The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1880-02-04
ATTACKS on THE STATE UNIYER-
SlTY.

Our esteemed contemporary, the Ba
ton Rouge Capitolian, recently admit
ted into its columns, without, however
endorsing it, communication con
demning the present mode of conduct
ing the State University, located il
that city. The article is copied int
the New Orleans Democrat, though it
appreciation is withheld for the present
We think there are better ways thar
a newspaper controversy to correc
abuses, if any exist. Such a discus
sion, no matter which side may getstli
better Of it, cannot fail to operate ini
riously to the institution by lessenin,
confidence in it and driving away. pa
tronage from it. But it's friends d,
not decline one when provok ed to it
The graUansen of this writer's com
plant is that the university is a mill
tary school aud that there is oomnGl
of the one mans authority about it
The two things are indispensable. IT il
has to be military school, then fliert
must be military head to it, withss
great deal OF authority, as every one
who has been in the army knows ful
well.
Ii must be military. school to some
extent. -
l. Owing to the puer;lity with which
the constitutional convention treated
the subject of university education jim
frittering away its, energies on two5l
three Institutions, and the parsimony
in providing for them it eptailed on
subsequent Legislatures, the principal
means for the support of this institution
are derived from the old Seminary
fund and the new Agricultural and
Mechanical fnnd, both Of which are
gifts of the Federal government; The
act making donations for the estab-
lishmeDt of the agricultural colleges
requires military tactics to be taught
in them. The acceptance of the gift
is a contract to comply with its, re-
qnirements; and this cannot be violated
without breach of faith.
2. When the old seminary was first
established, its first board Of supervis-
Ors, containing such men as Governor
Wickliffe, General G.. Mason Graham,
Chief Justice Manning, DR.. S. A.
Smith and other leading citizens, after
thorough discussion, determined that
the only way to govern Southern boys,
who were proverbially hard to govern,
was to make them govern themselves
by means of a military organization.
Its adoption in the seminary has real
lied the most sanguine expectations of
it's advocates. Abolish 1t and the
school would instantly return to the
hazings, revellings and disorders which
characterizes the NorsAsfn colleges.
The superintendent must govern it
as military commander would govern
his corps. The present writer. who
has held the superintendency as well
as more than one professorsIlip in the
institution, once adopted the Baton
Rouge plan of calling a mass meeting
of the faculty to hold "a bed of iustice'
over every truant who happened to
whistle too loud on the corridors. 1t
was impossible ever to get the profess
sors interested in such duties. 1t ia a
great mistake to suppose that scholars
would willingly leave their books to
act AZ police officers over a set of mis-
chievons boys. These duties any su
perintendent would gladly impose on
some one else if it conld be done with
out injury to discipline. We happen
to know that the present superintend
eDt has more than once asked to be
relieved and TO- he permitted to fall
back on the more congenial labors of
his class room. His request has been
uniformly refused, because in the
OF iiion of the board, no other man ar
Set of men could govern the institution
So we'll
The Capit0lidn correspondent;tiinks
that the Institution should work sin
sympathy with the people OF Baton
Rouge. If 1t does not whose fault is
It'll How many of the prominent citf4
Gems OF Baton Rouge have volunteered
their sadvice, aid and encouragement
tn the officers, in their troubles as the
prominent citizens of Rapides used to
dot How many of them avail them
q selves of the library, the museum, the
reading room, and all the other advan
tages of the school that are thrown
open to tlelnq If the Uhiversi y is to
be run according to the Baton Rouge
idea, then the Baton Rouge idea must
get little less crude than it appears
to be from the illusions of those who
are engaged in writing it up.
To those of US who have been famil-
lar, for twenty years, with the self. de-
nial and devotion which have ever
characterized the labors Of those
against whom this Capitolian article is
directed, such communications appear
as fippant, even though they may not
DO malicious, attacks on the best
friends of the University, calculated to
impair it's usefulness and to retard the
advance of higher education in Louisi
ana. In such light, therefore, they
are as ungeHerous as they are impoli.
tic.-[Shreveport Standard.