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.