The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1891-02-06
From Thursdays Daily.
THE NORMAL SCHOOL.
The Legislative Committees Make q
Visit this Morning and are I'm
pressed with the Work.

DAY inspected the State Institution
and were accompanied in their tour of
inspection of our school by dozen or
more Mankato friends of the institu-
tion, together with; Resident Director
Geo. A. Clark. The party included
Senators Geo. E. Barr of Mankato, H.
A. Crate of Pope county, Jas. McHale
of Scott county,. AlonZo Philips of
Hennepin county and r. M. ProbSt-
field of Clay county, Representatives.
f. M. Currier of Blue Earth county, c..
French of Olmsted, A. T. Sinclair of
Winona, f. Church of Watonwan, G.
S. Bowman OF Willlin and p. E.. Bar
rett of Mcleod. representatives ].
Ramsey and - Coates of Benton were
unable to be present. The visitors
were met at The Saulpaugh by Presi :
dent Soaring and Director Clark an d
escorted to the Normal in vehicles.
1t was nearly nine o'clock before the
exercises were opened, and before the
school was dismissed from the ass,emb-
ly room President Soaring made few
remarks appropriate to the occasion.
He invited the visitors to visit the
various rooms and note critically the
work Of the school. No special pre-
paration had been made tor eceive the
committee, and such work as they
would witness in the Vario depart
ments would be that which is regular
ly gone through with He referred to
the visit Of the legislative committee
of two years ago, and commented up
on it as being one of the pleasantest
occasions during his connection with
the school. He also wanted the visit
Ors to note the narrow halls, the snail
rooms, the crowded condition of all
departments, and the general inferior
ity of the building as compared with
other schools. The total enrolment
at present is the largest in the history
of the institution, numbering $50.
Last year the total enrolment was
544, while the total enrolment for the
present school year will reach 625 and
probably $40. 1t is now not only the
largest school in the State, but it is
the largest west of Chicago, exceeding
in numbers the Oshkosh Wis. J Normal.
The crowded condition of the Model
school was especially referred to, and
the President stated that large mum.
bers had been refused admittance fol-
lack of accommodations. He hoped
that the committee, after making q
tour of the building, and noting the
condition of things would see the ne.
cessity for more rooms, more teachers
and smaller classes.
The party, consisting of the legisla.
tive committees, Director Geo. III
Clark, ex-senator Buck, ex-senator
Pope, Judge Severance, O. o. Pitcher
Rev. f. M. Rule, JIG. Wise, G. Luis.
dorff, L. p. Hunt and others whose
names are not now recalled, then di.
vided and spent the time until recess
in inspecting the building and listen.
ing to the various interesting class
recitations.
The students in the Normal De.
partment assembled to listen to re-
marks from the visitors. Before in
Producing any of the speakers Pres.
| Soaring called attention to the fact
that SO per cent. of the present enroll
ment was from farmers homes, and
represented an ''empire" of territory,
thirty-eight counties, four more coun-
ties than were represented by the to-
tai enrolment of last year. He gave
the enrolment of the Normal Depart
ment as 1885, divided as follows: Farm
ers' children 21S, mechanics %, mer-
chants II, professionals TO- miscel-
laneous 4S.
Hon. Mr.. French was now introduce
ed and spoke as follows:
"a large part of the committee
never visited the school before. We
| have been much impressed with what
we have seen. We are here to ascer-
| tain your needs and meet them The
monies in possession of the state for
this purpose are limited, so ifyou don't
get what you want submit gracefully.
While the Normal school is one of the
most important institutions in the
state there are others that cannot be
ignored. You have excellent Oppor-
tunities here; / wish more had them.
We look to you as our future teach
ers to go out into the rural districts
to disseminate your knowledge, and
we are sure we won't be disappointed.
There are local prejudices against
Normal schools. in places which get a
very large share of their benefits. We
found at Winona a much larger pro-
portion than we had expected of farm
ers' children, and we find the same
here. We have vitited all depart
ments and find nothing to criticise.
Pres. Soaring now introduced Mr..
Currier who, he said, was born in Bos-
ton, and did the very best thing a man
could do under such circumstances; he
had moved to Minnesota and gone to
farming.
Mr.. Currier said: ''Moving west was
the best thing to be done in my case.
l have never seen the time when /