Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1885-01-22

tlOu OF the university. It's prospects and
| needs, are fully stated in the .eports OF
| its Regents, its Chancellor. and its heads
| of departments. The Regents that
substantial and gratifying prosperity has
marked its history during the pat two
years. The new chemical building has
been erected and equipped. The Board
| has wisely ordered the discontinuance OF
| the lowest preparatory course, and taken
action looking to the early dlsconunu-
aEce OF the entire preparatory depart
| ment, SO that the strength of the Facul-
| ty may be devoted wholly TO the work
of higher education.
The University had 52I students en-
rolled during the last fiscal year. and Is
| steadily growing in usefulness and popu
larity. The State should cherish and en-
| courage it in every possible way. The
Regents urge the ereciion of Natural
History building. The collection of that
| Gepartm undoubtedly one of the
largest and most valuable in the country,
long ago overlooked the boundaries OF
the rooms assigned it.
The AGRICULTURAL CoLLEGE.-The re-
ports of the Board of Regents ami Off
GERS of the State Agricultural College
detail the growth and general condition
of that Institution. Its buildings ar
substantial and commodiouS, its grounds
attractive, and its natural attendance ha
increased 26 per cent, 395 students now
being enrolled. The new wing of the
main college building is con- peted
and occupied. The endowment fund
now aggregates $40, 305 Is, all Of when,
except 49, I'LL, is invested at rates OF in
terest varying from six to ten per cert
The College is steadily and rapidly grow
ing in popular esteem, and its course OF
study is well adapted to the objec,s for
which the institution was founded. Its
needs are fully set forth in the reports OF
its Regents and officers.
STATE NORMAL SCHooL.-The school
teachers constitute the largest body OF
public functionaries in Kansas, and this
Institution, the States lrainine-schoo
for teachers, is most important f.cior
in our educational system. The reports
of its Board of Regents and officers affirm
that its usefulness is constantly increasin.
and that its attendance numbering 534
during the last fiscal year, would hav,
been even larger if room for the actom-
mediation of those apply ing for ad:nls'
sion could have been provided. Desa'l'd
estimates of the requirements of the
school tor the ensuing two years ar
given in the reports, and common iei 10
-FOUR attention.
The Board of Regents reports the sale
in bulk, of a large tract OF land in Mitchell
county, at the rate of $3.50 per acre. rhe
report of the State Auditor shows thas
the average assessed value of lands in
Mitchell county is 1922 per acre, and
this is probably not 10 exceed thirty or
forty per cent. of their true value. This
sale Of Normal School lands has provoked
considerable criticism in the public
press, and it may be we'll for the Lrgisla-
ture to make inquiries concerning it.
Nothing appears TO have been known,
by the public, of the contemplated sale,
until after it was contaminated, and this
fact has aroused suspicious which may
be unjust. But it should be the settled
policy of the State that no sale of similar
character be allowed until after due pub
lie notice, by advertisement. Publicity
is a sovereign preventive ofwrOng doing
in public affairs, and an ounce of it is
worth more than ton of discussion and
investigation after the wrong has been
committed Not an acre of land in
which the State has an interest should
be permitted to be sold without duo
public notice by advertisement.
THE PERMANENT SCHOOL FUND.
For many years past certain fraudu-
lent bonds purpOrtIng to have been
issued by the counties of Rice, Norton
and Comanche, and aggregatlng 1850,
have been counted as part of the Perma-
nent School Fund. The Constitution
provides that this fund "shall not be
diminished" and that the interest de,
rived therefrom shall be invariably APP
propriated to the support of the Common
Schools As the fraudulent bonds above
referred to produce no interest, their
purchase through the agency of the State
irtually diminished the Permanen
School Fund, and the State should make
good to the Fund the amount of these
bonds. The State Treasurer should also
be instructed to cancel these bonds, and
the Auditor directed to make the proper
records and credits upon the books of
his Office.
THE STATE SCHOOL LANDS.
No interest of Kansas has been SO
recklessly and improvidently managed
as the State School lands. On her adj
mission into the Union, Kansas received,
for the support of schools, fully three
million acres of public lands. Properly
held and guarded, the proceeds arising
from the sale of these lands would have
created permanent school fund suffi-
Gent in amount to meet almost the en-
tire expense of our common schools.
But more absurd system than that
provided by our laws for the control and
final disposal of school lands it would be
difficult to devise. Under its malign in
fuences the Permanent School Fund has
been deprived of probably one-half the
total amount that should have been, and,
under proper system, would have been
realized from the lands already sold.
Every Governor of the State during
the past eight years has directed the at
tention of the Legislature to this reck-
less and improvident system, and their
suggestions and recommendations touch
ing this subject have been supplemented
by the elaborate reports of several State
Auditors, Treasurers, and Superintend-
ents of Public instruction. But nothing
has been done to correct the defects and
abuses of the system, nor to protect the
magnificent school domain of the State
from despoliation.
The faults of the present system may
be briefly summed up: First, it puts the
control of the sale of school lands into
the hands of those who want to buy;