Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-08-29
institutions Biennial Report Shows
A Big Growth.
GREAT NEED OF SIMILAR SCHOOLS
In SIX Years Attendance Has Doubled
and Facilities Are Not Nearly suf-
licient : New Buildings and
Institutions Needed.

Des Moines, Aug. 25.-There is no
longer any doubt that a strong effort
will be made during next winters
session of the legislature to secure APP.
preparations to establish from two to
a half dozen state normal schools. The
biennial report of the Cedar Falls in
stitution, the only normal college now
maintained in the state, shows that inF
a six years its attendance has more than
doubled. 1t has completely ottgrown
the. present faci lities in all directions.
There is no assembly room in which
more than Qne-third of the students
can meet at. one time. At the opening
OF the fall term, in September, it will
be found that there are not class rooms
enough to accommodate all the classes.
There are not teachers enough in a
number of departments. New depart
ments are urgently needed, bnt can
mot be provided till more room is sup
piled. Aglarge building in which to
house the lady students is needed a
Chapel with large assembly hall must
be provided, and, in short, in every
direction the institution must expand
about 100 per cent, unless new schools
are started and the attendance divided
with these.
The Cedar Falls people,@in their re-
port, do not suggest the propriety of
starting more schools On the other
hand, they make their statement of
the institutions demands just as mild
as possible in order to keep this idea
in the background But members of
their board of trustees say ii is true
that the facilities are now utterly in
adequate, and must be doubled or else
the school must stop receiving stu
dents before all applicants are admit
ted. In six years the attendance has
more than doubled; in that time very
little has been added in the way of
buildings and general facilities.
Algona. and LeNIars are two north
ern Iowa towns that have long been
anxious to secure state normal insti-
tuition. In the central part of the
state, Jefferson has been a candidate,
and in the southwest there are Corn
ing, Red Oak and Shenandoah, all
ready to give a site and other substan-
tial inducements to secure state in
stitution. in the southeast half doz-
en- towns are willing to do as much.
1T looks decidedly as if the next legis-
lature would be compelled either to
start new schools or else provide for
great increase of the facilities at Ce-
dar Falls. "a
The board sof control has received
: from the trustees of the Cedar Falls
normal college the biennial report of
that institution. The school is not
under the control of the board, but
the law requires that all the educa-
tional institutions shall report to the
board in order that there may be uni
.ty of system in handling the reports.
The Cedar Falls institution is. in
point of attendance, the largest edu-
cational establishment in Iowa For
the school year ending in June, 1899,
there was a total enrolment of 1899.
There were 1872 graduates from the in
stitution for the year. The remarka-
BILE growth of the institution is indi-
Gated by the following figures, as to
the number of normal students in the
years indicated:
1874 ................... S72
1898 .................... .O49
s 1896 .........s........... ,1O5
1897 .................... .444
1898 Observation-Disclosures. 4 roo
1890 NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. i ,932
1t will be seen that the enrolment
has more than doubled in six years.
AS the school is twenty-four years old,
the last period appears to have been