The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1921-02-12
FORMER GOVERNOR
GIVES GOOD ADVICE
w. J. MCCONNELL, WHO AS GOV.
ERNOR SAVED UNIVERSITY
TO MOSCOW, WRITES

The following very interesting,
timely and appropriate letter has been
written by w. ]. Mcconnell, former
governor of Idaho, to Governor w. D.
Davis anent the proposed educational
laws and the suggested removal Of
the university, will be read with IN
terest here The letter follows:
Moscow, Idaho, Feb. 18th, 1921.
Hon. D. w. Davis,
Boise, Idaho
My dear Governor.
Being one of your predecessors in
the governors office is perhaps
sufficient reason why / should follow
from day to day the proceedings of
your state legislature now in session,
and watch with interest your efforts
to promote such legislation as will
benefit the commonwealth of which
you are the chief executive, and retard
the passage Of other proposed meas
ures which might prove injurious to
the state at large, while perhaps
promising advantage to some county
or locality. Your position is bur-
dened by great responsibilities, but
others of less experience have met
the same conditions, or some Of the
same, with the knowledge that the
governor Of state stands for the in
terest Of all his constituents rather
THAN any one locality, or class, and
the further knowledge that he will be
censured II he does, and cussed il he
don't I note that one of the embar-
easements you are likely to encount-
er, is the proposed segregation OF the
State University and the removal of
the Agricultural College to some To-
cality in the southern portion of the
state Such proposal is not original
on the part Of it's present sponsors, it
having been agitated from time to
time since the second session of the
Idaho state legislature. l being the
governor at that time have a distinct
recollection of the very suave gentle
men who we're at that time members
of a lobby maintained in the interest
Of certain individuals who were own
ers of realestate in Coeur d'Alene
city; they were al friends of the gov
ernor and took it for granted that II
they could succeed in passing the bill,
which proposed taking from the
University the School of Science, that
as friend I would sign the bill. |
However, they overlooked the fact |
that there is more than personal
friendship involved in the duty of a
governor, consequently l vetoed the |
bill. / was confronted by the same,
or a similar proposal during my sec !
Ond term during which it devolved |
upon the legislature to elect sue
cessor to Senator Shoup whose term
in the U. S. senate expired the follow
ing March One of the aspirants pro-
posed to trade off the Agricultural
College to Washington county for a
certain number of votes; and the
other, or successful candidate, through ]
his friends, traded off the School of
Science for the support of Custer
county, and accordingly the legisla-
-ture segregated that department from
the University and established a
School of Science at Challs, Custer
county, which at that time was ap
proximately $50 miles distant from
railroad transportation; it was but a :,
little village, with more inmates in
It's cemetery than residents in the !,
town. AS you will understand it be-
came my painful duty to blight the
hopes of the good people of that vii
1age by veto of the measure. The
act establishing two normal schools,
one at Lewiston and the other at AL
bion, met my veto, but political com
bine carried 1t over my objections.
AT that time there would have been no 7,
in establishing a normal
school at Lewiston or some locality in N
the south, preferably at Boise, but AL <
bion was an interior village, without d
railroad communication, located in a II
sparsely settled country. ;
My object in giving you the details
Is that / might better approach dis {
cussion of the why's and wherefores
which have made possible the d4ssen- j
sions regarding the establishment Of
of learning throughout all
the northwestern states.
The state of Washington, Oregon,
Utah, and Montana, as well as Idaho, !
have suffered from this unseemly con-
tention, and all from the same cause. U
The fact is, as will be admitted, that rs
the pioneer settlers, the men and wo- (
men who carved the states name out r
Of the wilderness, were not, but few b
Of them, graduates of colleges; they, Il
like many of our legislators of today, c
never gave consideration to the difrer- 0
ence between a degree conferred by a S
state university, and a similar evil S
1ence of graduation conferred by
college of Agriculture, college of
Science, or any other so-called college
Independently and alone, i
such an institution may exist r
under the patronage of the state. We t.
nave an instance, or example in the e
case of the State Normal at Albion, of t.
he strenuous efforts required of the Z
friends Of that school at each succeed h
ng session of the Idaho legislature to a
,btain an appropriation adequate to c
it; and SO it will be if other p
Itate institutions of learning are es- a
ablished, taxes increased, and the z
of schools of higher t
earning placed in the control of poll
icians, while they may be good men,
will not in the majority of cases have
he necessary training to outline and tt
,erpetuate our general school system. Of
The University of Idaho was located h
It Moscow before we became state, n
md the convention which framed our al
tate constitution. at which / was Il