The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-07-22
PEOPLES FORUM
How Missouri Cares for Normals

How Missouri Cares for Normals To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 I have just spent a very de- lightful day at one of Missourfs five state teachers colleges, the Southeastern College, located here on the banks of the Mississippi river and on the line. of the Frisco from Memphis to St. Louis. The response of the twelve hundred teachers in the summer school has been good. The half-dozen beau tiful, commodious gray stone build ings of the college scattered among the large hardwood trees on the campus are good to look at. But not all the pleasure of my visit has come from these two causes. A large part of it comes from the knowledge of the fact that the state of Missouri has learned to deal more generously with her schools for the prepara- tion of the teachers than some other states do.
 This school, till recently known as the Southeastern State Normal School, was established in 1878, J ' bama took over the school at Florence and made 1t into her first normal school. In these fifty years buildings and equipment have been added by the state of Missouri until the plant Is now valued at s1,250,00o, and a new education, or practice school, building is now being completed at a cost of $125,000.
 Since Alabama Is now consider ing plans for somewhat more adequate support of her normal schools, many people of th4 state will, I believe, be interested in knowing how Missouri, state usually counted among the South ern states, and made up very largely of Southern people and their descendants, supports her schools for the training of teach CTS.
 For this school at Cape Girar- deau the state appropriations for the current biennial period, not in- cluding a reappropriation of s61,- 625 for the completion of the edu- cation building referred to above, amount to SS72,7S4, an average of $186,392 a year. This Is for an enrolment of about fifty per cent. larger than the enrolment of our normal school at Florence-about 800 in the regular session and about 1,200 in the summer school.
 The total of state appropriations for Missouri's five teachers col leges for the current biennial pe- riod is S2,599,S4S, an average of $1,299,674 a year.
 lnN addition to these five state teachers colleges for white teach CTS, there are two city teachers colleges for whites in St. Louis and Kansas City. Lincoln Univer- slty at Jefferson City, the state college of agriculture and me- chanic arts for negroes, also serves as the normal school for negroes.
 For higher education in the state University and School of Mines under the direction of the university Missouri appropriates for this biennial period S4,O45.o4S. an average of s2,022,524 a year, This Is one-third more than the proposed tax of one and a half mills for higher education In Ala bama for all her higher institu- tions of learning will produce.
 IT 1t is answered that Missouri is larger and richer state than Alabama, 1t must also be remem- bered that she has more and larger denominational and en- dowed institutions of higher edu- cation than Alabama has, among them the large and heavily en- dowed Washington University in St. Louis.
 It should also be remembered that for the full development of her resources Alabama needs men ana women of much wider range or higher technical training than Missouri needs for the equal de- velopment of her resources.
 P. P. CLAYTON.
 Cape Girardeau, Mo, July Q, 1923