Clemson University - Taps Yearbook (Clemson, SC)

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T TERE is a saga of men!! A story told in deeds; a ■ ■ story that will be retold as long as men continue the search for Utopian existence. For Utopia is grasped only through intelligence, and intelligence springs from the womb of education. Ours is a story of the soil, of the machine, and of continual striving toward an ethereal goal ; all the lurid expletives and beautiful adjectives that Time can write in the short span of fifty years are incorporated into that tale which relates the history of our Alma Mater. In 1866, we became an expressed idea when a move- ment for an agricultural college was inaugurated by Thomas Green Clemson. South Carolina lay prostrate beneath the iron heel of the carpetbagger and the project was short lived. Five years later Senator Ben Tillman independently renewed the question and forced the issue to the three borders of the state with a brilliant campaign. Deep-rooted opposition killed Tillman ' s bill in 1885. We appeared as a nucleus on paper in 1883 when Clem- son provided for the establishment of a scientific institu- tion in the first draft of his will. Quizzical as to the G r een CI emson CLEMSON COLLEGE

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Th omas FOUNDER OF

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possible limitations of a purely scientific school, Clemson enlisted the advice of dynamic Tillman. Out of this asso- ciation Senator Ben received an inspiration which later stimulated his enthusiastic support when we became the problem-child of the legislature. On April 6, 1888, Clemson died at his Fort Hill home, and Simpson, as executor, proceeded to probate the will and carry out its provisions. A test case carried us into court when Isabella Lee, granddaughter of Calhoun, contested the will. Meanwhile, the self-made rugged individualist, Till- man, carried us safely through a storm of legislative disap- proval, and we fell on Governor Richardson ' s desk in De- cember of 1888 — two days before the termination of the legislative session. Due to our questionable validity we remained there until the 1889 session opened. On May 21 of that year Clemsons bequest was upheld in the United States Circuit Court, and when the legislature convened Governor Richardson promptly approved the bill accepting the terms of the will. On November 27, 1889, the Clem- son estate became the legal property of the State of South Carolina.