(cover) NEMOSCOPE WINTER 1947 (page 2) PRESIDENT'S CORNER Pictured on the cover of this issue of NEMOSCOPE is a group of young men who have made basketball history for the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College in the tradition of the "Bulldog Spirit." This team has won undisputed championship of the M.I.A.A. for their school for the first time in the history of conference play--losing only one conference game. Their season's record stands at 28 wins and one loss which is one of the outstanding records of any basketball team in the nation. The history of basketball on this campus is interesting and varied. For nearly half a century it was not considered an intercollegiate sport. It was, however, for many years an intramural sport before becoming an intercollegiate one. It is not known in what year it was first played as an intramural game, but little attention was given to it prior to the turn of the twentieth century, due, no doubt, to the fact that the college had few facilities for playing it. In 1901 a new gymnasium was completed, and shortly thereafter basketball became a very popular intramural sport. Soon every school organization, including the classes, had its basketball team; the rivalry of which surpassed the rivalry between intercollegiate teams of today. For approximately nineteen years these intramural contests were the only form of basketball games on our campus. It is interesting to note that during this period there were a number of girls' basketball teams sponsored by various student organizations. The early bulletins, school catalogs, and yearbooks, published by the College stressed the growing popularity of basketball as a desirable form of physical exercise. In 1920 the College entered the field of intercollegiate basketball, and in that year the team won nine of the sixteen games played. Each year thereafter the college has had an intercollegiate basketball team with the exception of two war years, 1943 and 1944, when intercollegiate athletics on the campus were adjourned for the duration. During the past two decades the College has had some outstanding basketball teams and has developed some great players. The Bulldogs of 1927 tied, on a percentage basis, for first place in the M. I. A. A. conference with Maryville. Yet, during that season it defeated the Maryville team in three successive games and according to many cage followers, proved themselves the number one team of the Conference. The Bulldogs won fifteen of the nineteen games played that season. The following year the Bulldogs tied for second place in the M. I. A. A. conference and won third place in 1930. The College is very proud of the record of the Bulldogs as a winning team and also as a clean, hard playing group of young men. Throughout the season they have kept in mind the high standards of sportsmanship and played with the spirit that a "quitter never wins and a winner never quits," and in spite of the fact that the heavy schedule has necessitated the team being away from the campus on many occasions, these young men have also managed to maintain high scholastic standards. The history of basketball in this College is not finished. We are looking forward to even greater teams and players in the years that lie ahead. Already basketball has become the number one spectator sport in America. NEMOSCOPE NORTHEAST MISSOURI STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE KIRKSVILLE, MISSOURI WALTER H. RYLE, PRESIDENT EDITOR ROBERT L. MCKINNEY EDITORIAL BOARD WRAY M. RIEGER PAULINE D. KNOBBS BERENICE B. BEGGS C. H. ALLEN ART ADVISER RUTH E. STRAIGHT VOLUME I WINTER QUARTER, 1947 NUMBER 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS DAVID A. BLANTON, Sr., PIONEER . . . . . H. Edward Threlkeld OPERATIC TRADITION . . . . . J. L. Biggerstaff Eighty Years OF Service . . . . . Pauline Dingle Knobbs FOREIGN STUDENTS . . . . . Nan E. Wade VETERANS COUNSELING . . . . . C. H. Allen A quarterly publication issued in November, February, May, and August. Subscription rate is $1.00 a year; single copy $.25. Address all communications to Robert L. McKinney, Assistant to the President. Entered as second class mail matter April 29, 1915, at the post office at Kirksville, Missouri, under the Act of Congress of August 24, 1912. Accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized July 26, 1919. (page 3) Winter, 1947 NEMOSCOPE PAGE 3 DAVID A. BLANTON, Sr., PIONEER by H. Edward Threlkeld David A. Blanton, Sr., founder of The Blanton Company, St. Louis, and Chairman of its Board of Directors, was born in Ashley, Pike County, where his father, Dr. Joseph P. Blanton, had located shortly after graduating from Hampton-Sidney College in Virginia. Dr. Blanton was associated with Watson Seminary and had married Anna C. Bell, daughter of a prosperous Pike County stock raiser. Dr. Blanton was later President of the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, Dean of the Department of Education of the University of Missouri, and President of the University of Idaho. David A. Blanton was educated at the Model School in the Missouri State Teachers College in Kirksville, and the University of Missouri at Columbia. He was graduated from the Law School of the University of Missouri in the Class of 1898. During the several years spent in the university, he did newspaper work as the Columbia correspondent of several metropolitan newspapers, including the Kansas City Star, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, New York Journal, and Chicago papers. The Missouri State Board of Agriculture, at that time, was located in Columbia and was a substantial source of news for young Blanton's papers, and, incidentally, offered an opportunity to give the Board some desirable publicity. During the reporter's junior year, there was created a job by the Board that called for a representative of the Board to go to Kansas City in the enforcement of the Missouri Oleomargarine Law. The position was accepted as a vacation job with the understanding that the recipient would resign and return to Law School for his senior year. On his return, the board made it a part-time job during the holder's senior year. After graduation, the young lawyer was retained to represent the Board as long as the appropriation held out. Under the U. S. Internal Revenue Law of 1886 all oleomargarine sold was colored and taxed at the factory 2c a pound. This law provided that oleomargarine be packed in wooden butter tubs, marked and branded as required by the regulations of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. These marks and brands were stenciled on the tub lid. When the lids were removed and the oleomargarine was displayed on the dealers counter alongside tubs of butter, there was no perceptible difference in the appearance of the two products. In fact, it had been reported that oleomargarine