Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1892 [PAGE 16]

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PROCEEDINGS OF BOARD O F TRUSTEES.

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the acts of 1862 and of 1890 should all be expended for the purposes expressed in the limitation quoted above, this University will be doing all t h a t even they require of it, if it uses for these purposes in addition to the sums already so appropriated the sum of be ween three and four thousand dollars per annum. I present this as an answer to the demands, already made, t h a t the colleges which have the benefit of the act of 1862, and therefore are the beneficiaries under the act of 1890, ought to enlarge their facilities for instruction in agriculture and the mechanic arts over and above anything t h a t they may already have been doing, to the full amount of the $15,000, which may be received from the United States during the current year. If this University shall use $40,000 this year for the purposes thus narrowly defined it will have used all that—and it may be rightly urged more than—these acts require to be so used, and the remainder of the funds under its control may be used for any purpose of university education at the discretion of this governing body. This does not imply t h a t no more than this sum may be so used, if the Trustees please: no blame can attach to them if they do not please to use more for these purposes. Whatever be the special use to which this money may be applied, there can be no doubt in the mind of any person, and least of all in the mind of one who was present at some of the discussions in the committee room, and in the senate chamber when this bill was under consideration, t h a t its purpose is to enable the land grant coll ges to enlarge the scope of their operations, to extend their courses of study, to add greater facilities of instruction, to pay better salaries to professors heretofore underpaid ; in short, to help them to be stronger and more efficient, I t can hardly be supposed t h a t this bill would have been passed if it could have been thought t h a t the aid thus offered would be made an excuse in any quarter for cutting off aid t h a t had heretofore been derived from t h a t quarter. Yet my experience in the affairs of the University leads me to fear t h a t if prompt measures be not taken by this Board to put these funds into immediate and active use, if the machinery of the University be not enlarged in proportion to the increased funds at your command, so t h a t any considerable portion of the e funds be found unoccupied and inactive, there is great danger t h a t the state appropriations may be diminished by an amount equal to or even greater than this generous donation, so that, in the end, the finances of the University may be impaired rather than benefited. I am, therefore, strongly of the opinion t h a t an active and aggressive policy should at once be formulated and adopted. There is a yet unsettled question whether the amount of money from this new source which is available for the current year be $15,000 or $16,000. One or the other of these sums is sure to be in the control of this Board as soon as the departments at Washington shall formulate the preliminaries necessary to the payment of the fund, and it matters little which of the sums named is t h a t to be realized. If both of these sums be immediately forthcoming, then one should be considered as belonging to the current year, and the other should be the subject of special consideration. Setting this aside, for the present, let us return to the question, What shall be done with the new fund offered for the current year, 1890-91? I t appears to me t h a t we should scrutinize the whole equipment of the University, and seek to add strength wherever we find that there is weakness. We must take proper thought, as before suggested, t h a t t h e special purposes named in the acts have their full, and even more than their full consideration. T h a t precaution being kept fully in view, t h e next aim should be to enlarge the scope of the University's work wherever it needs it most. As to this I beg leave to present a few suggestions: 1. I would inquire whether the University might not properly take upon itself a larger portion of some of the burdens which are borne jointly by itself and the Experiment Station, so t h a t the latter may be less closely cramped. Is it not possible t h a t a larger part of the salaries