Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1922-03-02
SENATE TRIMS
. SUPPORT FUND
OF UNIVERSITY
State School at Oxford Will Receive
$125,000 for Biennial Period.
COHN'S VOTE CHANGE
DEFEATS EDUCATORS
Love, Zeller and King Fight Hard for
Cause of Higher State Learning.

SduSC VI l1lS lSLdtc Y.
Jackson, Feb. 25.-Passage of the
finance committees substitute bill,
which embodies cut of 20 per cent on
the appropriation for the support of
the University Of Mississippi featured
a tranquil session Of the Senate yes
terday in which long list of bills
were indefinitely postponed or defeat
ed and many others of limited interest
passed with little opposition. The Uni
versity bill carries a sum of $125,000
for the biennial period.
Vigorous efforts to prevent a reduc-
tion in the support. of the Oxford
school We're made by Senator Love,
chairman of educational committee.
Senator Zeller, chairman of the COM
mittee on university and colleges, and
by Senator Bee King, of Simpson
county. The Zeller amendment seek
ing to raise the committees figures
of ST 900 for the law school to 81 500,
the $4,000 for the medical school to
$500, and two other smaller items
similarly, was defeated by vote of
Is yeas to % nays. Senator Kings
amendment sought to increase the to-
tai appropriation to $4,000; it was
voted down, 18 yeas to 81 nays.
The bill required 25 votes, ma
jority of the elected members of the
Senate, for passage. 1t would have
failed of passage by one vote had not
Senator Cohn changed his vote from
nay to aye for purposes of reconsid-
Grafton; his change furnished the
necessary majority of 25 yeas to Is
nays. Senator Cohn's change of vote
was deplored by the education advo-
Gates and by himself as mistake,
the senator having made the erron-
eous mental calculation that the bill
would receive the necessary majority
without his vote. He entered mo-
tion to reconsider. 100
In opposition to the bill and the cut
in the appropriation for the university
support Senator King delivered his
maiden speech in the Senate. He
vigorously denounced the allegation
that the educational levy was re-
sponsible for the distress from the tax
burden. He asserted that he knew he
voiced the sentiment of his own peo-
pie in opposing any reduction, for at
mass meeting of 200 representative
citizens of Simpson county held in
Mendenhall the first week in January
he had inquired their sentiment and
with unanimous assent the decision
had been against any decrease in state
appropriations for education.
"We have gone over our state
schools carefully" said the speaker,
l,of
not a single department in any OF
them that has more teachers than
necessary. On the other hand most
of them are deeply in need of addi-
tional teachers.
II deny the allegation made by a
member of this body that children of
our state are going bare-footed and
insufficiently clad because of the
burden of state taxation: parents of
such destitute children are in no case
taxpayers
Senator King spoke in his usual
able manner and ardently plead for
the continuation of financial support
for the state university without a re-
duction. The reduction proposed by
the bill, he asserted, would cripple
the effectiveness of the institution
which was yet far below what it
should be. He declared that the equip
ment of the university was now "woe-
fully Inadequate" The deplorable
low. standing of this institution a.
mong state universities all over the
country was commented upon by the
senator from Yazoo county. He said
when he was takinp his graduate
work in northern medical school he
had the pleasure of being associated
with young men from Mississippi of
splendid ability When he would ask
these Mississippians about their fu-
ture and assume that they would re-
turn to their native state to establish
themselves after graduating, they
would astonish him by replying:
"No, we are not going back to Mis-
sissippi. The political situation down
there is such that they do not want
men like us"
Senator Roberts spoke in favor of
the bill and against the amendments.
He asserted that it was "a bald-naked
dollar and cents proposition" and that
the people Of Mississippi could not
afford to maintain the schools on the
basis of 1920 appropriations. He de-
clared that the salaries of teachers
ought to be reduced 80 per cent.
Senator Ellis also favored the bill
and the proposed reduction. He in
sisted that relief should be given to
the tax-burdened by cutting the pay
Of the college professors. He be-
lieved that reduction would not cause
q loss Of efficiency in the teaching
force, saying:
1--WE have voted to cut our own pay
and that of the chief executive. Will
we because Of this have less able men
in the legislature and for the governr-
ship? Impossible !"
Senator Shields declared his pleas