Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1910-11-29
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ALUMNI OF PIONEER NORMAL.
GIVES RoUsING RECEPTION.
Doors of Historic School Are Again
Thrown Open; Fully 500 Persons
at Banquet.

CobWebS and dust, which for IL
months have been gathering behind
the locked doors and windows of the
Oregon State Normal School. were
Jared loose Saturday, when nearly
500 alumni from various parts of the
state, public officials and residents of
Monmouth gathered for an all-day
celebration to hail the return of old
conditions, which will place the his
toric institution under a system of
maintenance by the state.
For the first time in two years the
air of gloom, which has fingered over
Monmouth, was dispelled by. old-time
college yells that greeted the arrivals
on every train, coming from the
throats of a big delegation of former
students, who began to see chance
to realize the completion of their Nor
NAL course.
5000 Visitors i'm Town.
The main feature of the day was a
gathering in the assembly hall, where
addresses were given by many leading
GuucdtOTS VI Sldtt anu IllCH WIZ
were active in the fight for the Mon
mouth school. The assembly hall was
well filled, it being estimated there
were over 5000 visitors in the city.
Mayor j. H. Hawley, of Monmouth,
delivered the address of welcome, be-
ing introduced by ]. B. v. Butler, who
acted as chairman of the day. The
Mayor briefly recounted the history
of the campaign waged to bring the
question of the school before the peo-
pie and to demonstrate that the in
stitution was worthy of a continuous
lease of life.
This school will be one of the live
wires of the state" he declared "As
far as the voice of the people is con-
cerned, we are the one normal school
and the central normal school of Ore
gon. One of the fundamental princi-
pies that gained victory in the recent
campaign proved to be the merits of
the historic school, and the fact that
the people of Oregon realized this
makes it doubly victory This is not
a large town, nor is 1t wealthy one,
but the spirit is in our people to bet
ter conditions at the school and to
keep pace with the progress of the
state to the best of our ability
I'm the reopening of the school we
will have increased opportunities, but
we will also have increased obliga-
tions and we must plan to meet these
obligations and see that they are
paid"
Superintendent of Public Instruction
j. H. Ackerman, in mentioning the
vote passed for the normal, was given
a tremendous ovation when he spoke
of Multnomah's plurality of 6012 for
this bill.
Il believe l can bring the assurance
of the board of regents he said.
that the board will concentrate every
effort to make this normal school Sec
ond to none in the United States.
believe the board pursued wise poll
cy in closing all of the normals, for it
proved a bar to the people and an
object lesson that awakened them to
the necessity for an institution where
higher normal training may be Sc
cured"
Standardization Plan Is Told.
The. superintendent outlined a plan
for Standardization of normals which
will require a four-year high school
course before admission is allowed to
the normal school and providing a
normal school education, which will
admit the teacher TO serve in any
state in the Union without further
examination.