in butter tubs had taken quality prizes in dairy shows. In 1902 the law of 1886 was amended, increasing the tax on colored oleomargarine to 10c a pound. However, there was no change in the regulations and oleomargarine continued to be marked and branded as under the original law. The law required the dealer to sell oleomargarine from the tub by preparing a retail package such as a wooden tray used in the sale of butter. It further required the dealer to rubber stamp the tray or the paper wrapper with the word "oleomargarine," which usually appeared on the bottom of the package but sometimes illegible. When the dealer complied with the markings of the package there was no further legal liability, as tlie courts held that regardless of any conversation as to the identity of the product the dealer had complied with the law when he delivered a marked package. Under these conditions there grew up a substantial specialized sale of oleomargarine in the larger cities, where the product was known as "the poor man's butter". Notwithstanding the judicial interpretation of the U.S. law, the Missouri State Board of Agriculture took a different viewpoint, and it was up to its attorney to see that the consumer got the product of the Missouri dairy farms and butter factories. Where there was actual misrepresentation by the dealer and a complaint on the part of a customer, it led to prosecution. In the course of time, however, it developed that in 99 cases out of a 100 the thrifty buyer knew she was not getting butter when she bought a pound of 20c "creamery" out of a tub alongside a tub of butter with a price tag of 50c a pound. The thrifty buyer got satisfaction in putting it over on the family with her ability to get a good bread spread at a bargain, thereby assuaging her conscience for her part in the transaction. As said above, there was little sympathy on the part of the consumer for the courts to disturb this situation. In time, both the attorney and the Board seemed to sense there was better uses for its money than trying to defeat an economic law with a man-made law that was unpopular. About the time the Board's appropriation ran out, and Blanton had lost his only client, there developed an opportunity for the erst- [photo caption] THE LABORATORY WHERE BLANTON PRODUCTS ARE MEASURED TO ASSURE UNIFORM HIGH QUALITY (page 4) PAGE 4 NEMOSCOPE Winter, 1947 while attorney to get into the margarine industry with the view of trying out a theory that a meritorious product could and should be sold on its merits. There was a dairyman capitalist in St. Louis who felt the same way, and after a couple of brief associations in the margarine manufacturing business with others, Blanton started his own plant and incorporated The Blanton Company in November, 1904, with a capital investment of only $10,000. One of the first steps taken by The Blanton Company to insure the fair sale of oleomargarine at retail, called for a change in the U. S. Internal Revenue Regulations promulgated under the law of 1886. These regulations prevented the manufacturer from getting his original branded package to the consumer and labelling it at the factory in a way that there could be no question as to the identity of the product. Inasmuch as the regulations at that time compelled the retail dealer to prepare his packages from a wooden butter tub, there was no opportunity for the manufacturer to build any good will or get the profit that goes with a branded product. It so happened that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue was a past high official in the same college fraternity to which the St. Louis manufacturer belonged. Taking advantage of this situation, Blanton requested his fraternity brother for a hearing, with the view of formulating a regulation that would be fair to the consumer and valuable to a manufacturer who desired to build a satisfactory and profitable business. In due course the Commissioner set a hearing in his office in Washington. There was present the Deputy Commissioner who exalted the regulation based on the law's reference to the sale from butter tubs. This gentleman contended no change could be made in the regulations and maintained the sanctity of law. There were other bureaucrats present who were also interested in the status quo with the well-known bureaucratic attitude "it can't be done." It was pointed out by Blanton that while the law did mention butter tubs, there was a further reference to wooden packages in which the manufacturer's paper packages could be enclosed. He further contended that the proposed changes in the regulations would be for the benefit of consumers who might now be getting something out of a butter tub contrary to the intent of the law. Faced with strenuous objections by his underlings, the Commissioner finally announced that there appeared to be merit to Blanton's contention and that a new regulation would be prepared and submitted to the Secretary of Treasury for his approval as required by law. The new regulation came through in due course and eventually revolutionized the merchandising of oleomargarine. At that time 99% of the oleomargarine consumed was sold in the standard butter package which promoted loose merchandising. Today margarine is marked and branded at the factory and reaches the consumer in the manufacturers paraffined paper carton according to the regulation that was originally put over by Blanton. In passing, it might be observed that sometime after margarine manufacturers adopted the standard paraffined carton, the creamery butter industry followed along and today both margarine and butter are merchandised in the manufacturer's identified package along lines different than prevailed in the early 1900's. In the development of The Blanton Company there came a time when it was desirable to protect the manufacturer of the product with a steady supply of pure milk, which led to the company establshing its own milk supply station in the best milk producing section of Southern Illinois contigious to St. Louis. Later it became desirable to insure its supply of vegetable oils, which resulted in the purchase of a cottonseed oil mill at Helena, Ark., owned and operated by The Blanton Company of Delaware. A second mill was later acquired, also at Helena. One of the extra-curricular activities of Blanton was the establishment of a National Bank in Helena, after all the local banks passed out during the bank panic in the early 1930's. The community was left without a bank for several weeks, during which time a delegation of Helena citizens persuaded Blanton that he appeared to be one individual who could enlist local capital in opening a new bank by his participation in the undertaking. Blanton took over the job of organizing the bank and became a director and the largest stockholder in the Phillips National Bank which was opened with an all day