Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, November 28, 1909, Page 19

PART THREE HALF-TONE PAGES 1 TO 4 THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE. FOR ALL THE NEWS THE OMAHA BEE BEST IN THE WEST OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNI NOVEMBER 28, 1909. NG, ;ING[:FV COPY FIVE CENTS JMOMAHA’'S TRANSFORMATION UNDER HANDS OF BUILDERS Ohanges Wrought “~ O SAY that Omaha this year has beaten by & good margin all building records heretofore made in the history of the city, with a total of over $7,000,000 in pérmits issued to date, conveys merely the idea of bulk in money. It is the concrete thing that fixes the attention of the casual reader or inquirer on material progress and solld city advancement, and so serves a useful purpose. Back of these figures, and back of the thousands of permits i issued during 1909—a year of glorious achievement in every line of human endeavor—Iis a meaning and a significance that looms large in the minds of those who see more than figures in a city’s push for the head of the line. Men with the true idea of perspective, the royal imagination for picturing the future, feel that to say we have spent $7,000,000 on bulldings this year is to state & fact that can only be-given its full amplification by analysis. As a city builds, so will it live, I8 the sentient axiom of some ‘wise old mortal who realized that original Rome was bullt for luxury, and In luxurious rottenness faded from useful influence among na- tions. Truly, “kind hearts are more than coronets, and simple faith than Norman blood.” Kind hearts plan and build homes in the blank spots, beautify for us, and use with beneficent purpose, in striking contrast to the flinty impulse for exclusive castles and monumental manifestations of the pride in riches. In the west—part of the warm, throbbing heart bf which Omaha {s—simple sturdy faith has created many a city that from honest roughness {8 taking on substantial finish, but with becoming patience and positive intention to have things right. This city is one of the living examples of that kind of building. Of oyr millions represented by new structures this year a good half or more has gone into homes. They are homes of taste; abodes of sincere good oftizenship; cradles of consclentious living, wherein thousands of women and children are blessing the men of kind hearts and honest pride who have through work won the right to kingship in their cozy castles. There {8 not a block, perhaps, where a new home does not mark progress; not a street but has gained a happler look from some added group of comfortable dwelling places. S8ome aye pretentious to a degree; many are attractive beyond the common; aqll are indicative of settled satisfuction with Omaha as a city worthy of confidence and permanent fealty. Transformation is Striking Taking as & view-point the generously planned court house, fast rising as a central example of better building, in no direction can the eye be cast without revealing improvement, growth, a changed land- ecape and cherished plans of many years realized in varied structures of most pleasing design “Over on the hill where you see the great Clarkson hospital stanfing out like & refuge in the Alps used to be our pienic ground when | was a youngster,” sald a typical man-of middle age. And he went on to locate former sw=mps, the sites of antediluvian hills, van- ished clumps of timber, spots once thought inaccessible and useless— all now occupled by commercial buildings, municipal and county uildings, great centers of service, churches, schools, theaters, and the modest places wherein the minor, but very vital, activities of etvic lite are carried on. “One day, that my boy and girl will very likely see, from this building or that will be starting air craft for astonishing voyages hat we think of in half humorous fashion,” continued the citizen wlo has seen wonderful things transpire in Omaha. “That sight will hot surpass, for wonderful achievement, what I have witnessed." And the man was right. In Omaha hills have been leveled, depressions have been filled, - erooked features of an originally inhospitable stretch of ground have been made straight, until grades are easy and no place is waste. Cheap corners of the old days have become vastly valuable on the as- sessor’'s rolls, through enterprise. The spirit of unflagging faith and zeal that would not be denied has worked its way through a whole mass of difficulties that would have daunted races other than those that gave their sons and daughters to the young west that was held to be largely desert, unpromising and unprofitable. From nothing has been created something that wins the meed of high congratula- tion, even from old world dilettantes. Utility the Keynote It s no mean evidence of the conquering ego of the master spirits that were and are so largely effective in Omaha, to find here business structures that rival those of cities whose age is generations greater in years. Utility was the first keynote of their work, but in recent days there has been & brauching out along finer lines, with a broader purpose. An incident indicative of this very desirable ele- ment m practical minds is available today in The Bee ‘bullding. The vho conceived its characteristics in his busy mind placed behind &r8f walls an interior comprising a large proportion of the cubical contgits wherein the esthetic side of life might in time to come find & fig/d for display. With every business bullding occupled that might accgmmodate such an enterprise, the large court of The Bee building 18 yow providing comfortable space for a great fair or bazar of the evangelical churches. Many people can thus be given room for a phil- anthropie service In & busy hive of workers, without seriously incom- moding the users of the building who pay its rents and by right