Technical High School - Tech Tiger Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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28 'Ciba NNOI6 : 1907 Vvl- 1.71 six. Since the first appropriation the enrollment has increased from two hundred to seven hundred. Due to this and the grow- ing needs which naturally come to an institution of the kind, it is evident from the above Hgures that at least three times as much income is needed to meet the expenses properly. The extra amount has not been granted, however, and only by the econom- ical and stringent methods of our president have we been carried over. At the time of writing, a bill is before the State Legislature asking for an annual appropriation of one hundred fifty thousand dollars. This sum is the total arising from taxing each dollar of property in the state three fifths of a mill. As the state valuation increases each year, such a scheme would materially increase the annual income for the support of the University. By the time THE ORIOLE is in the hands of the reader, there is little doubt but that this money, or the greater part of it, will be appropriated. Even though hampered by the lack of friends, the increase in growth of the institution under the circumstances may be readily seen when one glances at the strides which have been made up to the present time. I have entered into this somewhat ,detailed explanation in order that all of you who intend to enter some higher institution may at least have your attention attracted to Maine. To some men it will appear manifest upon investigation that Maine is just the school they desire. If an agricultural course is wanted, the finest in New England and the third best in the country is here. Our forestry course is recognized as one of the best preps for the advanced Yale Forestry School. The B. A. courses are as good as can be obtained anywhere in New England with the possible exception of those of Harvard. The College of Tech- nology offers engineering courses whose efficiency in the next few months is to be greatly increased by new apparatus and a larger faculty. Thus I ask you all who are about to choose a college to give Maine more than a passing thought.

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T.H.S- UDB 6911016 : 1907 27 About the University of Maine BY EARLE L. MILLIKEN, '08, T. '05 N MAKING another attempt to tell the fellows i, at Tech something of Maine, I Hnd myself fac- , ing in some ways a difficult task, and in others, a decidedly easy one. There are so many sub- C r Q jects on which I would speak at length, that to discriminate from among them and pick out - the most important is quite an undertaking. At the present time, however, I think that the most 1 important question in connection with the Uni- ' versity is the one relating to her finances. , In eighteen sixty-five the legislature of the LD- State of Maine provided for an institution to be known as the Maine State College of Agri- , culture and Mechanic Arts. This was a direct outcome of the Morrill Act passed in Congress in eighteen sixty- two, providing each state with the means and authority to es- tablish a college or university. I can best compare the growth of the University of Maine to that of the Technical High School. Old Mechanic Arts con- tinued to rise in prominence from eighteen ninety-eight to nine- teen hundred four, when the name of the school was set aside for the more appropriate one which it now bears. In like manner the Maine State College existed and grew until eighteen ninety- seven, when the legislature rightly changed the name to Univer- sity of Maine. During these thirty-two years new courses were constantly being added, in consequence, the institution was in eighteen ninety-seven thoroughly fitted to confer the B. A. degree. In nineteen hundred two, George Emory Fellows, Ph. D., succeeded Dr. Harris as President of the University. During these years of growth, the annual increase in the enrollment raised the cost of running the institution correspond- ingly, however, the trustees were allowed for the expenses only an amount appropriated every ten years by the legislature. It is evident that an amount appropriated for a growing institution one year is apt to be entirely inadequate for the next, to say nothing of the eight or ten years after. The appropriation by the state was, in eighteen ninety-seven two thousand dollars annually for ten yearsg in nineteen hundred five the additional sum of twelve thousand dollars was set apart for that year, and an equivalent amount for nineteen hundred

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T-H-S ' UIUC NHOI6 : 1907 29 A Message from the West BY E. R. CLARKE, '03 T-'ii'lVIINING camp is amost interesting place to I visit for many reasons. It is of interest be- i . I ' cause of its products, its people, and its civilized s primitiveness. Does it not seem wonderful ! that, in the heart of a hill or down a valley, or I perhaps under one's very feet, lies a wealth of 1 mineral. One looks with astonishment at this A or that hole in the ground when told that many ' men have been made wealthy by the ore taken from it. To me, next to the production, the popu- Q B lation is the most interesting part of a mining camp. From every state in our country, in fact from all over the world, men come to the camps drawn by the hope that they may strike it lucky and get rich quickly. Another point of interest is the civilized primitiveness, as I have called it. You may smile at the seeming paradox, but it is an accurate statement of the conditions. On the one hand, men use their ingenuity to devise household utensils and fur- niture, while, on the other, they are provided with the very best articles that the modern manufactory can provide. Beside the big stone building on the corner is the single story wooden shack, across the street, built into the side hill, is a dugout, while a little further on is a tent house, in the stone office building electric lights are used, but the occupant of the dugout, tent, or shack uses a candle. Let me give you a little idea of Tonopah, Nevada, a mining camp in the heart of the desert. The town is built on the inside slopes of a horseshoe chain of mountains. Through the opening of the shoe one can see for miles across the sun-baked alkali Hats. In every other direction the horizon is limited by the tops of the mountains. The main street is crooked and steep, with wooden sidewalks in spots. At both ends of the street are boarding houses and shacks. In the center of the town are a few stone buildings, although the majority are but single story wooden structures. Scattered throughout the town are the big steel frames or hoisting cranes of the mines. Near each gallows is an immense pile of rock, called the dump, containing K'waste or low grade ore. Men are constantly heaping more waste on the huge piles, or pushing the little cars to the ore bins where E.