celebration with the brass band playing "Happy Days Are Here Again," and full page local paper announcements giving credit to Blanton for the new bank. Today the bank has assets of over seven million dollars and is looked upon as the leading bank of Southeastern Arkansas. The organizer continues to hold his original investment in the bank. When The Blanton Company started the manufacture of margarine it occupied a small two story building with a frontage of only 65 feet, located at 115 Spruce Street, St. Louis. Plant facilities were increased, from time to time, resulting in a story margarine factory covering one-half block, with [photo caption] REFINERY WHERE OILS ARE PROCESSED. COORDINATION WITH LABORATORY ASSURES ADHERENCE TO RIGID STANDARDS. (page 5) Winter, 1947 NEMOSCOPE PAGE 5 another half block for a vegetable oil refinery erected shortly after World War I. These facilities were later increased, across the street, to another half block housing a salad oil plant. When the U. S. Park Department took over 39 blocks of river front property, there was included the two blocks that had been improved by The Blanton Company. When these properties were condemned for U. S. Park purposes in 1939, it necessitated the company moving to its present location on the Mississippi River in North St. Louis, where it now owns and is continuing to improve ten acres of river front industrial property. Part of the recent developments has been the erection and operation of a soybean crushing mill. This mill was established as a war-time facility in the Oils and Fats War Program. The Blanton Company has occupied its new location approximately one year before Pearl Harbor. After war had been declared, The Blanton Company's properties were surveyed by the army and were recommended to the War Production Board for war work. It was suggested by the U. S. Department of Agriculture that the company should expand its seed crushing facilities to include soybeans, in view of a crushing shortage that had developed after the department requested farmers to double their production of soybeans for war purposes. It was at this stage that The Blanton Company of Delaware decided to sell its Arkansas mills and build a mill at St. Louis under the priority of the War Production Board on the recommendation of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. This mill operated successfully as a war utility, with the U. S. Commodity Credit Corporation taking its output for allocation in the war effort. Since the war this mill has continued to operate and plans are now formulated for doubling its present capacity. Recently, equipment has been purchased and installed to double the capacity of The Blanton vegetable oil refinery, which will increase production facilities to 80,000,000 pounds of vegetable oil foods per annum. These products consist of salad oils, cooking oils, margarine, shortenings, mayonnaise, and salad dressings. They are distributed throughout the United States, with large shipments of refined oils in tank cars going to the fish canneries both on the Atlantic and Pacific seaboard. The romance of the growth of The Blanton Company and its founder is no less intriguing than its advertised product, Creamo Margarine, which it originally manufactured and continues to market throughout the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains. Oleomargarine was first used in France in 1870. A French chemist named Hippolyte Mege-Mouries "invented" oleomargarine at that time in response to the demand of Napoleon III that someone develop a nutritious spread to safeguard the health of France's fat-starved soldiers and civilians. At first beef fat or oleo oil was churned in milk. The finished product was known and designated as oleomargarine. Later, in the development of the industry, the product was made from vegetable oils instead of oleo oil. Then the proper name of the vegetable oil product became margarine, as now used in Europe. Even though only a small amount of margarine made today contains oleo oil, the U. S. Internal Revenue Law, as enacted in 1902, still requires the vegetable oil product to be marked oleomargarine. Prior to World War II, when Philippine coconut oil was available, this imported oil was used extensively. During a maritime strike on the Pacific Coast there was accumulated for The Blanton Company in the harbor at San Francisco, 28 tank cars of crude coconut oil which was later diverted through Vancouver, British Columbia, and reached St. Louis in a trainload. The larger part of this oil was under contract with the baking trade. Since the late war, the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers, of which The Blanton Company is a member, have established a policy in cooperation with U. S. agriculture of using deomestic oils exclusively in their margarine. Today no coconut oil is used by the members of the association that advertises 100% domestic oils. The production of first quality margarine calls for highly trained technicians in the art of blending choice deodorized vegetable oils with pasteurized milk and cream that has been acidulated to impart to the neutral oils the desired lactic flavor. The Blanton Company maintains a large laboratory that is staffed by a number of trained laboratory technicians who are ever on the lookout to improve the quality of its products. Blanton also operates a 400 acre dairy and stock farm in St. Charles County on the Missouri River. This farm at one time was a part of the Daniel Boone Estate, as shown by the abstract which records a transfer of land from Daniel Boone, Sr., to Daniel Boone, Jr. During the past year David A. Blanton, Sr., has retired as President of The Blanton Company and has been succeeded by David A. Blanton, Jr., a graduate Chemical Engineer of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Class of 1936. With this team and a fine organization, it is predicted The Blanton Company will continue to go forward to great achievements. [photo caption] PRODUCTION, CUTTING AND PACKING ROOM FOR TABLE AND BAKER'S MARGARINE The U. S. Department of Agriculture Maintains Inspection Here. (page 6) PAGE 6 NEMOSCOPE Winter, 1947 The Operatic Tradition in the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College by J. L. Biggerstaff Professor of Music Opera as a regular feature of the activities of the Music Department began in the days of D. R. Gebhart, who came to the campus as head of the department in 1905. Not only did Prof. Gebhart establish a comprehensive and well-balanced music curriculum but he vitalized it by an ambitious program of extra-curricular activities in which opera held a prominent place. Not only were these early performances popular with students and public but educators, foremost among whom was John R. Kirk, were quick to see the educational advantages of an activity which not only offered invaluable