enjoy its facilities, Another example of a similar character is the main expanse of the Brandels store, where a good deal was conceded to elegance as agalust the old practice of using every possible inch of space for trade alone. In the case of the new court house, Omaha will present such a bujlding and grounds will delight the heart of those who rebel against forbldding fronts and lot-line foundations for public build- ngs. Its main doors on Farnam street will open onto a parked space of one-third the depth of the bullding site. Winding walks, flower- «is and fountains will present a gratifying ensemble; and In the ybdgs to come, if honor 1s to be paid in distingui..ing form to some manter woman of note, the opportunity for congenial and dignified setting s at hand. This million-dollar sign of Douglas county’s prosperity and pub- r lic spirit will continue to rise throughout the winter without a halt. In one end of the basement is stored sand and broken rock in suf- ficlent quantities to meet all requirements until warm days come again. By means of artifielal heat this material 18 to be kept at proper temperature for daily use where needed as the building rises. Trained workers will continue their Iabor on the job without regard to prevailing weather, unless it be unusually severe and turbulent. At the new City National Bank building the steel workers are pledged to carry thelr welded, jointed skeleton to its full height by the first of March; and in thelr wake will come the masons, filling in the open spaces with solid walls. Much of approved and pleasing architectural and decorative art will distinguish this money mart, from the main entrance and principal banking floor to the skyline; and its interfor will shine and glisten with marble, tile, brass and polished woods. The permit calls for an expenditure of $700,000 on its eighteen stories, but beyond doubt a million dollars will be closely approximated in the final receipt for money paid out. Home for the Arts The magnificent companion building to the Brandels store will likewlse be something more than a mere home of business, in its architecture and general character. A very large proportion of its bulk will be dedicated to the drama in exquisite surroundings. This combined theater and home of business is to be notable/not so much for its originality as for the lavish manner of its execution. The theater will be as dlstinctly a playhouse as if it stood alone, while at the same time its patrons can enjoy beneath one roof many modern adjuncts of city life usually to be sought at scattered points. The roof of the theater is now practically iinished and the front is belng bricked up. Heat is being furnished to the interior, so that the lathers and plasterers can get busy. Thus th¢ interior work will be rushed along without much pause, and the contractors still insist that they will have the new playhouse ready for opening on time. The store and office parts of the building will not be completed be- fore next summer, y It may be of interest to some people to know that when the new Brandels block s in readiness for use the firm will have a store extending from the front door on Sixteenth and Douglas right back to the stage space of the theater. Seventeenth street is now being excavated for a subway that will be forty feet wide, connecting the two great buildings below the ground, and this subway when fin- ished will not be distinguishable from any other part of the estab- b & R 17 STREET FRONT OF BRANDEIS THEATRE— lishment. This will constitute a showplace for visitors from other sections the like of which is hardly to be duplicated in the land. An ordinance is now on its way through the city council to tax this and all other subways on the square feet of space used. The en- terprise of the Brandels brothers is sure to be emulated by other Omaha merchants sooner or later, and eventually the city will be receiving a goodly sum from hitherto unused parts of its streets, be- neath the pavements. Modern constructive sclence has made it pos- sible to build such subways as safely as sidewalks. ‘Vacant corners in the businéss district, some of which had taken on a disreputable appearance because of neglect, are every week be- ing covered with substantial new buildings. For about every corner of this character some great structure has been planned, if not ac- tually begun at this writing. Notable among 3ites of this description are the Grossman corner, at Seventeenth and Douglas; the Hanseom corner, at the west end of the same block; the southwest corner of " Nineteenth and Farnam. Many others could be enumerated whereon new construction has been carried out this year and last. In other instances substantial, creditable appearing homes have been razed, as at Douglas and Nineteenth, where the new Kennedy building stands, falling before the onward drift west of the business section. 0ld Order Changeth The same statement will apply to many lots in the middle of a block, especially along upper Farnam street. Shacks or mansions of the olden day have been torn down or moved to new locations further ont, aetually by the dozen. Automobile garages have taken the place of many such buildings that had outlived their usefulness. Some of these garages are costly, running ae high as $30,000. Half a dozen of them are big enough, in floor space, to serve as drill sheds for a battalion at least. There is another development in Omaha building that should be noted here. Quite a few structures that have been up but a very ‘,lrrh'f time are now being added to. The Hamilton flats, at Farnam and Twenty-fourth, is one instance of this call for modern living rooms, and the two-year-old Wead-Baldrige building at the northeast ‘corner of Twentieth and Farnam, is now under serious consideration for an additional story or two, which will be added next