Wilmington journal., 1875-03-05
raEUNsyERslrY.

THE UNIVERSITY.
We sincerely trust the Legislature
will maturely consider the bill now
pending before &c in regard to the
University.
The purpose of the bill is simply to
provide for the restoration of the fund
arising from the sale of the land scrip
donated to the State of North Carolina
by the Federal Government for the
purpose of establishing schools for the
promotion of learning necessary for
those engaged in agriculture and the
mechanic arts. The State bound her
self in the most solemn manner, to
keep the principal of that fund intact
by making good any loss that might
occur, and to appropriate the inter
est arising therefrom to educational
purposes, or to return the whole to the
Federal Government. The only ques-
tion then for the Legislature to consld-
er is whether the fund shall be male
good to the University or whether it
shall be returned to..the Federal Gov
ernment.
Suppose it be returned to the Fed
eral government, what then :? The
people must be taxed to raise the en-
tire principal of the fund amounting
TO S135. 900; the revival of the Univer-
sity will be deferred until some indef-
mite day in the far off future and the
youth of the State who desire to ac-
quire such useful learning as may
fit them to sDg .ge intelligently and
therefore prodtably in agriculture or In
the mechanic arts will be deprived of
the opportunity. Are gentlemen of
the Legislature prepared to assume
so grave a responsibility ? Will they
undertake to say that there is no need
for University in North Carolina,
that the facilities for acquiring An ed
! ucation in North Carolina are already
| equal to the wants of the people OF
that education ought to be confined to
those who are able to defray the cost
| from their own private means ? Does
the State owe nothing to her poorer
children in this matter
Su. pose the bill now pending be-
comes law, what then ? The State
will give to the University its certifi
cate of Indebtedness for one hundred
and twenty-five thousand dollars
bearing six per cent. interest. Will
the amount thus accruing from the inte
rest, the Trustees will be able to estab
lish the department devoted to agri
culture and the mechanic arts as early
as July next, and this will lead to tht
speedy establishment of all the othel
departments that first class Univer
sity of the present day ought to con
sist of. If we are correctly informed,
it is the purpose of the present Boari
of Trustees not to re- establish a mere
college at Chapel Hill, but to found al
| University that shall be one indeed al
! well as one in name, one worthy o
the age and of the State in which W.
live. To this grand consummation th'
bill now before the Legislature open
the way.
Nor will the time be unredeemed be
fore that happy day. but instruction
in the various branches of learning
necessary and useful to those engage,
i'll agriculture and the mechanic art
will at once begin, and this will be tn
starting point. And this is as it shoul1
be- If the State has but little to Civ
to the cause of education we are con
tent, quite content, that her NIT
should be given to advance the caus
of agriculture and the mechanic arts
The intelligence of those engaged il
these pursuits in any country deter
mines its prosperity. We are content
therefore, that the department of tn
University first to be revived shal
have for its chief object the increas
of that intelligence in North Carolina