Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1909-1920 | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1920)
EASONS GIVEN WHY HELP IS ASKED FOR STATE INSTITUTIONS Continued from page 1. ence of every Oregon family. It is as if a family of four in 1913, with I an income of $2000, has been in creased to a family of t«i in 1920, with an income of $900. And with the attendance one and one-half times as great, and the buying power <of the existing income cut squarely in two, the millage tax revenue has remained almost unchanged. 4. MILLAGE INCOME LITTLE CHANGED BECAUSE OF POL ICY ON ASSESSED VAL UATIONS The millage tax revenue has stood .almost still because assessed valua tions in Oregon remain about on the same basis as they were in 1913. It was the expectation of the legisla ture, of the tax commission, and of all concerned, when the present mill age support was passed, that the an nual rise in assessed valuations would equal increase in maintenance. How conspicuously it has failed to do so is shown by the following table: 1913 . $954,282,374 1914 . 932,413,080 1915 .—. 934,495,032 1916 . 878,763,944 1917 .*. 928,605,570 1918 . 987,533,896 - 1919 . 990,435,472 That is, the increase in the state’s assessed valuation since the millage bills were passed in 1913 has been three and eigh-tenths per cent, while the increase in student enrollment has been one hundred and fifty per cent, and the increase in operating costs about one hundred per cent. Further, the number of students described, totaling about ’400 at the three institutions, includes only full time students, and does not include the many thousands who take winter short courses, summer schools, ex tension classes, or correspondence study. All of these also have to be financed, however, from the millage tax income, and their number, too, has increased tremendously. 5. WHEN EXPRESSED IN TERMS OF DOLLARS CRISIS BE COMES APPARENT In actual dollars the State Uni versity is receiving only $10,846 more than it would have received in 1913 from the millage tax income, but it has 1054 more fulltime students. The Agricultural College is receiving only $14,462 more, but it has 2014 more students. The Normal is receiving only $1445 more. Had it not been for thrifty and farsighted administration, the three instiutions would long before now have been turning students away. A pre-war report of the United States Bureau of Education gave the average cost per student per year at $325 in the great number pf Amer ican universities and colleges that entered into the calculation. At the State University this year, however, in spite of the rise in prices, the cost per student is $203, and at the College $180. Even with the new millage bill in effect the cost in Ore gon would still be below the average for institutions of similar grade. The annual student cost at the Agri cultural College, as an example, would still be $70 a year below the annual student cost at a typical group of five agricultural schools in the middle west and the west—those of Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, Indiana and Washington. (Note: In addi tion, the costs of the five colleges mentioned were taken from a four year period preceding the war, when costg were about one-half what they are now.) 6. THEY FIND THEMSELVES UNABLE TO “MAKE ENDS MEET” ANY LONGER The State University, Agricultural College, and Normal have at last “come to the end of their rope”. The war piled on burdens that made uni versities and colleges everywhere stagger. It not only raised prices to the breaking point for them, just as it did for every man’s household, but it compelled them to add branches of study, to intensify their work, to whip up their speed; for few agen cies rose to meet the call of the war as did the universities and colleges of the country. The war also show ed hundreds of thousands of men the wonderful value of a college educa tion- Nearly 1500 ex-service men have hurried* to the State University and the Agricultural College alone. Welcome as they were, they have nevertheless helped to create a prob- j hem that cannot be met without more 7- SHORTAGE OF CLASSROOM SPACE IS AS GREAT AS SHORTAGE OF MAINTE NANCE FUNDS Classroom conditions at the College j and University are almost impossible It is natural that they should be when it is remembered that the buildings of 1913 were even then insufficient, and that the number of students has increased ten times fast er than classroom space. Out of dozens of possible illustrations there is room in these two pages for one or two only. At the University the sciences have the laboratory and classroom facilities sufficient for an institution of about 700, instead of one of 1745. The University library was build when the student body numbered 400, and has study fa cilities for 211 at one time. At the Agricultural College students are shifted all over the campus to find room at all, then are constantly crowded into wholly unsuitable quart ers. The teaching efficiency of the two institutions is fast being broken down by lack of classrooms and lab oratories. 8. SALARY CONDITIONS RESULT IN STEADY LOSS OF BEST FACULTY MEN The cost of living has risen pro bably about 90 per cent in Oregon since 1915. Faculty salaries at the University, College and Normal have advanced about 20 per cent since that time. The result has been a steady loss to the state from its best fac ulty material. Teachers cannot be expected to stay on indefinitely out of loyalty when they have to borrow from banks, or dip into previous sav ings to keep their families supported. At the Agricultural College alone there have been 45 faculty resigna tions since July, 1919- Some go to the branches of industry in which they are specialists, for one of the great lessons of the world war was the unrealized value of the technical training of the university and col lege professor. Others go to states that have already met the crisis in their higher educational institutions by providing more adequate funds. Yet it is vitally important that many of these faculty members be kept in the state, and in particular the technical specialists. Professors of agriculture, horticulture, dairying, animal husbandry, education and ‘child study, journalism, commerce, engi neering, forestry, and