practical experience to both the instrumental and vocal forces of the department but provided an opportunity for creative cooperation with other departments, particularly dramatics, art, and industrial arts. Since the successful production of opera is only possible with well-trained and experienced instrumental and vocal forces, Mr. Gebhart laid the foundation for his future successes by taking advantage of compulsory attendance at daily college assemblies to develop assembly singing to a high pitch of perfection. During the fifteen or twenty minutes allotted for singing, students became familiar, during these daily chorus rehearsals, with many of the most stirring choruses from the standard operas and oratorios. From a student body already familiar with the "Anvil Chorus" from II Trovatore, the "Soldiers Chorus" from Faust, the "Pilgrims Chorus" from Tannhauser and the "Hallelujah Chorus" from "The Messiah" it was not difficult to form a fine chorus. Excellent solo voices were meanwhile being developed through private instruction and were singing duets, trios, quartets and other ensemble numbers from the world's great sacred and secular dramatic music. In 1907 "The Golden Legend" by the American composer Dudley Buck was performed as the first entire cantata in college history. In 1909 a chorus of 100 voices sang "The Creation" by Haydn accompanied by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. This marked the beginning of spring music festivals of several days duration, featuring some of the best American musicians and including the performance by the college chorus of one of the standard choral works. Against this background of preparation Gilbert and Sullivan's opera "H. M. S. Pinafore" was presented under Mr. Gebhart's direction on a specially constructed "boat" on the old college lake in the summer of 1911. The following summer Flotow's "Stradella" was given on July 24 and 25 in a setting which utilized the old lake again. Among the students who sang in these early operatic productions were several who afterwards became regular members of the music faculty:; Phradie Wells 1917-1918, becoming a member of the faculty again in 1946; Mary Shouse 1918-1919; John Neff 1920-1923; Ermine Thompson 1923-1926; Hugh Miller 1926-1927; R. E. Valentine 1924 to present; Barrett Stout 1927 to 1943 and Otto Graham who has taught during several summer sessions. In the 1912 performance of "Stradella" just mentioned, Barrett Stout sang the leading role, while H. G. Swanson, who was also a student then and who later became Dean of this College and of the Kirksville College of Osteopathy and Surgery, was called upon to pinch-hit for a principal tenor singer and did the role acceptably upon only three days notice. When "Stradella" was presented again in 1930, under the direction of R. E. Valentine, Stout found it necessary to sing the lead again when the tenor selected for the role was unable to continue with it. Later operas produced here under Stout's direction include "The Chimes of Normandy," "Ermine", "Faust", with a professional cast and the College chorus and orchestra, "The Bartered Bride" and "The Elixir of Love." Phradie Wells sang here for the first time in opera as a chorus member in the 1911 production of Pinafore." Her first cast roles were in "The Beggar Student" and a condensed version of "Martha," to be followed by leading roles in "El Capitan," "Il Trovatore," "Tannhauser" and "Carmen." After graduation she taught for a short time and then was engaged by the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York City where she sang cast roles for twelve years. An important contribution to the operatic tradition of the College has been made by Prof. R. E. Valentine who sang leading roles in "Claude Duval," "El Capitan," "The Pirates of [photo caption] THE OPERA "H. M. S. PINAFORE" AS STAGED ON THE CAMPUS IN 1911. The Lake Has Since Been Filled In. (page 7) Winter, 1947 NEMOSCOPE PAGE 7 Penzance," "The Bohemian Girl" and "Mignon." Operas produced under his direction include: "Patience," "Maritana," "The Doctor of Alcantara," "The Sorcerer," "The Mikado," "Robin Hood," "The Chocolate Soldier," "Iolanthe," "Rosamunde," "Stradella," "The Mascot," and "The Fortune Teller." Going back to early productions, another opera was given in 1912 by Gebhart, namely, "Chimes of Normandy." It played Brookfield and Moberly, as well as Kirksville, then acceded to a demand for a repeat performance here. Juanita Maguire was Germaine, C. M. Wise, now a professor in the University of Louisiana, Gas- pard, and Benj. Jones, Henri. Mozart's "Figaro" was given in March 1913. Miss Sylvia Browne, now K.S.T.C. librarian, was Barbarina; Paul Hardesty, Basilio; Gebhart, Count Alma viva; and Ruth Howerton, Susanna. The Gilbert-Sullivan "Gondoliers," was given in July of that year with Stanley Shaw as Giorgio; Rena Garriott, Gianetta; Ruth Howerton. Gasildaand Paul Hardesty, Francesco. "The Mikado" was given August 1, 1914 and "El Capitan" in February, 1915. "Claude Duval" was given July 23 and 24, 1914. Phradie Wells sang in the latter two operas. A heavy program was scheduled for 1916. Gebhart produced Verdi's "Il Trovatore" on January 22 and 28. Phradie Wells was Azucena; Elsie Beverlin, Leonora; and Leo Petree, Count di Luna, to mention a few of the principals. Gebhart then left the college and Hans Seitz, formerly a member of the Leipzig Opera Co., came to the college music department. He directed "Tannhauser"; Edward Howell, Wolfram; John Neff, Biterolf; O. L. Graham, Heinrich; L. V. Crookshank, Reimar von Ziveter and Ben Weaver, Herman. Ruth Howerton was Venus in the first act and Ermine Thompson took the role in the third act. There were no operas in 1917 and 1918. In 1919 Miss Mary Shouse produced "Erminie." Otto Graham, Ben Weaver, Esther Redmond and Helen Wilson had principal roles. "Martha" was given in the summer of 1920, with Prof. Raymond Carr as Lionel; Ermine Thompson, Lady Harriett; Mildred Nulton, Nancy; Edward Howell, Plunkett; James Dillinger, sheriff, and Gwynne Burrows, Old John. Bizet's "Carmen" was presented in 1921, with Phradie Wells, Ben Weaver, Lester Reynolds and Jimmie Dillinger in cast roles. "Pirates of Penzance" was produced by John Neff in 1922, with Ben Weaver, R. E. Valentine, now of the K.S.T.C. faculty; Ermine Thompson, Richard Dabney and John Weaver in the cast. The next summer "The Bohemian Girl" was given, with H. L. Miller. R. E. Valentine, Claude Dillinger, Bernice Humphrey, Ermine Thompson and Paul Riggins, taking leading roles. The 1924 production was "Mignon," with Valentine, Miller, Miss Humphrey, Marie Winter and Adam Decker singing cast roles. "Maritana" was given in 1925, with Ben Weaver, Hugh Miller, Bernice Humphrey, Marie Winter. Adam Decker, Bob Milstead and Claude Dillinger. Later operas have been "Robin Hood" in 1926; "The Mikado" in 