City's Schools Taboo Politics

From The Indianapolis Star, Wednesday, October 26, 1921: The Indianapolis board of school commissioners announced last night it will stand by its policy forbidding active participation in politics by school employees following charges that political party workers demanded contributions for campaign purposes from janitors and other school personnel. The board said regardless of intimations by party workers, school employee places will not be placed in jeopardy through refusal to contribute. The board, during a spirited discussion, also condemned the practice of teachers in public schools collecting money from children in connection with charitable campaigns. Numerous complaints have been made that children were being assessed $1 (2020: $15) each for the Riley Memorial Hospital campaign. The board had adopted a resolution last year prohibiting all charitable solicitations except those approved by the superintendent of schools with children giving what they desired.

“City’s Schools Taboo Politics,” The Indianapolis Star, 26 October 1921, p. 1:6

Age Limit for Drivers of Autos Place at 17

From The Indianapolis News, Tuesday, October 18, 1921: The legal age limit for automobile drivers was raised from sixteen years to seventeen years by the Indianapolis city council yesterday. The board of public safety had proposed raising the age limit to eighteen, explaining raising the age limit would tend to reduce the number of accidents caused by irresponsible drivers and would help high school authorities in putting a stop to joyrides by their pupils. It would also prevent many high school boys and girls from driving to and from school in their automobiles. The proposed ordinance also would have raised the age limit for drivers of horse-drawn vehicles from fourteen to sixteen years, but after council president Russell Wilson remarked, “I drove horses when I was eight and harnessed them when I was seven,” the council retained the fourteen-year limit.

“Age Limit for Drivers of Autos Place at 17,” The Indianapolis News, 18 October 1921, p. 8:1

“Voting Clash Was Feature at Council,” The Indianapolis Times, 18 October 1921, p. 5:1

City's Great Exposition of Industry Opens

From The Indianapolis Star, Tuesday, October 11, 1921: The word “Go” flashed by a mammoth electric sign atop the Merchants National Bank Building and the blowing of factory whistles across Indianapolis announced the opening of the great Industrial Exposition yesterday evening at the Manufacturers’ Building on the fairgrounds. More than 11,000 visitors passed through the main entrance to see, under one roof, 383 exhibits displaying Indianapolis made products. During the week-long event, the public will get a better idea of the diversity in the city’s vast industrial resources that insures steady work for Indianapolis men and women. Seven hundred and eighty articles are manufactured in the city from tacks to automobiles and automobile accessories, from the printing of books to the making of tractors, from turning out phonographs to building milling machinery, and from manufacturing popcorn machines to men’s clothing.

“City’s Great Exposition of Industry Opens,” The Indianapolis Star, 11 October 1921, p. 1:4

“Diversity in Products,” The Indianapolis News, 10 October 1921, Exposition Extra, p. 1:2