such practical branches, come to their highest worth in a state only after years of serv ice. New men cannot learn Oregon in a season or two. 9. WHY HIGHER EDUCATION PAYS IN GENERAL AND WHY IT PAYS IN OREGON Higher education puts dollars into the pockets of thousands of Oregon citizens. The feat of the Agricul tural College in increasing the grain output per acre has alone added more to the wealth of Oregon each year than the entire cost of higher education for the same year. So has the work of the College in reducing the fruit pests. So has its achieve ment in raising the egg-laying aver age and in improving the livestock. In a less visible but no less direct way the University and the Normal are making their contributions to the wealth of the state. Higher education is a safeguard against anarchy on the one hand, and against aristocracy and reaction on the other. Nearly all the inven ! tions that helped win the war were contributions of college professors or 1 college-trained men. Educated men and women produce more and save more. The arrival in the business and industrial world in the last fif I teen years of a great number of young men of broad university train i ing has helped make America the business and industrial leader of the Whole world. It has helped bring the I worker and the employer closer to gether, and to improve the social and financial position of the former. Higher education in Oregon has been one of the strongest factors in bring ing in settlers to populate a vast region that at the present averages only nine persons to the square mile. 10. WHAT THE EFFECT ON TAX ES WOULD BE, IF YOU HAP PEN TO BE A TAXPAYER Assessed valuations in Oregon us ually vary from one-third to two thirds of the so-called “cash valua tion”, which in its turn is generally lower than the “asked price”. A man paying on $1000 of assessed valua tion would have $1.26 added to his annual statement. As the prevailing tax levies run, including the special levies for roads and towns and local schools, his increase would usually range from one-twenty-fifth to one fortieth. That is, it would add from two and one-half to four per cent to his annual taxes to have the Agricultur al College, the University and the Normal of his state placed on a footing' that would let them remain the equals of the higher educational institutions of neighboring and mid dle west states, and make it possible for hyn to educate his boy and girl at home, without going to the far greater expensb of sending them away from the state. 11. IF YOU WERE THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? imagine yourseli to be responsible for the carrying on of higher educa tion in Oregon. The institutions for which you have this responsibility have been created by the people for the education of their boys and girls, for the spread of good citizenship, for educational extension to the state generally, and for the perpetuation of the republic’s free institutions. Suppose that you have been pro vided by the people with what they expected at the time would be an adequate millage income. Unexpect edly to them and to you, however, the income fails to meet growth, fails to meet the unforseen condi tions created by a world war. In fact, the income stands almost still. Meanwhile your costs begin to go up, up, up. They double in seven years. Your dollars become worth 45 cents of their old buying power. Your buildings are depreciating. Your equipment is wearing out. And, on top of it all, your student enrollment jumps one hundred and fifty per cent. 12. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF THESE THINGS HAPPENED TO YOU? Yould you close up your 'doors? Or would-you let your whole educa tional system break down? Or would you go frankly before the people, make the facts known to them, and ask for the increase in income that has been necessary in every other activity? If you would do this last, it is then your consistent duty to vote for the Higher Educational Tax Act. (Note: Just before this copy went to the Secretary of State, on March 1, the Higher Educational Tax Act was endorsed by the State Taxpay i Right Now Most of us feel the need of a change from the solid winter foods to MORE FRUITS AND FRESH VEGETABLES We aim at all times to have in our stock everything the market affords in the fruit and vegetable line. Always fresh and of the very best quality. F. E. Dice Co. Eighth and Olive Phone 183 ers' League at its annual meeting in Portland. The measure had pre viously been endorsed by the Oregon Newspaper Conference and by the Oregon Retail Merchants Association. Many other organizations were pre | paring to endorse it, and dozens will j doubtless do so between this date, March 1, and May 21.) I (Signed) R. S. BEAN, President, Board of Re gents, University of Ore gon. J. K. WEATHERFORD, President, Board of Re gents, Oregon Agricul tural College. BEN W. OLCOTT, President, Board of Re gents, Oregon Normal School. PHONE 141 MESSENGERS Merchant Dispatch Service 40 W. 8th St. J. C. Grant, Mgr. STUDENT CLUBS ATTENTION Buy a Building Site for your future Chapter House in an ad dition that is restricted to use for residential purposes only. Kincaid Addition immediately adjoins the University of Ore gon campus and will be sold to student organizations on very liberal terms. Write Wester L. Kincaid 526 Henry Bldg., Portland, Ore. Anchorage Tea House 'Phone 30 If you want Real Classy Work Done Come to the REAL SHOE SHOP Classiest shoe machinery on market and best oper ators. 64 WILLAMETTE. Greatest French Violinist Jacques Thibauld To Visit U. of 0. Campus Villard Hall, Tuesday, March 23 8 o’clock Given by A. C. A. and School of Music for benefit of Women’s Building. Reserved Section $1.50 Tickets $1.00 Call 114 MAXWELL JITNEY 19 East Ninth Avenue Choice Flowers For All Occasions Special Rates to Students Organizations. Decorative Plants to rent. THE UNIVERSITY FLORIST Phone 654 , 993 Hilyard St. THE BEST FUEL THE LEAST COST SLAB-WOOD The Booth-Kelly Lumber Co. PHONE 462 5TH and WILL. ST. A. G. Groshong Proprietor of NINTH STREET MEAT MARKET Phone 14 During The Last Week of The Semester When you desire something to eat or drink, we are still ready to serve you as ever. French Pastries Confections THE RAINBOW ■' H.-.BURGOYN, Prop.