1927; "Iolanthe" in 1928; "Rosamunde" in 1929; "Stradella" in 1930; "Chimes of Normandy" in 1931; "The Mascot" in 1932; and "The Fortune Teller" in 1933. After the lake on the campus was filled in, performances of opera were either given on a specially constructed outdoor stage on the campus or in Kirk Auditorium after the construction of that building in 1922. The 1933 performance of "The Fortune Teller," directed by R. E. Valentine was given in Laughlin Bowl, as also was "The Two Vagabonds" (an English version of "Ermine") in 1934 under Barrett Stout's direction. Weather uncertainty, however, with its attendance problems, caused the abandonment of outdoor opera and later productions have been in Kirk Auditorium. With the performance of "The Elixir of Love" in 1941, opera, like many other large group activities, had to be abandoned for the duration of World War 11. Its revival will take place this spring with the production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pinafore" under the direction of Phradie Wells-- the opera, as has been noticed, in which she first sang in Kirksville and the opera which led the way in the long period of development which has been traced in this brief sketch. Miss Wells, who returned to this campus in 1946 as a member of the music faculty, brings to the task of reviving this important phase of the musical life of the school and community so much ability and experience that an operatic future worthy of the traditions of the past can be confidently expected. Her plans for the next few years include a list of works of gradually increasing importance and difficulty. Some of them will require stage room and equipment not now available but provided for in the plans for a new auditorium which it is hoped may soon be realized. One has only to talk to old graduates of this institution to realize the cultural and artistic awakening that came to this section of the state through the operatic performances of the past. The needs of education are just as great today and the will to meet them just as strong. LIBRARY PURCHASED The library of Central Wesleyan College at Warrenton, Missouri, consisting of approximately 16,000 volumes was purchased by the Teachers College early this month. Central Wesleyan which opened its doors as the German Academy in 1862 ceased to function as a college in the spring of 1941. Of especial value to the Teachers College was the Missouriana section of the library which contained much material to expand the growing collection of the College in this generally neglected field. Also, obtained from the Central Wesleyan College was a collection of scientific equipment including biological materials and chemistry and physics laboratory items. The purchase was completed through Mr. F. C. Tuttle of Warrensburg and H. W. Duebbert of Marthasville. ACQUIRE CENTRAL WESLEYAN RECORDS In connection with the recent purchase of the library and other materials of Central Wesleyan College, arrangements were completed for the transfer to Kirksville of the records of former students of that college. These transcripts which are of great importance to those people who attended the institution in former years will be made available on the same basis as records of former students of the Kirksville College. Other official records of that school will be placed in the archives of the Teachers College where they will be made available to those who wish to study them. Arrangements were completed through A. H. Juergensmeyer, President of the Board of Trustees of Central Wesleyan College. (page 8) PAGE 8 NEMOSCOPE Winter, 1947 EIGHTY YEARS OF SERVICE by Pauline Dingle Knobbs Associate Prof. of Social Science After almost a year of preliminary preparation on the part of Joseph Baldwin, founder of the North Missouri Normal School, that institution opened its doors to students September 2, 1867 at Kirksville, Mo. By this act Missouri's oldest teacher training institution has in the year of 1947 the privilege of celebrating eighty years of continuous service to the people of Missouri. Founded as a private teacher education institution this North Missouri Normal School soon became a state institution. On March 19, 1870, an act of the General Assembly of Missouri made provision for the creation of two Normal School Districts in the state. The matter of locating these institutions was left to the discretion of a State Board of Regents, also created by the same act. After a long and careful survey of the field the State Board of Regents on December 29. 1870, accepted a bid from Adair County to locate one of these teacher training institutions at Kirksville, Mo. This teacher training institution was to be named the First District Normal School. On December 30, 1870, the State Board of Regents issued a statement to the effect that "the normal school of the first district be hereby declared established within the meaning of the law." By this declaration the North Missouri Normal School became the First District Normal School of Missouri. Popularly it was known as "Normal No. 1," and is so-called by students of the time. This name is also in the official school songs and yells of that period of the institution's history. At the tender age of three years Joseph Baldwin's teacher education institution had been officially established as a servant of the State of Missouri. The year of 1947 has come bringing with it the eightieth birthday of the founding of the institution. The First District Normal School is now the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College. It has through eighty years retained its original identity as an organization devoted to the training of personnel to teach in the public-schools of Missouri. In many respects institutions frequently resemble the people, who compose them. However, in matters of age, instead of showing signs of failing ability as they grow older, institutions more often shows signs of increasing vigor and strength. The Northeast Missouri State Teachers College can say in this year of 1947 with the Psalmist of old, "and if by reason of strength the days of our years be four score, then is their strength labor." The strength of the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College for eighty unbroken years of history has been in the labor of her "apostolic dynasty" of seven presidents and a faculty of master teachers. These fundamental principles of teacher education organization rest upon the basic philosophy and vision of Joseph Baldwin, the founder. Steady has been the progress and advancement of this institution throughout the eighty years of development. In 1867 it started as a four-year normal training school with a faculty of six people, two of whom served in the "practice" school. The Northeast Missouri State Teachers College now is offering in 1947 a five-year teacher education program with a faculty of over