Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1876 [PAGE 151]

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151

I trust that the work already done will meet your hearty approval, and the funds necessary for carrying out the exhibition will quickly be afforded. In the historv of institutions, as in that of men and nature, there are tendencies and undercurrents which', in the course of years may, if thev are not watched, carry it quite out of its original course and encumber it with unnecessary and hurtful growths. Emergencies arise which must be met by some temporary provision, and this temporary provision, not unfrequently, is continued until it becomes a permanent part of the institution itself. Thus a temporary usage rises into a fixed law ; a temporary teacher an established member of the Faculty; a temporary study becomes a settled part of the course; the temporary demands of a department tend to become the settled law for that department, and so in time these temporary growths come to distort the general harmony or the plan and to disturb the progress of affairs. To prevent this drift and distortion, the institution should be- often looked at as a whole, its various departments taken into account together, their relative claims adjusted, and the revenue of the University duly apportioned, so that none may suffer from neglect, and none may assume more than their own due importance. " Such a review is becoming the more important because of the imminent danger of financial embarrassment which threatens the University. Already our operations tax to the utmost the income of the institution, and the necessity will soon be upon us to retrench in some directions, that we may meet the absolutely vital demands, of others. And the difficulty is increased by the fact that we must contemplate* an early and serious shrinkage of our annual income by the exchange of our 10 per cent, "investments for those bearing a less rate of interest. Relief must be looked for in two directions ; first, in the increase of endowments, and, second, in the retrenchment ot expense*. In only three directions can the Trustees look for an increase 01 revenue: First, by a sale of lands. The 25,000acres of University land lying in Minnesota and Nebraska ought to bring, at least, $100,000, above all expenses of sales, and good judges say that the time is at hand when they can be successfully placed on the market. Beside these, the University has a remaining 160 acres of the Gregg farm, and if the necessities compel it, the Stock Farm of 140 acres should be sacrificed before the University should be crippled in its interior work. There would still remain nearly 225 acres, which are enough for the really important practical work experiments. But, I would not recommend this sale till the legislature itself shall require it to be made. Secondly, legislative aid may be reasonably asked. At least $65,000 of your endowment, used i n the completion of the main building, in anticipation of the appropriation promised by the Legislature, but never given, ought to be restored, with interest, and such I doubt not will be the decision of some future Legislature. Thirdly, as a last resort and to be avoided to the last, the fees charged students may be increased. Cornell University, with a much larger endowment than ours, raised its fees to $45 a year, at an early day. Let a sufficiency of free scholarships be established for indigent and selfsupporting students, and the increaseof fees would prove burthensome to none, and would be far better than to cripple the University by any serious reduction of its force. But as I have intimated, some retrenchment may be found possible. Where this can be made, with safety, it ought always to be done as a duty. Library and cabinets, and apparatus, always need replenishing, and every unnecessary expenditure or mere incidentals, is at the expense of these important facilities of instruction. I would suggest that a committee of the Trustees be appointed to confer with the Regent and Faculty, and report in full at your spring meeting on these questions I have just laid before you. They demand a more careful and protracted consideration than the Board can give them at a single meeting.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

I have to ask your attention to the request of the Librarian for the purchase of new cyclopedias and the filling up certain broken series or sets now in the library. Besides these tfeere are other demands for new and important scientific works which have recently appeared. I also lay before you a bill for some books which were offered us at a favorable rate, and which, being needful, I ventured to purchase and hold them subject to your decision. H a y before you also statement of E. L. Lawrence, Head Farmer, of his claim for a balance of salary due him for his first year after taking charge of Experimental Farm. I believe his statement to be true and the claim a just one. It is only for that one year that the additional salary is claimed. A communication from foreman E. A. Robinson is also herewith submitted. It is due to Mr. R. to say that he has shown himself a competent and faithful officer, and the best testimony we could have to the value of his services are the repeated offers of his former employers to give him much more than we are paying him, to return as foreman of their shops. The report of Dr. Miles, Professor of Agriculture, with the report and statement of the Head Farmer, contain much interesting information concerning the condition of the farms, the progress in their improvement, with the new experiments proposed. I ask attention, also, to his suggestions'in regard to a museum for the illustration of agriculture and agricultural science. The report of the Chemical Laboratory, you will find eminently satisfactory. Xever before have so many students been found engaged at the same time in the important study. Prof. Webber's request for bottles and materials for the additional chemical manufactures will* doubtless receive favorable attention, In connection with the report of the Mechanical Department you will find Prof. Robinson's request for a continuation of the appropriations for that department. The preparations for the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia will demand some share of your attention. The work in that Department, as I have already stated, has already made much progress, and *ome of the additional appropriations already contemplated by the Board will need to be made at this time to enable the work to go forward. At the request of the State Commissioners we have undertaken to make a collection of the woods and minerals of the State, and Profs. Bnrrill and Taft, who have matters in charge, are already in correspondence with many prominent gentlemen through the State, who promise action, oo-operation and assistance, t h e s e collections, once made, will be a very valuable addition to our cabinets, after they have served their purpose at Philadelphia. I suggest that some circulars be authorized to be issued to aid in securing contributions to these collections. Some of the officers of the I. C. R. R. have promised to aid in making collection, and they have issned passes to Profs. Burrill and Taft to visit such points as they