year. These ‘are cited merely as samples of building development that indicates the demand locally is not yet by any means filled. New places of worship are yearly denting the view from the ‘high places with their spires. Schools, too, are going up, at consid- Blue Laws of Old Vir ICHMOND, Va., Nov So much stress has been lald by historians upon the blue laws of the Puritans and in an even ratio upon the high living and frivolities of the Vir- ginia Cavallers of the same period that it may be suspected that those scholarly gen- tlemen have overlooked a few bets. As a matter of cold fact the Virginians of the sev- enteenth century had a habit of enacting in- digo-tinted laws, and likewise enforcing them that might have made the Puritan fathers sit up late at night to beat them at the game. : ister who doth marr, shall be fined 10,000 If this fine was in clergymen of that present day If the Virginia but a good cigar is a act must have been domestic infelicity. If a married wom son the woman shall age clergyman’s salary at the time, better than theis brother workers Kipling that “a woman . . - - ginia in y contrary to this act pounds of tobacco. proportion to the aVer- the fared of the .”S;eparate élaiss ing been mulcted of tobacco for depriving the people of the opportunity to watch the sufferings of their friends and nelghbors. Severe laws were directed against Quak- Prior legislation had attempted to put a damper on being any kind of a “separa- tist,” which any fellow who didn't agree with Established Byi- dently a little further law on the subject was thought necessary, for in 1663 the Vir- ginia Assembly passed the following acts Any rerson irhabiting tkas country, and entertaining a Quaker in or near his house, shall, every time of such. entertainment, perfod certalnly ers. meant husbands with woman agreed is only a the following the Church, smoke," the occasion of much an shall slander a per- be punished by ‘duck- Aslde from the stern and vindictive in- tolerance which finds utterance in the acts of the Virginia Assembly between the years 1662 and 1680, the most striking element in them is the tremendous premium placeq upon spylng and Informing. In almost every case In which such a reward is possi- ble the law encouraged the inan to 8Py upon his nelghbor. A strange state of affairs, surely, in a colony whose descendants pride themselves on the honor and chivalry of their ancestors! For instance, in 1662 the following laws were enacted: Every person who refuses to have his child baptized by a lawful minister (Church of England) shall be amerced 2,000 pounds of tobacco, half tothe parish, half to the informer. To steal or unlawfully kill any hog that is not his own the offender shall pay to the owner 1,000 pounds of tobacco, and as much to the informer, and in case of fnablility to pay shall serve as a slave two years, one to the owner, one to the informer. No marriage shall be reputed valid in law but such as is made by a minister ac- cording to the laws of England, The min- ing, and if the damages shall be adjudged more than 500 pounds of tobacco her hus- band shall pay, or the woman receive a ducking for every 500 pounds so adjudged apainet her husband If he refuse to pay the tobaceo Unless a man was well stocked with the divine weed It was worth while to attend church with promptuness and regularity Enacted that the Lord's Day be kept holy and no journeys or work done thereon, and all persons inhabiting in this country shall resort every Sunday to church and abide there quletly and orderly during the common prayers and preaching, upon the penalty of being fined fifty pounds of to- bacco. Devices for public instruction and amuse- ment were not to be neglected with im- punity, even by the courts of the colony, as ‘witness the following The Court in every county shall set up near the court house, in & public and con- venient place, a pillory, a pair of stocks, a whipping post and & ducking stool. Other- wise the Court shall be fined 5,000 pounds of tobacco. There is no record of the court ever hav- be fined 5,000 pounds of tobacco, half to the county, half to the informer. Even Virginia hospitality have paused in the start toward bank That a stowaway might prove costly is demonstrated by the following might well face of such a flying ptey Byery master of a vessel that shall bring any Quakers to reside here after July 1 of this year shall be fined 5,000 pounds of to- Lacco, to be levied by distress and sale of his goods, and he then shall be made to carry him, her or them out of the country again The followng act shows an efforgwn the part of the Assembly to at least teach the Quakers and “separatists” the value of an altruistic and communistic spirt, even though they did not practice what they preached It any Quakers or other separatists as- semble themselves together to the number of five or more, of the age of 16 years, un- der the pretence of joining in a religious worship, the parties so offending shall be lawfully convicted by verdict, confession or notorious evidence, and shall pay a fine for the first offense of 200 pounds of tobacco; (Continued on Page Three. in the City’s Appearance During the Year Now OClosing Wijth Some Notion of Its Growth in a Material Way During the Last Decade erable cost. Of the churches, the new St. Cecilia's cathedral, Cathollc, at Fortieth and Burt, will be of a high type of church architecture. In the school group the south wing of the high school, built in strict conformity with the classic design of the main structure, will at once oceur to the mind as especially worthy of note. The Forest school, at Fourteqnth and Phelps, and the new Omaha View school, at Thir- tieth and Binney, are buildings any city would be delighted to own. The cost of the two will fall but little shy of $200,000, when complete. Apartment houses which