one hundred people including the staffs of the laboratory school affiliates. On May 20, 1919, legal recognition was accorded the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College as a fully accredited teacher education institution. No longer was it a Normal School. In the eightieth year of the history of the college the fifth year program confering the Masters degree has been established. On April 25, 1946, by motion of the Faculty Council, the standing Committee of the Faculty known as the Committee on History and Traditions was designated as an agency to plan an appropriate celebration for the eightieth anniversary of the founding of the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College. This Committee was composed of Mrs. Pauline D. Knobbs, Misses Berniece Beggs, Ethel Hook, Viola Magee, Lucy Simmons, and Mr. Homer Knight of the faculty and Mr. E. E. Swain from the Board of Regents of the college. A series of occasions to appropriate the marking of eighty years of progress has been planned by this committee. The celebration opened on January 22, 1947, with the dedication of a portrait of former President J. P. Blanton during the regular college assembly hour. Dr. Minnie M. Brashear, a former student and faculty member of the institution, gave the dedicatory address. On May 9, 1947, Dr. Alfred Leland Crabb of George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, Tenn., will dedicate the portrait of the second President of the institution, Dr. W. P. Nason, in an assembly hour program. On June 13, 1947 the Eightieth Anniversary Banquet will be held to appropriately celebrate the eighty years of teacher education service of the institution. This date was selected because on June 13, 1893, was held the famous "Baldwin Day" celebration in which the founder of the institution returned to the campus as its honored guest. This seemed to the committee a fitting date for the summation of eighty years of service of the institution. The Home Coming Day in the fall will carry as its theme the Eightieth Anniversary. Founders Day, set by the History I and Traditions Committee as October 30, this date being the anniversary of Joseph Baldwin's birthday, will be (Continued on Page 10) [photo caption] "CUMBERLAND ACADEMY" First Home of the Teachers College. (page 9) Winter, 1947 NEMOSCOPE PAGE 9 FOREIGN STUDENTS IN TEACHERS COLLEGE by Nan E. Wade Associate Professor of Languages The Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, in line with the general trend in colleges and universities of the United States, has in recent years been fostering the attendance of students from foreign countries in the interest of international good will and understanding. Thus far six young women from other nations have enrolled in the College: four from Costa Rica, one from Norway, and one from France. Maria Elena Hidalgo from Alajuela, Costa Rica, arrived in Kirksville, January 3, 1943. Miss Hidalgo, previous to her coming here, had attended the School of Pedagogy at Heredia, a part of the National University of Costa Rica, as well as the university itself at San Jose. She received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Education from the Teachers College in August, 1944 with a major in mathematics and a minor in English. She remained in Kirksville until the following October at which time she returned to her native land where she is now employed by the Compania Bananera de Costa Rica at San Jose. She has in letters to friends, expressed a desire to return to this country for graduate study. Miss Hidalgo came to Missouri under a plan commonly known as the "Missouri Plan," organized and executed by Mrs. Ruth Kelso Renfrow, former president of the Federated Clubs of Missouri. According to this arrangement she was to be supported by the Federated Clubs of the Northeast Missouri District. The Women's organizations of Kirksville became interested in the project, too, and many of them, as well as private individuals, contributed generously to her support. Nidia Saenz and Noemi Gomez, Costa Ricans also, the former from Heredia, the latter from San Jose, came by plane to New Orleans in August, 1945, and arrived in Kirksville for the opening of the fall quarter. Miss Saenz is working toward the degree of Bachelor of Science in Education with a major in economics and a minor in sociology. As she, too, had had college work both in Heredia and San Jose before coming to Missouri, she entered as a Junior and will receive her degree this year. Upon her return to Costa Rica she expects to secure some sort of government work in the national social security offices. Miss Gomez entered the Teachers College directly from high school. Her sister, Mrs. Ed H. Lance, the former Betty Gomez, a graduate of the State College of Warrensburg, now working on her doctorate in agricultural chemistry at the University of Missouri, had preceded her sister to the States. Majoring in home economics and minoring in business education, Miss Gomez plans to complete her work for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Education in the summer of 1948. Miss Gomez was elected queen of the all-school carnival her first year here. Both Miss Saenz and Miss Gomez are on the roster of student help in the college library. From Norway Ronnaug Halstensen came to enter the College for the winter quarter of 1946. Miss Halstensen was sent by her government to study the American public school system. She spent many hours observing the work in the demonstration schools. During the spring quarter she assisted with and played the accompaniment for the operetta given by the children of the Greenwood School. An accomplished pianist, she was presented by the Music Department in an outstanding piano recital during the summer. Her primary interest, however, is the teaching of little children. At the end of the summer quarter Miss Halstensen enrolled for a four week's term at the University of Minnesota. In September she returned to her native city of Molde, Norway. She is now completing her preparation for teaching at a training school for teachers in Oslo and is at the same time taking some courses in the university there. Recently in writing to a faculty member at the College, she states: "I can never teach as I am being trained to teach here. I think every teacher should be forced to go to the United States." In May, 1946 Costa Rica sent a fourth student, Maria Acevedo, from Liberia in the State of Juanacaste Miss Acevedo is interested in teaching, having had several years' experience in elementary schools for which work she had prepared herself in The School of Pedagogy at Heredia. She is now preparing to do high school teaching with her interest centered on science. Miss Acevedo has been taking only part-time work this year as she is teaching two classes in elementary Spanish in the College. She plans to