The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-09-20

oeotO thdl, Oui Souhty OShool |
Board in harmony with the
County Sup't's wishes delayed the es-
Enlistment of this school for year |
or two" urgent requests came from |
all parts of the county insisting that |
the school be established" I'VE sug-
gested that we delay awhile longer
as the Normal is soon to open its
doors and will carry an up-to-date
Agricultural Department to meet the
demands of the teachers who are to
be trained there for their work" We
realized the fact that these petition
ers coming from all parts of the coun-
ty were not only entitled to considera-
ton, but We realized that their re-
quests must be met. There are but
three ways open to us by which we
could answer them. One is to ignore
them Another is to merge our Agri-
cultural School into the Normal. The
third is to establish a county Agricul
tural School. We did not think it
wise to ignore the urgent requests of
these petitioners who represent al
most every community in the county.
We then began to investigate the adj
visibility of merging into the Normal.
| We were mindful of the fact that the
primary purpose for which the Nor
, NAL is created is for the training of
! teachers and that it is soon to become
State Institution patronized by stu
! dents from every county in the state
| ty eight other stockholders all bear
ing an equal ownership with Forrest
county. We note that in these seventy
nine counties there are 301,54S white
educable children. There are employ
ed by the state in her public schools
between 5000 and 1900 teachers.
This Normal is established primarily
to train teachers to take the place of
this large number of teachers as they
go out. The history of our state in.
situations is that they are all overrun
with applications from students seek
ing to enter their rank as students
Knowing the true merits and ability
of the man who is selected to preside
over the affairs of our" Normal we
believe that he will soon fill the in
stitution to overlooking with young
men and women who are preparing
themselves for the profession of teach
ing. This settled the question as t.
our boys and girls who are not pre-
pairing to teach as to dormitory ad
vantages in the Normal We knew
that there would be no room for them
1t was then suggested by way of SC
luton of the problem that Forres
county build her own dormitory 70
her own boys and girls who d
not wish to pledge their service t
the state for at least three years a
teachers. This suggestion seems t
have some merits and apparent
would solve the problem. But let u
investigate a moment lest we act to
hastily in so important a matter. TIL
law as now written requires that
any building is erected that a boar'
ing department where not less tina
forty students may have dormitor
and dining room facilities must b
built. This may not be just the wa
we would like to have the law, bl
this is exactly what it requires. W
inquired of one who is authorized
speak for the Normal what wou
such a building as would be accer
able to the Board of Trustees like
cost the county. The answer was tn
perhaps with twenty thousand dolla
the county could put up the buildin
This as you note would take the rev
two years-simply to pay for Il
buildings. When we are reminded
the character of the other buildin
on the Normal grounds we see tn
this ESTIMATE is not eXtravagant,
cause when completed, we will ha
the most beautiful and attractive c.
lege buildings in the State. But sor
one says that the county could erect
cheap dormitory for her boys a
girls who do not feel that they a
especially fitted for teaching, b
want the advantages of an up-to-da
institution. Let us refer to the bel
tiful buildings of the Normal erect
under state supervision, but paid
by the city of Hattiesburg and F
rest county at a cost approximate
two hundred and fifty thousand
lars in which buildings are gather
students from all parts of the sta
Then will you be satisfied to erect
little insignificant building to be us