Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1917-05-17
W. VIRGINIA WESLEYAN
COLLEGE FlGHTIN G
FOR her EXISTENCE.
Five Hundred Thousand Dollars
Must Be Raised BY June 9Th,
Two Hundred and Fifteen
Thousand Secured

Buckhannon, W. Va, May 10th. In
twenty-one days West Virginia Yves.
leyan College located here must finish
her gigantic campaign for endowment
To date two hundred and fifteen thou
sand dollars have been definitely
pledged. Two hundred and eighty-five
thousand dollars vet remain to be
raised. This, in a nutshell, Is the
proposition that faces the little band
Of workers that is prosecuting the
work in this great movement
Five hundred thousand dollars Ia
the total that Wesleyan has set her.
self to raise This amount is absolutely
essential to the continuation of the
great work that this great institution
has been doing for the past thirty
years. 1t can be said emphatically that
II this movement fails West Virginia
Wesleyan will have but two courses
open to her; one, to close her. doors
entirely, the other, to attempt to do
nothing more than reparatory work
equivalent to that the first class high
schools of the state are doing. To be
forced to pursue either Of these courses
would be an everlasting blot on the
record OF West Virginia Methodism
and disgrace to the state.
However, perusal of the statements
given below will convince ell that this
is the true situation.
Wesleyan College has had an annual
net loss on operating expenses OF
seven thousand dollars for number
OF years past. There is an accumu-
lated Indebtedness that is pressing for
payment, which with the expenses OF
the present campaign, repairs and i'm
provements on the buildings and
grounds that are absolutely imperative,
and other incidental expenses that re-
uuire the immediate expenditure OF
one hundred thousand dollars in order
that the College may be placed on a
basis of 1solvency.
The college has permanent endow.
ment Of about one hundred thousand
dollars at this time. or the five hun
dred thousand that is to be raised,
one hundred thousand is to be used
In meeting the Indebtedness and other
expenses as indicated above, and the
remaining four hundred thousand is
to be added to the one hundred thou.
sand of existing endowment. This
will give the College gross endowment
funds of five hundred thousand dollars,
the revenue from which will amount to
about twenty-five thousands of dollars
in income annually. Inasmuch, how
ever, as one hundred thousand of it has
been available for a number of years
back, there will be a gross increase
in the income of the college amounting
to twenty thousand dollars annually If
the present campaign is successful.
1t is proposed to utilize this twenty
thousand in the following manner:
Seven thousand, Of course, will be
needed to meet the annual deficit that
for years has existed in the operation
Of the college. The teachers at Yves
leyan are VIGOROUSLY poorly paid The
ma ority of them receive barely one
half the amount paid to teachers in
higher grade than that done at Yves.
leyan. 1t is absolutely essential, then,
IL these teachers are to be retained
and il Improvements In the teaching
force are to be made, that eventually
ten thousand dollars more be spent
each year on the teaching staff. Under
existing salaries it is absolutely i'm
possible for the teachers to remain at
their posts. These two items, then,
call for seventeen thousand of the
twenty thousand additional dollars of
revenue the college will receive il
the campaign Is successful 1t is be.
coming more and more apparent to all
educators that If Wesleyan is to con,
tinue to serve the best interests Of
her constituency she must offer more
courses, agriculture being the one most
likely to be included In the curriculum.
This would call for an expenditure Of