Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1882 [PAGE 169]

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163

THE EXHIBIT AT SPKINGFIELD.

I report satisfactory progress in the preparation of the exhibition of the practical work of the University to be placed in the State House in Springfield, for the inspection of the public, and particularly of the coming Legislature. Col. Harlow, the Secretary of State, has very kindly assigned for the purpose, the room known as tha Art Gallery, on the main floor, between the chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Three large cases are ready for transportation, in which will be shown a full representation of students' work in the Schools of Agriculture, Horticulture, Chemistry, Natural History, Engineering, and Art and Design, and the walls of the spacious room will be covered with drawings. It is intended that everything in the room shall be the work of students of the University. I recommend that authority be given to use $200 in addition to that already appropriated for this purpose. The School of Art and Design is prospering under the care of Prof. Roos. The fees charged to students after the first term of free-hand drawing, amount to a tariff almost prohibitory, only one student having paid a fee for instruction in drawing in the present term. I recommend that no fee be charged hereafter in this School except to special students and to students in painting. Prof. Roos asks for about 30 feet in length of additional black wall space, which should be furnished. . . , . I transmit to you a communication from Lieut. Wood, Prof, of Military Science. I concur as to its requests, except as to the requiring of the Juniors to drill, which should receive careful consideration and might be reported on at the next meeting of the Board. I recommend that Mr. C. G. Armstrong be employed for three months as taxidermist at twelve dollaVs per month, under the direction of Prof. Taft. Pursuant to your request a station of the U. S. Signal Corps has been located at the University, and Sergeant S. A. Welsh has reported for duty here. A room has been arranged in the third story of the main building, and access given to the roof. The University provides quarters, fuel, and light. Instruments are provided and placed at the expense of the Government, and current expenses other than those mentioned are paid by the same authority. The Signal Office expects the University to put the station in communication with the telegraph lines, and I made application to the manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company for permission to run a wire into the office of that company at Champaign. Permission was granted, the work to be done at the expense of the University, but it was coupled with a refusal to take the business, unless brought to the office, in writing, which is impracticable. The .station is thus isolated from the government system, and is. at present, of very little use to anybody. Meanwhile, since the 10th of October, the officer at the station has taken his observations and reported them by mail to the office at Washington. The students' government is in good hands and has been working satisfactorily since the opening of this year. A few cases, appealed to the Faculty, have been heard by them, de novo. They used neither the evidence nor the conclusions of the court, but in their own way arrived at judgments and took action, which, by its tenor, fully sustained the revious judgments of the student's court. The necessary expenses of this government ave been paid from the fines collected. The existing status of affairs makes this an uncertain way of collecting the revenue needed, and there is now a small deficit against the government. I would suggest that authority be given to the Business Agent to audit the accounts of the student's government, and to pay any deficit that his judgment may approve, to the amount of, say $25, for any college year, beginning with the last year. The list of appropriations to be asked of the Legislature at its next session, will be reported to you by the Executive Committee. Aside from the usual items which have hitherto been granted, the most important request will be for a sum needed to sustain the teaching force of the University. The constant shrinking of the income from the endowment fund, every dollar of the fund itself remaining intact, has come from the constantly lowering rate of interest,—partly caused by the restrictions which the legislature, in its caution, has thrown about the investments—but mainly by the financial condition of the country. If I understand rightly, the present income from this source is from $10,000 to $12,000 per annum less than in the first years after the organization of the institution. The loss has been gradual but constant tor several years, and the trustees have striven by various devices to meet the shrinking, and avoid debt, as required by law. To this end they have curtailed expenses by lopping off departments; by reducing the salaries of professors, and the wages of employes; and by raising the fees charged to students lor incidental expenses. By these means the University has been weakened, its efficiency impaired, some of its best instructors lost, while those who remain are burdened with an amount of duty too great in quantity to be of the best quality. The great and rich State of Illinois, having accepted this important trust from the General Government, ought so to administer and sustain it, as to give it the widest usefulness in fulfilling the purposes for which it was founded. ' The friends of the University may point to the results constantly achieved here, as shown in all departments, and as will appear in the exhibition soon to be placed in the State house at Springfield, and may conscientiously and emphatically affirm that no other institution resting on the munificent provisions of the act of Congress of 1862, more exactly or more faithfully complies with the mandates of that act. "Such things ye shall do, and such other things ye may not neglect." To continue thus obedient the University needs aid, and confidently turns for it to its founder, the State. An item needing attention is the completion of our system of warming and ventilation. The work done last year has proved successful, and its continuation this term in the library satisfies fully our expectations. Funds are needed to complete the ventilation of the remaining class-rooms, and of the chapel. Plans and estimates for this purpose have been prepared, and will be laid before you.

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