University of Idaho - Gem of the Mountains Yearbook (Moscow, ID)

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Gem of the Mountains 1904 University: “At no time in the history of the institution has there been such whole-souled, one-purpose harmony ; such united effort to- ward the attainment of a common aim between members of the faculty themselves and between the faculty and the students, as dur- ing the present period of the school’s management.” Our University is not an accident; it is not a creature of im- pulse. It is a link in that divine chain of events which holds firmly for the use of today all the good and true of the past. “It is a small college, but there are those who love it,” were the tender words of Daniel Webster in his noted defense of Dartmouth. The love vf the loyal friends of the University of Idaho has made possible the progress of the past, and will make possible that greater development which must be commensurate with the other growth of the state it represents. We have made careful, conscientious progress. Unity of aim and purpose, affectionate regard for the traditions of our brief but significant past, pride of student and instructor in preserving the University’s good name have all united to develop it along the lines —not of least resistance—but of the broadest and deepest culture, the most thorough and useful training. 18

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sands of dollars’ worth of the most improved and delicate scientific apparatus, and a working library of which any young institution might well be proud. The original state appropriation of $15,000 has been increased to almost an even $100,000 for the biennial period, which, combined with the Federal $80,000, makes possible many changes and improvements which can only come with the growth of appreciation of a university’s work. For one decade this may be cor- sidered unparalleled in the history of state universities, especially when we consider the increase in the state’s population from 86,000 to barely 200,000, and its assessed property valuation from $29,- 000,000 to that of $63,000,000. This for the material progress. ‘Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage.”” Neither do fine buildings, handsome grounds, high-priced men nor costly and delicate apparatus make an institution of learning. Important as they are, they are all but instruments—means to an end. The University of Idaho has more to boast of than merely these out- ward signs of growth; its progress has been symmetrical, sure and safe. From a teaching force of two or three instructors, the faculty now numbers thirty members; and even this number is inadequate to the necessities of the courses offered and in contemplation. The Alumni Association has reached the even one-hundred mark, numbering among its membership many men and women prominent in public eye—in Congress, in State Legislature, in the University, College, High School and Common School room; at the bar, in medicine, and in the pulpit; all stalwart and zealous, useful and influential, a record worthy of comment. Our curriculum has developed so that in the Preparatory School —formerly a Grammar School—the best of High School preparation is now given, while the College has grown to the proportions of a University. The average age of our students shows a constantly increasing maturity of mind and body, and the general college spirit is changing from year to year to that of a more reflective and attractive loyalty— so essential to the character-building of a University. Our general harmony of purpose may be best summed up in the words of one of our Seniors in a recent article on the growth of the 17 Gem of the Mountains 1904

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AINISTRATION BUILDING ADM