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Caption: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1892
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52 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. Another fact which must not be forgotten, is t h a t its foundations rest still in the land grant act of 1862, lately reinforced by the Morrill college aid act, of 1890. The public, and especially t h a t part of the public occupied in the so-called practical pursuits of life, look anxiously, and sometimes jealously, hitherward,ffearing lest rights which they deem precious and peculiarly their own, should be wrested from them, or frittered away. The proposition to change the name, in 1885, was not unnaturally deemed occasion for suspicion and alarm by the class to which reference has been made. The congressional donation of added funds, again raises the question of What will they do with i t ? I have already shown t h a t this University has always kept carefully its pledges, made and implied, as to doing t h a t work which should serve to promote " t h e liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life." Since the year 1885-6, when the total attendance was 332, the University has made each year a steady growth. Its roll this year has reached 513, and is not yet complete. I am well aware t h a t by some this is counted as an insigniticant and inconsequential growth. Those who know the care, the toil, -the watchfulness, which has produced so much of progress, can not feel t h a t their labors have been in vain, like water spilled upon the ground. A different policy might have brought more students, but t h a t would not have insured a stronger institution. Oaks and gourds do not thrive in the same way, or bear the same harvest. Mindful always of the industrial obligations of this University, which though they have vanished from the title, are yet wrought into every fibre of its growth,—the cement t h a t binds its walls into firm strength,— I have been interested to analyze the growth of the University, to discover if possible how well the pledges of 1885 have been kept. In those years the school of agriculture has maintained its numbers; t h a t of mechanical engineering has grown one-half; t h a t of civil engineering has nearly doubled; t h a t of mining engineering has, unfortunately, not grown; t h a t of architecture has enlarged nearly three fold; t h a t of chemistry has added one-half; t h a t of natural history has doubled ; t h a t of art and design has not increased; t h a t of English and modern languages has maintained its own; t h a t of ancient languages, though small, is doubled. T A B L E O P S T U D E N T S B Y COLLEGES—1881-1891. Tech. Colleges.. Nat. Science. Lit. and Science... Engineering.. Agriculture... -3 33 YEAE. 1881-1882 1882-1883. 1883-1884 1884-1885 1885-18S6 1886-1887 1887-1888 1888-1889 1889-1890 1890-1891, in p a r t P r e s e n t roll, end of w i n t e r t e r m , 1891 21 28 24 21 25 29 23 16 14 25 99 112 139 141 123 142 160 201 216 225 66 51 43 43 45 46 49 74 93 87 186 191 206 205 193 217 232 291 323 337 123 132 102 106 109 90 93 99 116 112 352 382 330 362 332 343 377 417 469 482 513 The success in the technical departments should be paralleled by progress in the literary departments, and, as you know, earnest effort has already been put forth in t h a t direction, I t is only lately t h a t the chair
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