The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1910-03-31

mol Imal school returns direct, i'm
mediate benefit to the state. 10 US
his acquired skill aud knowledge h
must give the children the benefit
and In order to earn livelihood, h
must, and does, tescn. Ot tie gIau
yates from the Monmouth normal
the record shows that ninety i've pc
cent have, and are, teaching. Ii
teaching ne gives the children th'
direct benefit OF his superior training
and skill. The proposed cOst 10
maintaining this school IN the lnitla
tive bill now pending, Is but th'
matter OF few cents to eaoh tai
payer. 1t man pays taxes on on'
thousand dollars, he will pay touI
cents year to the support OF tn
normal school. This money will b'
expended under direction oil the on
Board OF Regents, with tie Secretary
of State as the auditing official
| Hence the matter Is closely safe
guarded.
The state has a we'll equipped plan
established ut Monmouth, tan
| estimate OF IT'S valuation would bt
| more than ono hundred Thousand
dollars. Being near the center Oi
population, easy OF access, 1t Id located
in the most beautiful and heal thtul
part OF the state. Ine buildings aTt
weil designed and equipped lOr the
work, having hll mOuern CUnVenl
ences. IL WUuid be worse than folly
to discontinue its use, tor the school
must be located some place, ana this
Is we'll selected site.
They claim that the tact that they
are submitting the question to the
voters by an initiative petition takes
IL out Of politics. However, it does
not take 1t so far out that 1t cannot
easily slip back again when the leg.
slature meets. The Monmouth on
thusiasts claim that they do mt want
much as the proposed tax Will
only be tour cents for the man who
pays on $1,000. lhey claim, further,
that the state owns normal plant
at Monmouth worth 800, 900 which
should be used.
The revenue which they would gain
by the proposed tax, is only between
s25, 0O0 and $4,000. In their plan
they do not propose to be the only
normal In the state and Ashland ana
Weston are both crying for the same
amount, which II approved by the
voters would mean about $50, 900 to be
expended for normHls with not
enough at any one place to conduct
"a first class school. Oregon needs
one good normal and the state can
afford to pay whatever it costs but
IL is the rankest sort of foolishness
to support three second rate schools.
The amount asked by the three
schools would maintain one good
school. IL the voters should revive
the schools, thay would all three pop
up at the following election begging
for largely increased expenditures,
which they would have to have to
maintain proper standard. 1t
would cost much money to run three
good normal schools with full
faculty of competent instructors and
the. state cannot ait ord to have three
poor ones at any price.
The Monmouth people do not say
whether they expect to be the only
school or not. They would, however,
lead people to believe that theirs
would be the state school although
they do not chance saying 1t in 30
many words, being afraid to arouse
the Weston and Ashland partisans,
and start fight among the three.
The final plea of the Monmouth
letter is: at would be worse than
folly to discontinue Its use, for THE
SCHOOL MUST BE LOCATED
SOME PLAOE". Or course 1t must
be "some place." but there are many
P'"NpS oobtoA hhdu "OulhOutus IL
came to be In that out. OF the. way dead
village, because little college failed
there and gave the buildings to the
state. The state Is an easy victim to
present white elephants.
The state normal school should be
located In the very best location
which can he selected and not put
down in a dead Willamette Valley
village just because there are tew
old buildings there which are worth
only little more than the schools
are asking for years maintenance.
lhe state should be able to dispose OF
the buildings at fair price and lose
nothing. IL that cannot be done, a
location which cannot be sold, should
not be used to training the teachers
of the state, just because nobody
else wants 1t. The bills of Mon.
mouth, Weston and Ashland should
all be turned down and then the
state should establish ONE FIRST.
GLASS NORMAL.