Butte, America’s Story Episode 105 - Better English

Welcome to Butte, America’s Story. I’m your host, Dick Gibson.

In November 1919 students from Butte High took to the streets. It wasn’t Homecoming, it wasn’t a protest march, it wasn’t even the first anniversary of Armistice Day yet. It was a parade – actually two parades – marking the successful end to Better English Week.

In passing they also boasted that they would “grind up” Great Falls in the football game that Saturday, but the entire student body – 1,000 students – took part in a march from the high school (then at Park and Idaho) down Park Street to Main, up to Broadway, and west on Broadway back to the school. In the news photo by photographer Clara Schoettner, whose studio was at 37½ N. Main, the Butte High School banner, lettered in purple, was carried by the four class presidents, Charles Stone, Bob Southcomb, Walter Adams, and Charles Gavin. The drummer was Dave Rosenberg. The second parade was a little more of a send-off for the team as they boarded the train for Great Falls, and the enthusiasm there “literally took the lid off Butte,” according to the reporter at the scene.

As part of Better English Week students also performed a play titled “Nevertheless,” written by student Stuart Walser and starring Lucille Staebler, Salome Torrence, Fred Sutherland, and John Egan.

A second play, performed by the junior class, was a parody of “Red Riding Hood” written by teacher Miss Ella Spafford, who lived at 1419 West Granite. Leonard Renick, son of Dr. William Renick of 727 W. Park Street, played Red Riding Hood.

The Better English campaign began as an effort to correct grammatical errors in speech, but before it was over, it had expanded to include “enunciation, moderation of the voice, giggling, gum chewing, spelling, punctuation, and manners.” There was evidently considerable semi-serious banter between teachers and students. Teachers who claimed students used “inelegant English” were pilloried by students who accused them of giggling, smirking, and “trying to be smart.”

Students interviewed businessmen across Butte, some of whom claimed they would not employ clerks who used slang and some attributed their success to “correct use of English.” Newsmen told the students that teachers were among the worst offenders for submitting manuscripts with every noun capitalized. They blamed it on the study of German. Remember, this was just a year after the end of the Great War in Europe.

The campaign included street car advertising, posters created by the Butte High art department, printed articles, and speeches. The Standard reported that “such words and expressions as ‘ain’t,’ ‘swell,’ ‘ain’t he a dear,’ ‘now, ain’t that just too lovely for anything,’ are doomed.”

As writer Edwin Dobb has said, "Like Concord, Gettysburg, and Wounded Knee, Butte is one of the places America came from." Join us next time for more of Butte, America’s Story.