bills to $20, and when one is unable to establish his identity, a check is of little consequence unless he can locate an "easy mark." "Honor thy father and thy mother," but not a stranger's check—that's the rule in Springfield. The Farmers National Bank reports unclaimed deposits accumulating through some years amounting to $299.76, the deposits ranging as high as $40.31, this report a requirement every seven years. Since there are fourteen banks in Clark County, there must be quite a sum of unclaimed money. After the lapse of eight years a bank is required to pay such deposits to the county treasurer, and then the depositor may have it when rendering satisfactory identification. The Farmers National Bank sent $50 worth of molten silver taken from a cash register that passed through a fire in a Catawba store to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, in an effort to realize something from it. Mrs. G. L. Wingate has a souvenir of an earlier fire on the same site in Catawba—several pieces of silver melted and run together. Mutilated paper money is redeemed by the U. S. Treasurer, but this was an experiment with silver. While it required careful financeering for the banks to float the different loans, and accommodate the requirements of the business world, Clark County banks, with one exception, were equal to the situation. There are 756 state banks in Ohio, and the end-of-the-year report, 1921, showed a sound condition. The building and loan associations of the state report that, in 1921, 205,759 families were assisted toward ownership of homes, and the Springfield institutions had their share in this constructive program. While the rich and poor frequently change places, some purse-proud families disappear into oblivion and are never heard from again. The first human inquiry transmitted by electric agency, "What hath God wrought ?" is answered in the life history of the pioneers ; in their poverty they planned for the future, while the average citizen still says, "If life and money hold out," in forecasting it. No human equation is more uncertain. Death and taxes—as yet no wizard of finance has devised any means of escape from them. While the Clark County settler borrowed money in overcoming wilderness conditions, because of his sagacity and foresight, succeeding generations have loaned it, and some one exclaims : "If honorable posterity ever meets honorable present ancestry, I fear unpleasant criminations. I seem to hear thoughtful descendants saying, bitterly, 'You are far too reckless with other people's property. Who gave you the right to place mortgage on earth we are to inherit?' This haunting by posterity paralyzes lovemaking," and there is some property that has not changed ownership only through succession, but after the cycle of a century there is none claimed today by the original owner. Sometimes mortgages have been kept off through two and three genera- 296 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY tions, notwithstanding the edict : "It is only three generations from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves." DECLINE OF MARKETS A newspaper paragraph bearing a Columbus headline, December 1, 1920, says : "Farmers are again becoming borrowers at their country banks for the first time in five years ; the season of ready money with them is at an end, and pinching of coins will again become common if present conditions continue. At this time they are borrowing money to pay taxes. * * * And farm barns and granaries are bursting with things ready to be sold, if a market for them could be found." There was a market, but they wanted more money for their commodities. When readjustment began in the wake of the World war, they were so inured to inflated market conditions that they borrowed money for taxes rather than accept the decline of the market. While war time prices prevailed, Clark County farmers became liberal buyers of automobiles, talking machines, lighting plants and water systems. They indulged in some of the luxuries their city cousins regarded as necessities. In their vexation, farmers became students ; they investigated conditions that when times were better had not concerned them, and the explanations offered have not always been satisfactory. However, agriculture, the world's oldest occupation, was the first to feel the pressure under the reconstruction process. One domestic economist exclaimed : "The World war taught us to save everything but money." It is the easiest thing in the world to figure out how other people can save money ; when everybody was poor, their very necessities bound them together, and thus the world hears about old fashioned neighborliness and hospitality. The almighty dollar has always been the incentive, but minus the element of competition the pioneers were not forced to struggle for a livelihood ; however, the new name for hard times is the period of readjustment—a rose by any other name would smell the same—and the present generation now understands it. Those who did not participate in the development of Clark County have their duties of citizenship in preserving it ; the Clark County as they see it is a legacy from the past generations in local history. CHAPTER XXXIII CLARK COUNTY IN THE WARS  "IN TIME OF PEACE PREPARE FOR WAR" Are not the wars of the past sufficient blot on American civilization? War is the oldest sin of the nations ; it has been styled international suicide. Many persons accept the trite definition of war given by Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman : "War is hell." At times civilization seems to hang in the balance, and the Disarmament Conference staged in Washington, in the closing days of 1921, was the greatest forward movement in the history of the world. An English writer, H. G. Wells, said it summed up the whole future of America in two words : Adventure or degeneration, and Clark County comes under the dictum : "Humanity with all its f ears, with all the hopes of future years, is hanging breathless on thy fate !" When the time came, at the instance of President Warren G. Harding, to decide whether international relations should be adjusted by constitution or conversation, Washington became the capital of the world. Hundreds of millions were watching results, and the great conference was discussed in every civilized country on earth. While the people were met to hammer their swords into plowshares, there were axes to be sharpened, although President Harding said : "The conclusions of this body will have a signal influence on all human progress, and the fortunes of the world. This meeting is an earnest testimonial of the awakened conscience of the twentieth century civilization." One review of the conference reads : "Diplomacy has always had her vested interests ; they have seemed permanent. What makes November 12, 1921, so portentous in its invasion of those vested interests ; take the first and most important one—secrecy. Diplomacy has always wrapped herself in it, but when Secretary Charles Evans Hughes followed the opening speech of welcome and of idealism, made by President Harding, with the boldest and most detailed program of what the United States had in mind, diplomacy's most sacred interest was for the moment overthrown," and some have regarded his drastic action as a master stroke of diplomacy. While it is true that war makes heroes, it is not necessarily true that peace makes has-beens, although it has been intimated that war-time ideals have suffered the loss of their