Ohio State University - Makio Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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made a permanent provision for it of about SI70,000 a year. And Franklin County, that she might have the child at her own bosom, gave it a home at a cost of 3S3oo,ooo. i At the opening of the University its administration and instruction were committed to able hands. Seven men of rare fitness for such a task were chosen as its faculty, two of whom yet remain to us- Dr. Edward Orton, the first President, whose wisdom and tact guided the infant institution amid its early conflicts and perils and whom we all delight to honor, and Professor Sidney A. Norton, the skillful chemist, the experienced teacher, the well-read man. Of the others, one was called to the presidency of an Ohio college, two now hold distinguished positions in educational institutions in Massachusetts, and two have joined 'f the great majority. But Townshend, Mendenhall, McFarland, Milliken and Wright will ever be cherished among our venerable names. The University adopted a broad educational policy. Literary, scientific and technical studies' were accorded equal recognition, and they have continued to liourish side by side. While each department has grown stronger year by year, has divided and subdivided, has gained new teachers and new equipment, and has multiplied the number of its students, the spirit of fraternity has only taken deeper and firmer root. 'lfo the student the scope of election has been steadily enlarged. He may choose, first, among the colleges of the University, in the college he may choose among courses, in the course he may, within large limits, choose among studies. The government of the University has been of the liberal type. Its rule of conduct is written on the tables of the heart: Do that, and only that, which becomes a man--a woman. For study, its law has been : Do thy work with thine intelligence and thy will. The violation of either brings its own consequences, as in nature. The University has been a seat of intellectual freedom. Thought has breathed here the inspiring air of liberty. The University has no political or religious tests, applies none, acknowledges none. For students the criteria have been moral soundness and a power and will- ingness to work. Its teachers have been elected because of their quali- 22

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fications, without regard to their ecclesiastical or political affiliations. This atmosphere of freedom has been a principal condition of the strong and constant progressive spirit that has always pervaded the institution. 'l'rue intellectual and moral progress is possible only where liberty prevails. 'l'o nothing else is freedom so essential as to thought. The higher nature of man can expand, the consciousness of responsi- bility and the sense 'of power which responsibility implies can attain complete realization only under the vital and stimulating influence of freedom. The University has been faithfully conservative of the essential elements and forces not only of the purely academic life, but of the moral and religious life: yet it has, at the same time, sedulously sought to reinforce these with every available and befitting aid. It has kept its face steadhtstly to the future. Its doors stand open to new ideas, new doctrines, and new methods. When these come, their claims receive candid consideration, and a generous hospitality is extended to all that pass the tests of truth and experience. In all things the University seeks the truest and the best, let it be found where and by whom it may. Finally, the past of the University has been distinguished by a rapid and continuous growth. Every year has witnessed an increase in resources or in buildings or in equipment or in teaching force or in the number of students. In some years an increase has occurred on several of these lines. In a few years it has occurred on all of them. Yale began with a site and forty books, and at the end of a hundred and sixty years had forty-five teachers, about six hundred students and forty odd thousand volumes in its library. Harvard began with less than 510,000 all told, and at the end of two hundred and fourteen years had fifteen buildings, fifty-onefteachers, seven hundred and thirty students, a library of nearly a hundred and twenty-five thousand volumes, and invested funds amounting to more than a million dollars. The Ohio State University opened in 1873 with three buildings, besides residences and barns, two laboratories, seven teachers, twenty five students and a certain income of about ElS3o,ooo. In 1883 it had five buildings, six laboratories, twenty-one teachers, three hundred students and a certain income of about fli46,ooo. ln 1893 it had twelve 25