stay in Kirksville long enough to secure a degree. Jacqueline Gueritot, the most recent foreign arrival on the Teachers College campus, comes from Bourges (Cher), France. Having arrived in New York during the maritime strike in September, she was delayed several days at the port but reached Kirksville in time to enroll for the fall quarter. Miss Gueritot is a scholarship student, coming under the auspices of Cardinal Key, a service organization for women on the campus. The organization got in touch with her through the Institute of International Education in New York. Miss Gueritot attended the University of Paris for three years from which institution she holds a license. She has devoted much time to the study of English and American literature and English and American history. Her primary purpose in coming to the United States is to study American literature and civilization. She will be graduated from the College in May with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She, too, works in the library. The Teachers College is definitely proud of its foreign students for whom it waives all tuition fees. The four Costa Rican girls have been most generous in helping to interpret beautiful little Costa Rica to the people of Kirksville and the vicinity. They have appeared on numerous programs before college groups and before town and district organizations. The two young women from Europe, both of whom lived through the bitter experience of the German occupation of their fatherlands, have also given freely of their time and effort to promote clearer understanding and finer friendship between the United States and their homelands. All the young women seem to feel an awareness of the real American spirit. Miss Hidalgo once said that Costa Rica, a very small country, considers the United States her best friend and neighbor. If any one of the six girls were asked to name the outstanding traits that she had noted in the people of the United States, she would probably answer as did Miss Gueritot, "friendliness and efficiency". Miss (page 10) PAGE 10 NEMOSCOPE Winter, 1947 Saenz, in commenting on the rapid pace characterizing American life, remarked that in spite of our activity and speed we seemed never to worry but only "to take it easy." The girls have during their sojourns in Kirksville had ample opportunity to judge us. They have lived in private homes where they experienced normal American life in a small city of the Mid-west. They have associated closely with American students; they have participated in campus activities, being members of social, scholastic, and service organizations; they have made contacts with many people in Kirksville and the adjoining communities. It is to be hoped that the friendships between these girls, who so commendably represent their countries, and our own American students will be loyal and enduring. In the interest of world friendship, the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College welcomes these "unofficial ambassadors." BLANTON PAINTING UNVEILED A portrait of Joseph P. Blanton, president of the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College from 1882 to 1891 was unveiled at the College on January 22, 1947. Dr. Minnie M. Brashear, retired professor of English of the University of Missouri, gave the dedicatory address, speaking on President Blanton and Education Standards at Normal Number One. In honor of his father, Mr. D. A. Blanton of St. Louis presented the College with a gift of $1,000 to establish the Joseph P. Blanton Memorial Loan Fund. An article featuring the industry of D. A. Blanton appears elsewhere in this magazine. --EIGHTY YEARS OF SERVICE (Continued from Page 8) devoted to the theme of the Eighty Years of Service and will close the year's celebration. It would be interesting if this group organization of the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College planning and celebrating eighty years of service could with the bard of old say of the institution, "For I dipted into the future Far as human eye could see, Saw the vision of the world And wonder that would be." With eighty years of progressive service to its credit this institution enters the great atomic age. The Northeast Missouri State Teachers College now plans for an additional eighty years of service to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Missouri. Educational and Counseling Project For Veterans Offers a Challenge by C. H. Allen Professor of Phychology In point of magnitude the greatest project in the history of higher education is now under way. To the veterans of World War II our nation is offering as a part of the so-called G. I. Bill of Rights the opportunities of a liberal education either through college instruction or through apprenticeship on-the- job training. It has been estimated that before this program is fully completed some 5,000.000 ex- service men and women will have shared in its educational benefits. The Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion has predicted recently that the peak of this service will not be reached until 1948 and that no significant decline will be seen even in 1950. The financial obligation placed upon the Federal Government in carrying out this educational program is beyond our ability to estimate or comprehend. For the fiscal year 1946 the sum of $6,300,000,000 was appropriated to take care of the provisions of the G. I. Bill of Rights with approximately one-half of this amount being spent for educational purposes. President Truman in his recent message to Congress on January 6th, made the following statements: "Exclusive of mustering out payments and terminal leave pay, the program for veterans of all wars is costing over seven billion dollars a year -- one-fifth of our Federal budget. This is the most far reaching and complete veterans program ever conceived by any nation." With the closing of the war, Congress recognized the value of helping every returning veteran to become adjusted as quickly and as efficiently as possible into his rightful place in civilian life. It was in this spirit of conserving the human resources of our youth and the needs of society that the G. I. Bill of Rights embodying a great educational and rehabilitation program was formulated and put into effect. It seemed fairly simple at first to say that every veteran who became incapacitated because of the war should have the right of rehabilitation and training until he could be put back into a new and gainful occupation, or that every veteran who gave as much as ninety days of active service in the armed forces should be entitled to some type of educational program for one year plus the time he served. It is extremely doubtful, however, that the lawmakers themselves arid even the special agencies entrusted with the responsibility of putting this great educational machinery into motion