East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-02-27
IT is FINISHED.
(Weston Leader.)

The blow has fallen, ana the nor
NAL schools of oregon lie butchered
at the feet of the relentless foes who
have pursued them for years with
SANDER and villification.
The state senate of Oregon and the
Portland Oregonian are directly re-
sponsible for the death of the schools.
The Oregonian has persistently ham
mered them at every session. using its
favorite expressions Of graft" and
log roll" but never an iota of genu-
inc argument against them. This year
it was aided by majority of the SEN
ate, led by Bowerman Of Gillian
county and Selling of Multnomah.
The manner of attack was exempli-
fled by President Bowerman in voic-
ing this shibboleth on the floor of the
senate:
These schools were all conceived
in iniqu.ty and born in shame"
This foul slander-thls miserable.
damnable, atrocious re-which the
Oregonian at once quoted editorially
with delighted approval is fair
sample of the alleged argument
against the schools. Never once had
the anti-School senator's taken pains
to inform themselves as to the real
facts in the case. Full reports and
carefully prepared statistics from
each school were at their disposal in
the office of the secretary of the board
at Salem. Not one of them availed
himself of this source of information.
They were all out with their ham
mers and had determined to murder
the schools from the opening of the
session.
The Leader is full of wrath and
bitterness, but realizes that what it
has to say can have no more effect
than so much empty vaporing. 1t is
over. Peace to the ashes of the
Eastern Oregon State Normal School.
The bright sunlight will stream
through its broken windows upon
scene Of desolation and decay. The
statute of Minerva majestic, silent,
inscrutable, Will gaze upon an empty
assembly hall. whose seats We're erst-
while filled with ambitious students
The busts of Lincoln Sappho and
Pestalozzi, forlodn upon their pedes-
tails, viii have none to inspire with
deeds of emulation. The beautiful
chandeliers, suspended from massive
beams of redwood, will no longer
flood with radiance the intellectual
and musical gatherings that respond
ed to the calls TOR Normal entertain
ments. The exquisite has relief of
the last alumni gift. viii
please no longer the artistic sense of
the Normars guests ana the magnif-
cent pictures upon the walls IF the
assembly room will but accentuate the
gloom. The $4,000 main
building. for which no care -taker has
been provided will ultimately fall IN ,
to decay. The bats and the owls and
the COCkroaches seek refuge in its
corridors, stairways and recitation |
rooms. There are books IN plenty, |
but none to read; pianos, but non
to play; class rooms equipped with
every article of school furniture, but
none to experiment; a kindergart IN
for the training school. but no chill /.
dren; a campus, but no students to !
make merry thereon with athletic /.
sports and games. Of a verify, It IS
easier to destroy than to create. Tic |
splendid work Of years has been un-
done in a few fateful days by the /
of the Oregon senate.
Words of sympathy mock by their I.
uselessness in considering the utter /.
disappointment of President and Mrs /
French, who have given the best years
ol their united life to the Weston |
normal, and have made personal sac !
rifices of which the public will never |
know; the assistant teachers. left with |
unpaid salaries in the middle of the !.
school year; students betrayed and .
townspeople victimized /
a community outraged. Gaze with
glee upon your work, ye senators of .
Oregon and newspapers of Portlan I. !
Rejoice that ye have at last bludgeon-
ed the only state institution in east
ern Oregon, because Il was Con
ceived in iniquity and born IN /
shame" according to your SANDER !
Gus and venomous tongues. You have !
hammered this school in .
the days Of its life and vigor. Per-
haps now it will amuse you to coma
and view the remains.