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

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iture, of the jealousy and distrust and unkindness of the State. Yet if the weak university of that day had not been, no nucleus of life would have existed in 1866, the year of real begin- ning, to reach the stately growth of 1904. We must add to the credit of that early time cer- tain sound traditions of administration which are still maintained g-for instance, the University of Wisconsin has never been dominated by one-man power, and no modifications of the estab- lished policy of the institution are introduced until after full and free discussion. In this year of jubilee it is but natural to contrast the present with the past. As has been said, when the Hrst Chancellor delivered his address there was not a college student here. By the autumn of 1850 two had been brought up to the level of the freshman year- Levi Booth and Charles T. Wakeley, the graduating class of 1854, the fiftieth anniversary of whose commencement we this year celebrate. No buildings had yet been erected. Septem- MAIN HALL WITH THE Ni-:W VVING ber 17, 1851, when the University went on the Hill, was a day long remembered. On that day the University opened its term in North Hall, which was both dormitory and recitation building. There are now about twenty buildings devoted to the work of the institution. By january, 1856, the faculty had grown from three to seven, all the chairs provided for in the plantof organization being now Filled. Cfzairs I have called them: Dr. Holmes' witty sug- gestion is that the professors of that day occupied settees. For example, there was the pro- fessorship of Ethics, Civil Polity, and Political Economy. It shall be the duty of this chair, the Regents provide, to render instruction in Theoretical and Practical Morality, in the Science of Government, in International and Constitutional Law, and in the laws regulating the Production, Distribution, Exchange and Consumption of Material Wealth, and to incul- cate such knowledge and discipline as may be calculated to prepare liberally educated young men to become good and useful citizens of the Republic. The duties of this chair will be dis- I-l Q

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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

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charged by the Chancellor of the University. To conceive from what the University has grown, strive to imagine the field covered by Professors Parkinson, Ely, Scott, Meyer, Reinsch, Adams, and Sparling, Messrs. Barnett, Dowd and Lorenz, with half of Prof. Sharp's added, to say nothing of Mr. Taylor's, and all of this reduced to the province of a single man, and that man president of the University. There was the Professor of Mental Philosophy, Logic, Rhetoric, and English Literature, of Ancient Languages and Literature, including Oriental tongues, of Modern Languages and Literature, who was to give stated instruction in French and German, occasional instruction when desired in other modern languages, and rendered assist- ance in the department of An- cient Languages when required by the Chancellor to do so. There was the Professor of Mathematics, Natural Philos- ophy and Astronomy, who in- cluded Engineering among his subjectsg and finally there was the Professor of Chemistry and Natural History, who taught Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geol- ogy, the Natural History of . Plants and Animals and Human Physiology, superintended col- lections, and made and published meteorological observations. These six professors with a tutor carried on all the work of instruction. There are now ninety-two professors, four resident lecturers, forty-nine instructors, thirty-five assistants, and twenty-one fellows. In 1854 there were two seniors, one junior, nine sophomores and nine freshmen, besides thirty-five students in preparatory and English classes. Last year 2,870 students were in attendance in all departments of the university, or about 2200, omitting students in music, short course students, and others not strictly to be classed as advanced students in colleges and technical schools. There were 210 seniors in the College of Letters and Science. . In' 1854, even in 1866, the university possessed no laboratories. The nrst laboratory, the chemical, was established by Professor Da-niells in the basement of University Hall in 1868. There were some two thousand dollars worth of apparatus in all departments used in illustrating lectures-that was all. At the present time the University has its Observatory, Chemical Labora- tory, and Science Hall, to say nothing of the laboratories and instruments in the Engineering and Agricultural Buildings, and in North and South Halls. The instruments and materials within the Engineering building alone represent a sum greaterthan the entire productive fund of 1854, film the cost of the whole equipment, all the buildings, and all the books. The yearly expen- diture on apparatus for the College of Engineering is double the average annual expenditure from 1854 to 1866 leaving buildings out of consideration. So late as 1865 the engineering equipment consisted of one transit, one leveling rod, one compass, two chains with pins, twelve sets of drawing instruments, and one tape line. All the machinery was a screw press. In 1865 the University owned two sets ofjbzklures of a steam engine. I speak of this growth in mere material equipment, not confusing the kernel with the shell, but -because this growth bears testimony to the greater complexity, subdivision, and THE PRnsiDnNT's House . I5