University of Wisconsin Madison - Badger Yearbook (Madison, WI)

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general governmentj, that at the earliest prac- ticable period their em'z're 'value may be real- ized. Every act of waste committed on these lands, every sale of an acre for less than its full value, under whatever guise it may take place, is in fraud of the general government, the don- or of the land, in fraud of the substantial inter- ests of the young mind of the commonwealth and what is more than all, in fraud of that pro- gressive civilization which alone can realize the hope and accomplish the destiny of man in the world. It is the sacred duty of VVisconsin to preserve the przhczjale of this fund z'n71z'0!az'e I ylllln I ya -Q7-P ,- w -.M f ,4,?XXHltl:Su,s 1-61111 f ' up IIH 2 at f r ttlffh w ll fi-- Tl ll I . .-V. i f fff:11 177'i7g A vu 'LQ gfffifffxf Is., -11' fl! I ,,. F. ll lllmfl .lt 1- I . - 15 - - I ,I Xt f.1llM,Il ll fr.-f!,,,t . . -- 1 ,I U . -1 ' , f. -' 'tif' ,, ,i-i-5 NU 1 uw ,Y i7!- I i .mn L.il ! if . -X ,fir-gi-rf! f 5 ,:.h-Y lf ', fi , '1 ,-Q OLD MAIN HALL forever, and so to invest it that it may yield the largest increase compatible with safety, and with ease and economy in collection. 'lt if Not only as to this point did Dr. Lathrop perceive the dangers which threatened the University. To mistake, as many literary incorporations in our land have done, and as the superficial observer is prone to do, the edifice for the University-the shell for the kernel, to erect costly structures, to incur a debt which shall eat up the income of years, leaving little for the machinery of education and still less for the living instructor, would be as far in us, as it has been in others, from realizing any just conception of a sound and discriminating econ- omy. X tl' 'lt E Are the following words expressive of a foolishly exalted ambition? In any case, they show that a proper estimate of the relative importance of the library was present in the mind of the Chancellor from the very first. Having provided those buildings and those only which may be needful to the earlier uses of the University, leaving subsequent structures, to the occasions and the periods which may demand them, it is our business to proceed with resources unexhausted to the foundation of a library in which the accumulations of this and subsequent generations shall aim to embody zz!! that is worth preserving of the literature of every country and of every age. Q VVithin Dr. Lathrop's own period of administration everything that he feared had been done, and practically nothing had been accomplished of what he had hoped for. The story has often been told, but it cannot be too familiar to Wisconsin students. The original land grant of 46,080 acres, obtained from the United States government in 1838 by the solicitation of the territorial legislature, was so undervalued that it sold for about S150,000, avowedly to encourage settlement, but in effect forthe benefit of speculators. A second grant of the same amount was obtained by similar solicitation from the general government, and was sold in the same way, bringing in only S130,000. A fair comparison as to the value of the lands may be made with the original Michigan grant, of the size of one only of the grants to Vtfisconsin, which sold for less than might have been made of it, and brought in S500,000. To make the chapter complete, it may be observed that the grant made in 1862 of 240,000 acres for a college of agriculture and industrial arts, and other purposes, was treated in the same way, producing a fund of only about S300,000, where two or three millions would have been OLD NORTH HALL I,

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4-.f pm .1 '95 Xu 095 Q CQ A G 0 1 Exif' O xr 3 C V im C' Glu 4.2 1 The Progress of Half a Century N the fifth of February, 1849, some twenty young men were assembled in a Madison schoolroom to receive the first instruction given by the University of Wisconsin. The class was a preparatory one, the lack of schools being such that up to 1880 the University was obliged to maintain a Fitting school. The teacher was a Mr. J. W. Sterling, who now began his thirty-tive years of faithful service. It has been said that all institutions are the shadows of men cast xcross history. From Sterling and from other devoted teachers of the early time it is not a shadow that rests on W'isconsin, rather a light that shines in it. May it constantly be kin- dled anew and blaze larger through the years. Soon after the preparatory school was opened the faculty of one was doubled by the arrival of the Chancellor, Dr. 1. H. Lathrop, who had been Chancellor of the University of Missouri, and then trebled by the appointment of a tutor-O. M. Conover, afterward Pro- fessor of Ancient Languages. On january 16, 1850, the formal inauguration of Dr. Lathrop took place. The legisla- ture adjourned, the students marched in procession, the town gathered to hear the address. At this day it would not easily draw or hold the attention of any but the painful reader. The Orb of Day - the rising generation - bowing the hoary head in dust - that germ of vegetable existence which ages ago was quickened into life on the genial lap of earth: - the conservatory of a sophomore oratorical contest has been pillaged of everything except the upas tree. The good Doctor's style is the highly decorated commonplace. lt took many words, and those high-sounding ones, for college presidents to say simple things in Wisconsin in 1850. But in the light of later history some passages of the address have a poignant --' 434:7- Qi,-J 4 , ,l,..,- . - -.-f-ini, -,....S, interest to those who feel an af- fection forthe University. Atthe time of its delivery, the sale of the University lands had just f l , ,V 4 begun, and no buildings were -L-EZ, yet standing onthe Hill. Says 7 ,gals -gg-vi? eral! Dr. Lathrop : It is the sacred ' V X, E iff' dutyof Wisconsin, as theguard- 4, '51 , I-tJLg! ',5gE E ian of this great interest fthe I-,iii E V E 3, 522. 5 trust for an institution of higher G-T4- gi, - In learningj so to preserve and fr an. '5 'f- administer these landsfthe forty rp ' CCC q C Y V thousand orfifty thousand acres lllil ll given for the University by the I I ,ff I 3,511-:Q VI W :2':i lilizfgggw. THE FIRST HOME OF TI-In UNIVERSITY

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nearer a fair valuation. By the process which Dr. Lathrop so plainly denominates a triple fraud, an amount of at least two million and a half of dollars, which at the time would have netted an annual income of upwards of 5125,000, was taken from the permanent endowment of the University of Wisconsin, though the State obtained two endowments by asking for them, and the third upon a contract for carrying out a sacred trust. Even these diminished funds were wasted as the Chancellor foresaw. A striking and accurate epitome of the history of the University of 'vVisconsin from 1848 to 1866 is given in the following quotation from a report for the faculty, drawn up by Professor Sterling in 1865: XVhatever may have been the diversity of policy adopted by the different States enjoying this bounty of the general government, the State Universities have in their com- mencement and early progress encountered similar difficulties, and have also fallen into similar errors of policy. So uniform, indeed, have these been, that the careful observer may now with much certainty predict what will be the mistakes in Nevada or Montana, when uni- versities corne to be founded in those States. There is first the attempt to lessen the OLD SOUTH HALL endowment fund by the disposition of the lands at rates below their value, or by the loan of university funds upon inadequate securities. lf the vigilance of the friends of the university prevents detriment from these designs, which are commonly concealed under the pretext of benent to a meritorious class of citizens, there is just at hand a more formidable difficulty arising from the persistent demand of the legislature for the division of the university fund among the several colleges of the State, which are sure to spring up in a new society, from various causes, and some possibly in the hope of obtaining a portion of this fund, which is in popular belief, greatly magnified in amount. 3' if 'lf 'lt 'l' The university, too, in its administration, commits blunders which embarrass its progress. One of these invariably made, and always clearly discerned by a sagacity which comes too late for practical use, is the investment of too large a portion of its funds in dead walls, which require another portion to take care of them. This is a mistake of individuals in their own affairs, apt to occur at a certain age of society, and perhaps corporations can hardly be expected to be wiser than the individuals composing them. The early history of the University is a record of insufficient means and unwise expend- 13