Las Vegas optic. (East Las Vegas, N.M.) 1908-1921, 1913-05-30
JUDGE POPE IS SPEAKER
EMINENT JURlsT SPEAKS UPON
@THE DANGERS THAT BE-
SET THE REPUBLIC"
GREAT ADVANCE is MADE
GRADUATES IN PAST THREE
YEARS NEARLY EQUAL THOSE
OF PRECEDING TWELVE.

The New Mexico Normal Univer-
sity last night brought to a close
the most successful year in its his.
tory when it conferred e5 diplomas
and degrees upon 60 young men
and women. The Normal auditoriur1.
where the commencement ceremon-
les were conducted, was packed with
friends of the graduates and OF the
school. The speaker Of the evening
was Judge Wiliiam H. Pope OF the
federal district court for New Mexi.
co. Guests of honor were Lieutenant
Governor E. @. de Baca, Secretary Of
State Antonio Lucero, State superin-
tendent Of Public instruction Alvan
N. White, Judge David ]. Leahy, Her
bert W. Clark, DR.. M. +. DesMarnfs,
county superintendent Of schools; and
John D. W. veeder, M. w. Browne,
Charles Ilfeld. Eugenio Romero and
F. E. olney, members Of the board of
/ regents of the school.
i In many respects the graduating
class of 1913 is remarkable. It is the
largest in the history Of the school
and contains more young people VINO
have done work emitting them to
higher degrees than all precedsr~
classes.
During the 10 years history of the
Normal prior to the presidency Of
Or. Frank H. H. Roberts, which be-
gan three years ago. the Normal had
graduated 119 students, many of
whom received the academic dipIo-
ma, the percentage Of those taking
advanced normal work being small.
In the past three years 1O6 diplomas
have been granted, just 13 less than
the number issued IN the first 10
years Of the Normaps history. Adj
vanced work has been taken up by
an increasing number OF students.
and shorter courses have been elm
mated, making the task Of gaining a
diploma at the Normal University
more difficult In spite Of this the
number Of graduates has increased
every year The board Of regents Is
greatly pleased with this condition,
and State Superintendent Of Public
Instruction Alvan n. White, though
he declared he must show impartial
ity to ali the state hchools could not
help but show his great admiration
for the Normal University He CON
gratuiated It in a short address last
night and informed the graduares
that he hoped many Of them would
enlist in his army Of teachers during
the coming school year
The Normal University now is all
that the name implies and is rated
On an equality with the best normal
schools in the country, according 10
President Roberts.
Judge Pope, in his address to the
graduates, declared that there IS
great field for educated young men
and women in New Mexico. Quoting
from statistics, Judge Pope showed
that this state has many undeveloped
industries, though it is rich IN poten-
tai wealth. He showed thas New
Mexico has large percentage OF il-
literacy as compared with many Of
the other states. and declared that
here, surely, is a field for competent
teachers Judge Pope made an ap-
peal for the wider study Of the Span
ish language on the part OF the Eng-
disappearing young rSaDlsa. he de-
clared that hero natural conditions
are ideal for the equipment Of young
people for government or private SER
vice ii the sister nations where Span
isn Is spoken.
st the opening Of his address Judge
Pope called attention to some Or me