Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1892 [PAGE 15]

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18

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

years ending June 30, 1890, and June 30, 1891, amounting to thirty-one thousand dollars, is now due and payable, as soon as the proper formalities may be arranged. I t will be observed t h a t this act explicitly states the uses to which this money must be applied. I t will not be difficult to meet these conditions. I t will be remembered t h a t much criticism has been urged against the so-called land grant colleges, as to their administration of the endowment funds entrusted to them under the provisions of the act of 1862, criticism which was evidently not warranted by a careful and intelligent reading of t h a t act. Those who have procured the insertion of the amendment in the act just passed, which specifies the uses to which this money may be put, have evidently formulated the interpretation which they would like to have put upon the act of 1862. Without pausing to discuss the propriety of this interpretation, it may be appropriate to put again upon record these facts, as to the administration of this institution, thus briefly stated. During the last ten years the income from the endowment of this University, derived from the land grant, has varied from $17,000 to $25,000. During the same years, the sums expended directly for salaries, paid to professors for teaching the branches of learning included in the specification of the new act, have ranged from $30,000 to $38,000. The University has paid about $12,000 per annum for instruction in these branches more t h a n it has received from the endowment derived from the land grant act of 1862. The Trustees of this University, upon the reception of the proceeds of the so-called Morrill college aid act, will have in their treasury for administration four distinct funds, to-wit:

1. The income from the endowment derived from the land grant act of 1862, which for the current year is about 2. The amount of the state appropriation for current expenses of instruction, which, not including specific sums for other special purposes, is for the current year 3. The amount derived from students' fees, which for the current year is estimated at 4. The amount to be paid under the Morrill aid act, which is, probably, tor the current year The total amount enumerated is

824,000 20,000 12,000 15,000 $71,000

I n the next few years the first item will gradually diminish. The second is subject to the will of the legislature. The third will probably gradually increase. The fourth will increase by $1,000 per annum until it reaches the maximum of $25,000. The permitted application of these funds varies. The fourth, t h a t from the Morrill aid act, is limited by the act to a specific line of work. This limitation is without doubt an expression of the views of those who caused it to be inserted in the act, as to t h e limitations which ought to be understood as applying to the use of the funds provided by the land grant act of 1862, although neither required nor intended by the terms of t h a t act. The second and third items, the moneys derived from state appropriations and from students' fees, are wholly within the untrammeled control of the Trustees of the University. Conceding then, for the «sake of the argument, t h a t the statement of the purposes of the Morrill aid act should be taken as the interpretation of the original land grant act, the requirements of the two will be met by this University when it uses per annum a sum not to exceed $40,000 for "instruction in agriculture, the mechanic arts, the English language, and the various branches of mathematical, physical, natural and economic science, and for the facilities for such instruction." I t is evident, therefore, t h a t giving to those who hold the views referred to all t h a t they claim, whether rightfully or not, namely, t h a t the moneys derived from