The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-02-16
rr,a untyersssy Bill.

| To het Editors of the Dispatch
/ wish to snm up very bril- fly the objec.
tions to the passage OF this bill 10 Its present
| shane. THAT the bill will be disastrous 70
the University itself will be apparent from
the following considerations
1. It will weaken the hold OF the Uni
versity upon the support and friendship Of
large, Intelligent, and most iptiuential por-.
| ton of the community. The trustees OF
Richmond College, of Randolph Macon, and
the faculty OF Roanoke College have formally
adopted resolutions protesting ID strong
terms against the dead-head feature OF this
bill.
In q letter to me of the 10th instant, Colo
mel Ewell, president of William and Mary
College, thus speaks: g approve heartily of
| your views, and wish they may prevail.
Give the annuity acithout conditions"
In letter of the 18th, Washington and
Lee. through its president, General g. W. C.
| Lee, suys "The views of the members of
our faculty, so far as am acquainted with
| them, in regard to the University bill now
| before the Legislature, agree substantially
with those expressed in your article and in
the resolutions of your Board OF Trustees,
and were communicated to our delegate
some time ago, as am informed"
Rev. DR.. Dabney, of Union Theological
Seminary, says: L" L read your article with
much satisfaction, as also the resolutions Of
your trustees. You will see that my views
concur substantially with yours"
Rev. DR.. Atkinson, president Of Hamp-
den-Sidney, in a letter received to-day, says !:
Il DO concur in the views expressed in the
| resolutions Of the trustees of Richmond Col
Iege and in your own article. Previously
to their reception had expressed similar
opinions as to the probable effect Of the
University bill, both to Rev. DR.. Hoge and
| to a member of the legislature" -,
I have also received to-day an able letter
from Judge Mclaughlin, a trustee of Wash
| iDgton and Lee University, in which he
vigorously endorses the foregoing views.
The only college from which l have not
heard is Emory and Henry. Its concur
renee may be safely assumed.
|. Thus we have the colleges of Virginia in
solid phalanx opposing the conversion of the
University into free school, but anxious TO
see liberal appropriation made for its sup
port on its existing basis.
Again Heretofore the Legislature has
been granting free tuition at the University
to limited number of INDECENT and merito.
rious young men. How will the people bear
the idea of taxation, not for few young men
of the class referred to, but for as many as
may choose to attend, the good and the bad,
the rich and the poor, without discrimna.
ton? The active hostility of the friends of
the colleges. who are the most enlightened
friends OF education, together with the diSaf-
lection which will be generated among the
people generally, will mike the annuity to
the Uniyersitya still more ticklish thing than
it has hitherto been.
hob; IF ho mil !, 6ro rya1
dimnution of the annuity by succeeding
Legislature is; to put it in the mildest way,
exceedingly strong. What will be the con-
diton of the University with its most relia-
BILE source of revenue, the tuition fees OF its
students, weakly bartered away for scanty
mess of pottage? Should few Of the friends
of the University whose judgment has been
overruled by the stress OF the present emer-
gency be allowed to subject the permanent
Interests of the institution to such extreme,
to fatal peril? ~ ..-
2. Is thiss Commonwealth, defauting to
the tune of 100000 per anDum in the pay
ment of interest, in condition to offer free
education to every boy, black and white,
within its limits, from the al phabet up to the
calculus, and in all the walks of literature
and science in their Hottest range? If our
Golfers were Overlooking with wealth it
would still be undesirable; in our poverty,
tits simply criminal. ~-
g. The University dotfs its present charac-
ter, and adopts new views and a new policy
when it becomes q great free school. Are
we prepared for this radical change! How
the character of the University instruction
will be certainly lowered, and how it will
cease to foster, in the mendicant students
invited to its halls, proper pride, manly
sense CT independence, and lofty indiyid-
uality, has been shown in former articles.
Those men who chiefly bear the burden OF
taxation are entitled to some consideration.
Many such, able and willing to educate their
children, feel that it is their duty 10 Go it,
and only theirs. Do not obstruct them in
the discharge Of their sacred duty; do not
deny them the blessed privilege. Let such
men be allowed to educate their children,
and not be forced to accept degrading
charity from the State. Charity Is thing
with which the State has nothing to do.
State charity is as inefficient as 1t is cor
rupting.
The amendment to the bill providing a
standard Of admission is illusory. This has
been clearly shown by other pens. | wish
to make only one remark on this topic. The
tenn ptation to admit raw boys from other
the faculty of the University have high stan.
dard of admission, as alleged, to exclude Viz
ginia dead-heads, and low standard 10 let n
pay students from other States? Besides, the
amendment intended to restrain the faculty
is left in their hands for execution. How
they will execute it, let the past answer.
But the Johns. Hopkins! y, the Johns
Hopkins 1t will eviscerate the University
Yes, it will if the University becomes free
school, Our University as a free school
cannot compete with the rich Johns Hop
kiRs. Let it engage in the unequal contest,
and it will inevitably 90 down in utter dis
comtture. The Johns Hopkins has princely
endowment. Our University has none.
The former can afford TO give away its tuition
fees-it has other resources. Let the Vir.
ginia University initiate its example, and it
will soon lind that it has relinquished it's only
reliable support.
Let the University of Virginia continue 10
furnish wholesome, strong, wel-serVed, In.
telleciual food to hgb.mirded young men
who are willing to pay for it and expect to
live by it, and it will safely defy the conpe-
tition of any mammoth charity establish
ment dispensing swill and soup to paupers
and lazzsroni. B. PURYEAR.