fully realized the many implications involved. But the American people have always been ready to accept a challenge and this one has been no exception. The educational leaders of our country, the presidents and instructional staff members of our colleges and universities, together with our industrial and commercial employers, have contributed and will continue to contribute generously of their time and services to this great undertaking. The response of the veterans themselves in taking advantage of this educational offering has far exceeded our expectations. Their months and years spent in the war time service, their contacts with other countries and other people, and their opportunities to share in new types of training experiences all have seemed to stimulate them to seek higher educational and vocational levels of achievement. The colleges and universities in cooperation with approximately four hundred Veterans Guidance Centers staffed with Government employed personnel have faced and endeavored to meet successfully every problem arising from this rapid influx of student enrollment. Among the many difficult situations to be encountered may be mentioned the need of extra housing accommodations, enlarged classroom and lecture room facilities, new and improved laboratory space and equipment, additional text books and supplies, and perhaps most of all, sufficient and adequately trained teaching personnel. Through the aid of additiona Federal appropriations and the reconversion of war time equipment and supplies the problems involving physi- (page 11) Winter, 1947 NEMOSCOPE PAGE 11 cal and material needs have already been met or soon will be well under control. In many instances, the colleges found themselves fairly well equipped with teaching personnel to take care of their expanded enrollments but the faculty members too often were not properly specialized in those branches of study in which the veterans desired to receive the greater amount of their training. This has been especially true in teachers colleges where the demand for teacher traning by veterans has been much less than in other pre-professional fields. The need for properly trained instructors, however, is now rapidly being supplied. Many leading scientists and skilled technicians who were given military assignments have been released from their posts to take their places in new or former positions of professorship in our colleges and universities. These men and women no doubt are returning to the classroom with enriched experiences and more adequate concepts of their teaching responsibilities. No doubt one of the greatest challenges given to the colleges has been the delegated task of providing an adequate counseling and guidance program for ex-service men and women. Once the veteran has decided to take advantage of his educational opportunities, he finds himself as a rule in need of wise and sympathetic counseling in helping him to select his needed objective, to decide whether or not he should seek this objective through apprenticeship or college instruction and to determine where he would be able to secure the most effective type of training toward reaching his desired goal. For the veteran who has incurred service disability and is in need of vocational rehabilitation special counseling and guidance is not only desirable, but mandatory upon the part of the Government. The Northeast Missouri State Teachers College has shared these problems as it has received and will continue to receive its quota of veteran students. As a result of an intensive study made by the Post-War Planning Committee of the faculty in 1943-44, a well organized program of post-war readjustments was formulated, and it is believed our institution was prepared to undertake its new and enlarged responsibilities with a minimum loss of effort and efficiency. Through purchase and building contracts with the Federal Government, the college has been able to make plans for substantial improvements in the physical plant. Valuable laboratory equipment has been secured for the Divisions of Science and Practical Arts and fixtures for a modern college cafeteria have been installed. Veteran housing units designated to accommodate thirty-eight families and sixty-two single men are now under construction and will soon be ready for occupancy. Also a building program to provide for more adequate classroom and laboratory facilities for teaching Agriculture, Biology, and Industrial Arts will be begun in the near future. The college in cooperation with the Veterans Administration Guidance Center located on the campus has made provisions for a complete organization to take care of the advisement and counseling of veterans. This work was begun in the fall of 1945 and is under the direction of the Division of Personnel Service. Its services- are extended not only to veterans on the campus but also to any ex-service men and women in Northeast Missouri who may be referred to this Center for advisement by the Regional Office. During the past eighteen months hundreds of veterans have received the benefits of this counseling service. Through the aid of personal interviews and the results obtained from interest, mental, and aptitude tests, our counselors have been able to help these men to decide upon their educational and vocational objectives and to plan appropriate types of training for the purpose of realizing them. The policy in such counseling is not to select the objective for the veteran but to assist him in analyzing his own potential strengths and weaknesses in light of the objective he may care to choose. There is much work along this line yet to be done but the services delegated to this college will be continued with the same efficiency as in the past until our responsibilities to the veterans of Northeast Missuri have been met. It seems quite evident that the readjustments now being made in our colleges and universities to meet the needs of veteran students will have far reaching effects upon our future programs of higher education. The same spirit that has prompted our educational leaders and administrators to meet the present challenge will continue to guide them in effecting changes that are yet to be made. Just what these specific changes will be is very difficult to say. Among the suggested influences which will be felt in the permanent growth of college enrollments and in the broadened conceptions of college education, counseling and guidance no doubt will play an important role. Through the continued use of improved methods and techniques in counseling services, college students of the future will be guided more successfully in planning their educational programs and in choosing their life careers. (Editors note: This is the first of two articles on this subject. The next will appear in an early issue.) [photo caption] VETERAN COUNSELING (page 12)