The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-04-13

I
direction of "a university of the
first class"
AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL
DEPARTMENT.
1t was provided that 1.-The univer
sity of Tex9s should include an ag.
ricultural and mechanical depart
ment," but inasmuch as all agricul
tural and mechanical college had
then QS75) already been established
in Brazos county, it was made {
branch of the university of Texas
and to remedy the difficulty of at
forwards appropriating general rev
enue directly to complete the build.
ings and to furnish the necessary
furniture, the legislature was re,
quired at its next session to appro
pirate for those purposes an amount
not exceeding forty thousand dol
lars; which was done, and the ap.
preparation was made, and paid out
of the general revenue of the state
The legislature was also required
when deemed practicable, to estab
lish and provide for the mainte.
nance of a college or branch univer.
sity, for the instruction of the col.
ored youths of the state, to be 10.
Gated by vote of the people; "pro.
vided, no tax shall be levied and nc
money appropriated out OF the gen.
eral revenue, either for this purpose
or for the establishment and cree.
ton of the buildings of the univer.
sity of Texas"
That this institution, when estab
lished, as well as the Agriculture
and Mechanical college, was in
tended to be branch of the Uni.
versity of Texas, is manifested by
the next and last section, under the
head of university, in the constitu-
ton, which sets apart "for the en-
dowment, maintenance and support
of said university and it's branches
one million acres of land.
The board of regents of the uni
verslty, as you may see from their
report, provided for eighteen pro.
fessorships, eleven for the main
university and seven for the medical
branch. This was prospective, as
indicating what would be absolutely
necessary in a first class university
when it could be established.
Doubtless other professorships
would have been enumerated il
there had then been any reasonable
prospect of maintaining them by
the means under their control.
The branch university, for colored
youths, would require a faculty OF
several professors-to start with, and
to be increased as the size of the
school might make it necessary. The
Agricultural and Mechanical college
now has six professors and a presi.
dent in the faculty, who are paid by
the interest of the special fund do
mated by the United States. If thai
institution is TO be made an agricul
tural and mechanical department oi
university of the first class, large
outlay of means for additional neces
sary improvements will have to be
made, which can be drawn only
from the available university fund
The buildings, libraries and appara'
tus of various sorts for the maiI
university and medical department
and intimately for the branch fol
colored youths, will require very
large outlays of means, which Car
be drawn only from the interest o.
the university fund. If Texas evel
has a first-class university, with al
OF its branches supplied, it will have
forty or fifty professorships. Not
withstanding the obvious made
quacy of the means now provided
to meet the requirement of the con-
stitution of university of the first
class, it is still fortunate that an at,
tempt has now been made to in.
augurate it, because thereby prac-
tical insight into what is needed has
been obtained in time to supply the
want, which might not otherwise
have been done. To supply that
want, respectfully recommend
that at least two million acres OF
land be set apart for the university
and its branches out of the lands re-
served to pay the public debt; in
support of which, beg leave to
submit the following considerations
in addition to the necessity for it,
which has already in part been pre-
sented.
LAND APPROPRIATION FOR THE
UNIVERSITY.
By the constitution of 1876. it is
declared that one tenth of the al
ternate sections of the lands granted
to railroads, which were set apart
and appropriated to the establish
ment of the University of Texas by
an act of the legislature of Feb
ruary II, 1858, entitled can act to
establish the University of Texas
shall not be included in or consti-
tute a part of tie permanent uni
versity fund. The act of 1858 here
referred to required the governor
from time to time to select the
sections that were by it appro-
priated to the university, and the
commissioner of the general land
Office to designate those thus
selected upon the maps as university
sections. By the provisions in the
constitution, that have been quoted,
it was intended doubtless to pre-
vent the selection and designation
required by that act of the legisla-
ture, and thereby to leave the one
tenth of the sections with the rest
as constituting part of the lands
belonging to the permanent fund OF
the public schools of the state. Had
this not been done the university
would have had magnificent en-
dowment ofvaluable lands, amount
ing at the time it was done, in 1876,
to about 100000 acres of land,
and by the increase up to the pres
ent time of over 100000 of acres.
AS a compensation for this, it may
be inferred, the convention set apart
for the university one million acres
of land, which were not located and
surveyed until four years after
wards, and, being located in extreme
western counties, are not proper
tionally as valuable as an equal
amount of lands selected in the
mode provided by the act of 1858.
Had the tenth-sections not been
taken away from the university,
there would still have been left for
the common schools a magnificent
endowment. In addition to this, an
appropriation was made out of the
available university fund to pay the
expenses of surveying the one mil
lion acres of land.
There has been, from the early
period of the republic of Texas
down through series of years to
the present time, constant effort,
in making endowments for public
education, to keep the different
grades of it, from the lowest to the
highest, in harmony, according as
each one was thought to need ad-
vancement to supply the future
wants of the country, and its people.
At some periods, one grade or