The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1916-04-20
OTTUMWA WANTS
Penn COLLEGE
PROPOSITION TO BE PRESENTED
rs. . NEXT THURSDAY.
GREATER INCOME is NECESSARY
Standards Fixed BY Education De.
mand That College Have 100000
Plant and An Annual Income of
Fifty Thousand Dollars.

Fifty Thousand Dollars.
Editor Herald: Understanding
that there are certain rumors afioat
concerning a proposed deal between
the Commercial Club of Ottumwa and
| Penn College, looking toward the To-
cation of the college in Ottumwa, |
desire to make statement through the
columns OF your paper SO that people
may know exactly how matters
stand.
1t is common knowledge to every
one that Penn College is facing f.
nancial situation which demands care
full consideration and adequate plan
ming for the future. II has been de-
termined in the circles of higher edu-
cation, such determination being
reached by the best experts available,
that the minimum college must in the
near future possess an annual income
of not less than $50,00000 and must
Eoperate a plant costing not less than
$500, 100000. This conclusion has
been reached by such a process and
by, such experts as make it absolutely
authentic, and no college which eX-
poets to continue as a first class in
stitution dares to ignore 1t. For Penn
College to measure up to these re-
quirements means that within the
next five years $300,000.00 must be
raised to complete endowment and
lliquidate the present Indebtedness,
and $30G,000.00 additional to invest in
1.-THE building of an adequate plant for
the conducting of first class efficient
college In addition to this it will
require the location of the college on
a more extensive campus than 1t now
possesses, and such campus must be
a greater distance from sWitch-yards
so as to avoid noise and smoke.
II has been apparent for some time
to those most closely connected with
the institution that the present loca-
tion was not adequate to meet the re-
mands as outlined above, and that If
Penn College is to survive an envir-
onment must be sought from which
it would be possible to secure such
isuprort as experts declare must be
available for the efficient college.
/ The ottumwa Proposition.
Knowing that a deal which had
been on between Iowa Wesleyan Col
lege and the City of Ottumwa had not
,, developed, we made an investigation
OF the situation in Ottumwa and have
}, found it to be much superior to what
, we had expected, and to be able, to
guarantee such support as will be
necessary to keep Penn College as a
first class institution, considering the
situation for a period of years in the
future There is no speculation about
this matter, but it has been investi-
gated so that the assurance of its
, producing the required support is alb
solutely certain.
In view, therefore, of the present
financial situation of Penn College,
looking at it as extending over a per.
iod of time, and in view of the posi-
bilities a; guaranteed by me Oppor-
tunity at Ottumwa, a meeting Of the
entire Board of Trustees OF Penn
College has been called primarily to
consider the whole financial situation
of the college, and to take UP the
consideration of various ways out Of
the difficulty.
Penn College viii Live.
One thing is absolutely certain of
which all the friends of Penn College
may rest assured, that is that Penn
College is not going to close her
doors. Whatever is necessary in the
judgment of the Board of Trustees,
not only to keep the doors of Penn
College open, but to make her the
biggest and best institution that she
can be made, looking out over a per.
iod of 25 to so years, is going to be
done. The men and women who
founded Penn College, those who have
had charge of her interests up to the
time of the tenure of office of the
lpresent management, are known to
be men and women who did not I'M
dertake nor foster a fGiIing enter.
prise; and it is possibly not over.
stating the matter to say that the
present management is of the same
character.
Just what will be deemed neces-
sary to insure the future of Penn Col
lege is a matter that can only be
Anown after the Board of Trustees
has adjourned; but that something
significant will be done is a thing
upon which everyone may rely.
Several Available Remedies.
There will be several propositions
which point a way out of the difficult
ty. and the Board of Trustees will
choose among them. The Board of
Trustees is composed of thirty.one
men from all over the state of Iowa.
They are men of business ability and
Implicit loyalty to the interests of
Penn College. They are men who
who view the situation, not in any
narrow way, but in broad. generous
manner; who consider Penn College
Ito be one of the institutions which
forms necessary link in the educa-
tional chain of the Society of Friends
in America, and who realize that they
are serving the interests, not alone of
the Immediately local field. but also
of Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends.
and still further those of American
Quakerism. They also realize their
Responsibility to the large and hon.
orable body of the alumni consisting
now of more than 600 members, all
of whom expect Penn College to make
good and hold the Board of Trustees
responsible for this.
!, Situation Not Critical.
The situation is not one over which
to become historical. 1t is not a sit
nation that partakes of the senss-
tional, 1t is simply straight out
and out business proposition concern
ling the MANAGEMENT nf PAnr College,
and the friends of Penn College may