Gunnison news-champion., 1920-04-23
OPEN LETTER
ON Co. 4. S,

| UU uu. Il. j.
Shall we or shall We not have =,
adequate high-school buildin9? hi.
| question viii be settled Nay Srd by
the qualified voters Of Gunnissa Coun-
~. II il . question that % power q
earth can answer except the people
who are vitAlly interested. Thus the
most important issues in this country
are left to the people. Education q
the right kind and in sufficient degree
We can buy for ourselves and for
our neighbors; we can give the young
start in life, IN equipment that no
one can take from them; we can make
Of our children safe and happy citi-
zens Of democracy, unless we are
too cowardly or too selfish in the bad
sense Of the term to take the risk and
make the sacrifice.
We need . building. The hirh
school enrolment has doubled since
the school was moved into the Normal
building in 1911. In TIE safne per;od
OF time the Normal School has in.
creased three hundred per cent. We
are packed like sardines In . box. The
corridors have been turned into class
rooms and Offices. There Is only one
laboratory for all sciences; the library
Is literally running over; the manual
training shop Is 20 full that the boys
almost have to stand on their work
oenepes. The assembly room is 10
smah that three or four students must
pile their belongings into one seat
desk. 1t fs no use to talk about il:
everyone knows that the physical
mean. Of running . proper school are
entirely lacking.
There are Psychological reasons, too,
why the two schools should now have
separate organizations. High School
students are not like Normal School
students. They do not need the same
KIND Of chapel exercises; they have
social interests quite distinct from the
college students; the methods TO be
employed with and for them are en-
tireIy different; their intellectual life
Is on q different plane from that Of
the Normal student. We must ret
the High School into its own place
- thet the best work cnn b d. In
both high sehsple ard eollera. !, There
y not another pIa6e il the world
where one organization Il being tried
for both high school and college
students.
The state Is not trying to steal or
charged. The High School commit
tee hold clear title and deed to the
land upon which the proposed build
ing Is to be erected. II . good build
ing can be put in this place and the
High School can be given its own
program on the basis Of its peculiar
needs, it will become more and more
proper and effective high school
.sl and less and less merely a part Of
"All right" someone says. 4sbut
what about the awful cost Of the
thing Z" It will cost, to be suse. We
buy nothing at reasonable price
IN these days; but We buy nothing
more important than the mental and
spiritual equipment Of . proper edu-
cation. Right education viii protect
us and future generations from Just
such crazy times rs we are now hav-
ing. The most ses1ous cases Of
these wild times are two. the fact
that education has failed to reach full.
y one-fourth Of the people In any
form. and . large proportion Of the
rest have been wrongly taught. We
must have proper schools to reach all
the people and to teach the right
things. This costs money; but patrio-
tic Americans are here to nay the
money IL It costs them their lives as
well rs their bank accounts. God pity
the man who shah have lived sixty
five or seventy years, accumulated Il
little property to leave to his son or
daughter, died, but never really shall
hsxe known what Il II 10 gtve-Rive
until il hurts, for the bene1t of
humanity.
The new Center district down in
Sagnache County is . good recent ex-
ample Of building for future genera
tions-of giving. The entire district
has = valuation Of only $3,1l9, 900;
but Is has bonded itself for the con-
struction Of . $125, 900 modern school,
building; and It has other school pro-
perty enough to bring the total debt
up to about $780, 900. The cost Of
maintenance = $4,000 as compared
to our $4,000 for high school pur-
poses. Yet TIE people down there
think they mve done . grand thing, I
and they have. At the recent dedica-
tion, people were present from al
over the United States Center haal
been put on tie mapo Cannot Gunni-
son, with her6valuatfon Of over $16,-|
900, 0,000, her high school levy Of only
one mill, and her operating expense of1
only $l6;000s put up = school building
costing under $iboO00. AL tod. ard
more, come to deserve her own self
respect
Nobody b putting on this most
innaftent Of all issneA Delta dis
TIA No !, with . vn1nstioa of oa1y|
g. eoe .0oe, has t.naed hoss1H for 81