i's, and have become the worst sort of deals—that profiteers recognized their golden opportunity. "War is an economic problem ; if we do not destroy war, it will destroy us," and after every great war crime waves sweep the country. Now that the World war has become a matter of history, profiteers are still reaping their golden harvest ; the problem of the honest business man has been to adjust himself to economic conditions. It was Gen. U. S. Grant who said : "Man proposes, but God disposes," and succeeding generations have recognized it as a truth. The world has become used to war, and the people are uncertain whether they are in the early laps of a new one - 297 - 298 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY or a relapse of an old one, and the "'freedom of the seas," does not guarantee the freedom of the world. While the United States flag never has trailed in def eat, it has been carried into battle of defense for the whole world. The University of Chicago has been given $60,000 by a philanthropist to be used in the excavation of the site of Armageddon, the first battle known to history. In connection with Armistice Day observance Springfield ministers discussed such topics as : "The Law of the Jungle," "The rule of Brotherhood," "Christianity and Armament Limitation," and "The Vision of a Warless World," and everywhere men discussed a war to end war. In future wars it is urged that the safe places will be in the trenches ; the war of the future will be waged in ways unknown, and some one says the dickering diplomats and the ambitious politicians will enforce peace among the nations. While President Harding says the military standard must not fall below the "line of safety," Gen. John J. Pershing places this line of safety at 150,000 soldiers with 14,000 of them officers—thus in time of peace, being prepared for war. In connection with the 1921 Armistice Day service in Springfield, the Rev. Charles E. Byrer said it was time for nations and races to think, work and build together and to believe in each other, and it is conceded that war does not determine the merit of any question ; instead of solving, it opens up other problems. Clark County had its christening in a war of extermination—the Shawnees relinquishing the area, and the soil has been redeemed not only by the veterans of the Revolutionary period ; by the soldiers in the War of 1812 ; by the boys in blue in the Civil war—the war of the states—but again civilization was in the death grapple when Clark County boys went overseas in the war of the nations. Following all of the wars have come the reconstruction periods, when the best brains and an unlimited amount of money have been necessary ; when cost and selling prices are adjusting themselves after such upheavals, it requires soldiers of fortune to stand the test of courage and conviction ; when the wars are over, come the intricate questions of the aftermath. It is one thing to inflict a wound, and quite another thing to recover from it. "In time of peace prepare for war," is not in harmony with the policy of arbitration. Notwithstanding the recommendation of the prophet Isaiah with regard to swords and spears, Clark County has had part in many mortal conflicts. When discussing the problems of reconstruction, soldiers of the different wars talk about "after our war," and after every war there is an increased interest in ancestors and family trees. It is said that America is already a forest of family trees ; when the World war soldiers returned from overseas, they were interested in Mother Country and Fatherland connecting links, in the chains of their own personal relations—Who's Who in America. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan attempted to federate all the nations of the earth in a peace pact universal, and many had signified their acceptance of the conditions. War vessels were to be converted into merchant marine ; arbitration was to solve the problems of the nations, and belligerent powers was to become an obsolete expression among the nations of the world. The Peace Tribunal at The Hague was to be the solution of the whole thing. It seemed that the saber had rusted in its sheath, and that the cannon's lips had grown cold ; that plowshares and pruning hooks SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 299 had played their part in advance civilization, and the "bloody shirt" was eliminated from local politics. It is said that with present day munitions of war, a pitched battle would not last longer than a June frost ; it would be wholesale destruction, and none would remain to bury the dead. It was thought civilization had advanced too far for warfare ever again to sway the country. When one contemplates the horrors of war, nation arrayed against nation, one wonders that so many centuries cycled by before the world awakened to arbitration ; the public mind had changed, and in future the battles of the world would be fought with ballots rather than with bullets. The average citizen had no conception of a world war—its far-reaching effects. "Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities ; all is vanity." Ecclesiastes. Until the World war there had been eat in meat and wheat and with the rest of the world, Clark County was resting in comfort and security ; the wars of the past had seemingly vouchsafed such conditions. The spirit of the colonies was transmitted, and E Pluribus Unum was the result. When one stops to enumerate the wars through which one's ancestry and one's contemporaries have passed, one realizes that time is passing and one wonders when one listened last to the reading of the Declaration of Independence on a festal day. When the Declaration of American Independence used to be read as part of every Fourth of July celebration, there were orations dripping with patriotism following it, and everybody seemed to enjoy it ; when read in the spirit in which it was written, it is a masterpiece in literature. While it is the document of the ages, humdrum reading kills it. Those who study the signs of the times unite in saying that the correct history of the American Revolution has not as yet been written, and that when it is the Old Northwest—the Northwest Territory—will be credited with many things ; the great Indian uprisings were in the Northwest ; the Indians in Ohio were regarded as a menace, when Governor Arthur St. Clair was unable to deal with them, and Gen. Anthony Wayne was sent out to quell them. ON THE WESTERN FRONT In the East where Gen. George Washington was in command, the War of the Revolution was fought with civilized soldiery, while in the West Gen. George Rogers Clark had to deal with infuriated savages ; the Indian would not yield his hunting ground, nor would he vacate his wigwam. The American Army naturally regarded the British as the emissaries inciting the Indians to ambush and treachery, and it became necessary to overthrow the Shawnee Confederacy centering in Piqua Village along Mad River in what is now Clark County. PIQUA VILLAGE : THE SHAWNEES In 1848, when Henry Howe was at the site of the battle between the Shawnees and General Clark in command of his wilderness army on Mad River, he wrote : "I was desirous of making a sketch of the birthplace of Tecumseh, and of the place when Gen. George Rogers Clark fought and defeated the Shawnees. It was in the winter ; the ground was covered with snow, and with benumbed fingers I took a hasty sketch. A bright, intelligent boy ten years old stood by my side ; he had been