Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/148

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F. G. Young.
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142 JAMES R. ROBERTSON. of chemical work, a subject in which he was interested. Courses in assaying were offered illustrative of the change. Prof. W. D. Lyman resigned to accept a position at Whit- man College and Miss Lillian Poole was elected to succeed him as instructor of English and History. It is apparent that competitors had occupied the field by this time and more attention was paid to the matter of placing the school before the public in the form of printed advertisements, for which appropriations were now made. A college motto was chosen by President Ellis, Pro Christo et Regno Ejus, symbolic of the religious character of the institution. Dur- ing the later years of President Ellis' administration the' question of denominational or undenominational control came to a climax. Mr. Ellis had favored the view opposed to that of his predecessors and an attempt was made to ac- complish the change. It failed to succeed and President Ellis resigned with the larger part of his corps of instruct- ors. Professors Marsh and Ferrin were the only two that remained of the old corps. Considerable feeling had been engendered in connection with this matter, and the selec- tion of the next president was an important question. Again Professor Marsh acted as president for the interval and until the election by the board of Rev. Thomas Mc- Clelland, of Tabor College, Iowa. President McClelland was of Scotch-Irish descent and came to America in boyhood. He was a graduate of Ober- lin College and Andover Theological Seminary. Some years he had spent in the pastorate and had become con- nected with educational work in Tabor College, where he held the position of professor of Mental and Moral Science when called to the presidency of Pacific University. Be- fore accepting the position he came to Oregon to study the field. He was enthusiastic over the possibility of building up a strong institution upon foundations already laid so well and in a section of the country promising rapid de-