OREGON NORMAL SCHOOLS 133
by popular subscription. Before checking on it the secretary of the board of regents required that a statement be filed that the money was given voluntarily, and did not constitute a claim against the state. The statement was not forthcoming, and Ashland and Weston closed their doors. Monmouth con- tinued until the end of the term in June.
The legislature which refused the normal schools aid had given the state agricultural college a much larger appropria- tion than ever before: $370,000. Within a short time after it was known the normals had lost, a petition to refer the col- lege appropriation to the people was put in circulation in Ash- land. There seemed no difficulty in getting signers in the southern Oregon city. Various reasons were given for this action. The real reason is said to be that the college partisans deserted the normals in order to get their own appropriation, and the referendum was invoked in revenge. The Oregonian was inclined to put the blame on both parties. On March 15th it said:
"Ashland and its partisans have been willing enough to make any sort of combination with Corvallis, any kind of concession to the college, provided they were permitted to smell out their own particular from the general treasury."
Weston at first seemed responsive, but at last came to the decision that no help would be lent in the fight against the agricultural college. A special session of the legislature was called in the spring, and the normal lobbies were on hand. However, they were not accorded a hearing. It was then advocated that the people should be permitted to vote on the normal school question: should there be one normal school, three, or none in Oregon?
The movement first gained headway in Monmouth which proposed to go it alone. Ashland on hearing of the plan com- municated at once with Weston. After deliberating on the proposition it was decided that separate initiative petitions should be circulated, and each school should stand or fall on
