University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

Page 15 text:

Attractions artificial and natural enhance this climatic advantage. The buildings of the State Capitol and University are the conspicuous objects ill our landscape ; but one needs to scan the panorama outstretched ; beneath him, from the pinnacle of one of these edifices, to appreciate the full beauty of the situation. From such a standpoint, his eyes -• may roam from the tree-clad undulations northward to the western ■ffjl ' - ' ' rampart of great hills, whence out of its silver lake the river, which ' - has been harnessed to our ser -ice breaks forth to the sea of prairie that stretches eastward. As his gaze sweeps this expanse, it is noteworthy that all the prominent buildings upon which his wandering eyes will fasten are insti- tutions of some form or grade of learning. Here and there distributed through the city stand the ward schools— we will be silent anent the housing of the City High School. Yonder to the south on continually rising ground stands forth the School-home of the Deaf and Dumb ; to the left, St. Edward ' s is fixed upon his hill : eastward amid its trees the Institute for the Blind : and northward (if the view be from the Capitol sentinel-like on its noble swell of ground, stands the University of the State. We do not mention other schools, which, though their houses are less conspicuous, are in the forefront of the educational work of the city. Xow, there is a Lalutary and a pernicious multiplicity of schools— pernicious, if, by reason of holdi ng to other than educational aims, education languishes ; salutar -, when their common aim is education, the generation of intelligent sympathy for all manner of human activity. When thus fundamentally united, the more numerous the schools, the more blessed is the city that fosters them. We are convinced that such harmony is the prevailing animus (may it be the exclusive one !) of our Austin mstitutions. jfounbation So far back as 1839, soon after the establishment of Texan independence, when Texas was indeed a Lone Star State, and not yet one of the great sisterhood of the United States of America, the Congress of the Republic set aside fifty leagues of public domain, and a commanding site in the new capital city, for the permanent endowment of a university. The site chosen so long ago, but so long left vacant, the University of Texas now occupies. The first steps to the realization of the magnanimous purpose of the Texan fathers were inaugurated in iSsS, after the admission of Texas to the Union. In that year the Legislature gave money and vastly more lands, and ordained the organization and maintenance of the University. 4m

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XLhc XHuivcveitv of tTcvae OU have here, patient reader, brief glimpses of what is and what ought to be at the University of Texas — pressed leaves and flowers, as it were, from the college herbarium. If you wish to note a few salient features of the environment, foundation, development and present characteristics of this institution, you may find your interest engaged by the outline sketches and epitomes herein contained. If you care for any insight into the student heart, you may get it from thi- liopi-s ami ft-ar- iuvs .nul sorrows, plans and achievements, songs and jests recorded in this volume. Every expressed aspiration is a flash light upon character ; every jest even, a critL-rioii uf temperament and ability. To youth the past is golden-hued, the present significant, the future glorious ; and youth, the wise tell us. is often a truer seer than old age. B-nvivonniciit In the momentous council at which Thomas Jefferson unfolded his plans for the Tnivensity of his State, he maintained the claims of Cliarliitlesville as the site of the pro- posed institution by cxhibiliiig an imp .sing list of octogenarians living in the neighbor- hood. I ven so, the salubrity of Austin might l e manifested in accordauix- with the more piecise statistical methods of to-day, by citiug ofticial rei«)rts which show its death rate to be one of the lowest in the I ' nitetl States. intli.lll INIM nili •TUIUMT HNABI

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TliO!sc who know only so iiiueh of our history entertain the notion that Texas has provided with unparalleled munificence f r her common scliools and University, consecrating to their development a territory larger than the whole State of West Virginia. Consideration, however, of the pittance annually allotted to the common schools . 53.50 per capita of children between 8 and 17 years), and of the meagre support doled out to the I ' niversity, will (juickly dispel such delu- sions: for the Civil War intervened, and put a rude end to original acts and purposes. During its course the patrimony of the yet uuborn University was used to meet exigent e xpenses, and otherwise diverted. .After the war long and painful was the struggle 10 reclaim even a part of the origi- nal endowment. If our University had to-day what was originally her ' iwn, she would be the richest edu- I ational institution in the world; Imt as it is, the unproductive tnoiely of her lands sends her l cgging each biennium to a Legislature too ir- resolute to fulfil the patriotic pur- pose, the traditional and established policy of this Commonwealth ; for the State jiolicy of Texas in regard to the I ' niversity is perfectly un- equivocal, and embedded in the successive constitutions of the Stale — not by way of inference, but explicit in the foundations of our organic law. It is enough to |note the last constitution, adopted in 1876: Tbc Legislature shall, as soon as practicable, establish, organize, and provide for the miilntenance, support and direction of a iinivtrsily of the first class. We live in the hope of permanent relief and enfranchisement in the form of a State University Tax. » small (■ft mill) as to be no burden whatever on the material industries of the State, yet suflicient to give assured prosi erily to the University. This matter is commended to the thoughtful consideration of all friends of Texas ; for the function of a -I tIKM . l l.f.R