speak the very latest word of archi- tectural science and modern equipment in every suite are becoming as common in Omaha as plain houses used to be. They are found in every part of the city, far out on the strect car lines, on quiet side- streets in walking distance, and some within the shadow of the prin- cipal buildings of the town. Finely finished and elegantly arranged, they bring high rents, with few If any vacant at this time, Many Handsome Homes L8 Handsome homes are multiplying, at cost ranging from $2,500 to $20,000, and as high as $50,000, and the proportion of the latter types is not by any means small. These residences are fast changing empty landscapes to spots of beauty with graceful adornment. Among the great middle strata of citizens the notion for artistic homes, with individuality of their own, is spreading in contagious degree, \In the newer suburbs, where the dwellers can afford automobiles, bl}‘ldln‘ material is belug converted into plctures as fast as cunning artificers can work out the ideas of clever architects, inspdred in their work by men and women of original inftiative who pay the bills. In this climate, winter—so ealled just, to keep the seasons stralght—no longer halts the building. contractor in nis labor. He has learned to make mundane things fit in with the climatic humors of the weather man, as casually noted heretofore in this article. Com- mon labor is not altogether taboo, except on rare days, while the skilled mechanic keeps everlasting at it, as a rule. Hvery job in . course of construction at this time will bear testtmony to the fairness of this assertion, and will bear the same testimony at Christmas time. Of the probably 2,000 men now busily engaged in construction within the city 1imits, 80 per cent are of the skilled class of workers, Ironworkers shin up cold columns and tread their way over wet and frosty girders regardless. Masons work with warm mortar and brick kept from the frosty influence. Lathers do their stunt behind tempor- ary sash, in rooms supplied with enough warmth to permit of work in shirtsleeves, and plasterers and wood finishers follow close on thelr heels. Right at this time about 800 real carpenters and 200 “handy men" who assist them, are busy as bees on large and small bufldin During the whole time until spring flowers again bloom out with a cheering “howdy,” 90 per cent of these carpenters will continue at work. Besides the carpenters, some 1256 mill workers are engaged on woodwork and will be so engaged steadily. Bricklayers at work this week number about 200, All of these workers draw the maximum pay of thelr craft, ex- cept the handy men, but even these are well patd. A fair average payroll will show the following schedule of wages: Bricklayers, $56 a day; ironworkers, $4.50 to $5; stonemasons, $6 a day, and their helpers, $3; laborers, $2 to $2.50. Few or none work over eight hours a day, except in emergencies, when extra pay is forthcoming. Considerable night work has been done this season on several of the larger contracts underway. On the City National Bank building job the present payroll totals $2,600 a week. The monthly estimate for material and labor reaches $55,000. Sixty men at work here average a wage of $4 a day. One hundred men, half of themn skilled, are hustling things aleng on the Brandels job, and the average wages will be close to that of the City National workers. On the Morris theater thirty men are at present engaged, about the same number on the Gifford-Bridges-Graham building at Nine- teenth and Farnam. This number will be increaged on each job, rather than decreased On the-court house job seventy-five workmen are hard at it, and this number will hardly bé cut down. All of the big jobs are taken nowadays with a time limit in the contract, and forfeiture of consid- erable sums stares the contractors in the face at the far end of the work If they overlap. Surprise for the Wanderer T Any oldest lnhabitant who moved away in the busted-boom days arriving in Omaha today would be surprised out of his knobbly old greased boots. With every passing season bustling innovators are de- stroying the ancient landmarks that he and his cronies knew in the dark. Coming from the drafting rooms of architects, or well along toward completion, are plans that will eventuate in graceful, costly buildings. Some of these will cover eligible corners where now tiere is only debris or unsightly old structures. But in other instances some rather big buildings will have to be removed to make room for the better type. This will be the case at Fifteenth and Dodge, when the Union Pacific gets ready to improve that corner with a sky- reaching headquarters for its western staff. It will be true, too, if ne- gotiations shall be completed to put the wew million-dollar Woodmen of the World headquarters g Fourteenth and Farnam. It is still a question whether either or both of these will go higher than the two bulldings B. A. Cudaby is considering for the northwest corners of Douglas and Seventeenth and Douglas and Eelghteenth, Mr, Cudahy is & man of big ideas, and the fraternal order and railroad major gen- erals are not a whit behind in that particular. We are seeing great enterprises carried to completion In Omaha today, by business captains, and no less by men of more modest pre- tensions. Unless all signs fail, the years just ahead will develop other advances that will put the plans of today in the shade. An awaken- ing to the splendid natural location of Omaha, with absolutely im- measurable opportunity for growth in good things, has come about, by slow process. It is g real awakening, though, and as the city has made good all of its earlier promises, so its citizens In every walk of life are proving thelr faith In its future by their Investments in ways that are permanent, useful and of solld character,