Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1850-02-15
q lie Ielesrapl).
{. L.. SHOLES, EDITOR.
Friday, February ID. 1850.
The University of wisconsin.

y
hear of Chancellor Lathrop, with a salary of
twelve hundred dollars per year. and we Ggno-
rant n,orals) think he has something to DO think
he earns $1,000 per year as acting President of
the University Of the State Of Wisconsin. We
think he walks into a costly chapel every morn
ing lighted and warmed by the peoples money,
and there surrounded by Professors and Tutors
and gazed upon by hundreds of sleepy students,
lifts up his hands and his voice in an address
to the Supreme Being for the descent of his
choice blessings upon ''the institution and the
crowds of youth there assembled"
/ We know there is such thing as the common
school system of Wisconsin. This has or
should have local habitation," in every school
district in the state, as we'll as name every
where. The people of the state of Wisconsin
too, we believe, take pride and an interest in
the education Of the rising masses who are TO BE-
the STATE
! But if the people of Wisconsin intend to fos-
ter hot bed Of literary aristocracy in which the
three professions of Law Medicine, and Theolo-
gy shall be pre-eminent and absolute, we have
entirely mistaken their character, and have lived
amongst them ten years for no purpose. We
have no objection to university with all its cost
and its yearly calls for appropriations from the
state, If it can be made accessible to the masses
of the youth of the state-thc poor as we'll as the
rich. We insist that there should be a depart
ment of agriculture and mechanics. as well as
Medicine and Law. We know of no reason
why the Profession of Agriculture and the arts of
Peace which are exact and certain, should not be
as well provided for, and as much respected as
the uncertain science of medicine, and a profess
sion of as doubtful utility as that of the law
We understand that in the hurry of closing up
the business at the last sitting on the Saturday
evening previous to adjournment, when most of
the members were asleep or at home packing
their trunks, bill was passed through, appropri-
ating $4,000 Of the School Funds to the use of
the University. Whoever lives longeDough 10 see
that money returned will have lived long enough
to write the sequel to the perfect history of Wis
consin.
What good do the people of the state ever cx-
pect to derive by building up at such extrayagant
outlay, an institution costing fifty times more
than it is really worth and robbing the whole
state TO pamper few of the favored sons of the
rich, who are striving to fatten upon the herd by
the acquisition of few technicaties in the ut
tcrance of which they are to be considered us Or
aclc5.
/ Further, can the masses of tho working men
of this state long be satisfied with the idea of cs-
tablishng such hundred armed power at the
capitol Of this state to control with the people of
Madison, who, like so many starved Jackalls,
are always proving around the gates of the cap
/ itol for appropriations to benefit in some way or
other the city or its stall-fcd denzens We say
can the masses who constitute the bone and sin
ew of the State-bc satisfied as they view such
a power as the Regents and Faculty of this In
stitution, arising at the very doors of the capitol
to dictate terms, and control by their secret and
/ disguised influence in greater or less degree
the legislation of the State
If this institution is permitted to grow faster
exclusively fostered in the manner and for the
same purpose that similar Institutions are fos-
tered and conducted in the New England States,
the practical. working.mcn of this State will re-
pcnt it lin dust and ashes'' The wants and de-
sres of the present age cannot be supplied by a
stcrcotypcd firm and block from the relics Of
the past. This is practical, working, and an
everyday age that calls for and knows neither
Holy time nor EIoary priest, neither Court days
nor powdered Judges ;-itcxpects of every man.
that "he does bis duty, and demands that all
time, should be Holy and all men ,rorking and
nStW If the friends of this literary Hierarchy
wish TO find favor FIR it in the eyes of those who
will be compelled to support it +; let them make
1t an Institution that Shall be useful to the mass
es; make it n help meet for the wants of the
race. Let il tend to elevate the masses 10 the
broad l,vcl where humanity are expected to walk
and how can this b. done unless those sciences
are taught, and those studies pursued which are
useful in the everyday walks of life. And even
If there should be some students in attendance,
3
the fear Of want; that is no reason why they
should not become acquainted with those arts
and pursuits which will afford man business
and living, when fortune becomes tickle, or
briefs become scarce. OF this University, we
repeat then, that if the friends who exSect to
thrive and tatten on the funds layshcd and
s1uandcrcd upon this Institution, expect to sue
coed, expect to command the influence and IA
yor of the friends of education and the public
veal, they must adopt system of instruction
which shall be useful for all, and establish those
departments which shall be open for the Farmer
and Mechanic to enter and by means of which
he may be able 10 penetrate the arcana of ma
tUrc, and rs he studies. learns to reverence, while
he Stili continues to officiate as a priest at her
shrine.
Where in the area of our broad State can we
find the farmer who is in the habit of analyzing
his soils-aud who knows from such analvzation
what his lands will produce best: and how many
ofour mechanics are capable of solving, by prac-
teal experiments the many problems that pre-