Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1913-01-31

defstand the Importance Of any leg
islation that affects our agricultural
interests.
The farms OF our state are valued
at about 400 millions Of dollars, and
all other real estate al about 200 mil
lions OF dollars The census Of 1910
shows that almost a million Of our
million and quarter Of people live
in rural districts and in towns of less
than 2500 inhabitants, and the esti-
mated number Of children OF school
age in these rural homes is 100000
You will thus see that It is not only
important to legislate in the interest
Of the people who own these rural
homes but coupled with it ia the very
important question OF providing ade-
quate facilities for the children OF
these homes, be only sixtythree rural
children of the same age die of that
disease; about three hundred and for
ty-four city children out of every one
hundred thousands under the age Of
FIVE years die Of diphtheria and Group
while only about one hundred and
twenty-five rural children of the same
age die of these diseases
Some Things Needed.
The West Virginia University
should have for its College of Agri-
culture a suitable building. properly
equipped, and in addition to that must
have more land if the efficiency of
the college is to be increased. The
past two years have been the most
successful in the history of the uni
versity and it should be dealtS with
most literally President Hodges and
his faculty, under the direction of the
State Board of Regents, have done
much to increase the efficiency of this
school and it is now serving the PEG
pie of this state as it has never done
before We sometime hear com
plants Of the cost Of maintaining this
institution, but if you will take pains
to compare its per capita cost with
the per capita cost of similar insttu-
lions in other states You will find that
We have not been as liberal with our
university as we should have been.
This school should also have law
building and | hope the day is not
far distant when aH appropriation
will be made for that purpose The
farmer cannot get tha best results
unless he has proper tools and ma
chinery; the lawyer is not successful
unless he has an upto.date library
and it is too much to expect the
/ schools Of our state o produce the re-
suits that they are capable of produc-
ing unless we furnish them with the
means and equipmeut with which to
do the work, hope that you will be
liberal in your appropriations of mon
eys to be used horticultural eXten-
sion work
Normal schools,
The number OF students in our nor
NAL schools varies from lbs at West
Liberty to $50 Marshall College, and
the per capita cost, as heretofore
shown varies from S627772 to $lo0.32
One of the greutest problems that
confront the educational world is that
Of housing and feeding students for a
reasonable sum II we could board
and room our students for $500 or
$1,000 month it would not be long
until We would very greatly increase
the number in attendance at our I'M
iversity and normal schools and | do
not know how this problem can be
solved unIsss we provide dormitorjes
and boarding houses. / believe that
money can be wisely invested for this
purpose Two or three years ago, in
company With the Board Of Regents,
. I visited the University of Wiscon-
sin at Madison and following that
went to Valparaiso, Indiana, to learn
something OF now they were able to
have such large number of students
and at so small a cost, and | was FUZZY
convinced thar il vas largely que to
the fact that hey we're able 90 board
and room their students at minimum
cost On nay return home I com
meuced to investigate conditions in
our own state and found that at the
West Virginia Co,ored Institute they