Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-03-06
A REGENTS LETTER.
A Regent Of the State University in
Defense Of the Management
Of that Institution.
The Two Year.0ld Texas House Of Learn
Ing Compared with cck.Ribbti
Harvard aud Yale,

article IN your Issue OF the Bird by your
Austin correspondent In reference 10
the state university. He certainly is
liberal In his abuse OF the university
and ils management. But he isa very
young man, and never having been in
university or college would not ordi.
nsrily be regarded as authority upop
the question Of the necessity or propri.
ETY. OF the expenses incurred In organ
izing q state university; or W hat ought
to be the salaries Of prof, ssors in a
iir't-class university: or even what
are the usual rates OF board at the VA.
iious institutions In the United States
or now tney compare with the costs of
living at Austin where the university
IL located by the people OF Texas. Yet
tntse were the questions earnestly and
thoroughly examined into by the
board before any action was taken. /
believe they acted for the best and that
their labor Is reasonably successful,
and since they have been SO bitterly
attacked trust spirit of fairness will
give the same prominence to my reply
as was given to the attack.
COST or LIVING.
Mhlle the law r,quires the regents to
establish and maintain "A first-olass
university gave them no power 10
erect domitOries or mess halls for the
students or even to build houses for
the professors as Is the cSso with most
Of the institutions Of learning In the
United States, and l may say of the
world. The regents have no power TO
fix the rate of board that must be
done ey the students themselves, vet
good board eau be obtained to-day
near the university building at SIC 90
per month, which is Us reasonable as
AZ any university or college except at
those where the club system ia adopt.
ed, which can be also adopted by our
students II desired, but OF course "A
student can always find better but
more expensive board If he desires.
SALARIES.
Salaries are regulated by the
amounts paid for like service In other
tlrst-class institutions and the relative
prices OF rents, servants hire and costs
of living. II we look to other institu-
tons we find that the university OF
California pays it's professors $S5 but
gives them comfortable houses Labor
is very cheap and costs of living much
cheaper than with us. This institu-
ton has passed through its troubles
arising from political interference and
now secure under regental rule pursuea
the even tenor OF It's way, Yet two
of Its most distinguished professors
would have accepted the call TO our
University IL Prof MRillett had not be.
come disheartened and left,
The University of Virginia, the
mother of statesmen, pays its profes
sors $500 and furnishes them homes
rent free, and we all know 1t costs bu
little TO live there,
Harvard pays its president $4,000 an,
furnishes him % home and pays IL
professors $4,000.
Columbia college of New York pay
It's president $4,000, i,s full professor
$1,000. The mathematical pr0fef sors &c
the interest on 500, 900 yearly.
Johns Hopkins college pays Its pres
ident $40, 900 and professors $4,000.
Yale college pays the same.
Stevens institute at Hohoken pay
its professors $4,000, Its president 5000
Ann Arbor pays its president $3.50
and furnishes home, and pays $500
to the professors.
Vanderbilt university, while IL only
gave $500 to the professors, gave then
beautiful homes surrounded by ever,
appliance for comfort and convenience
But these are all established schools
lasting as the hills; position in then
IL not only permanent support, bu
honor and fame. The Texas universe
ty was an experiment. The kind O
men II needed were rarely unem
ployed, and had te be sought after II
other institutions. 10 build up q first
class institution we needed lirst-clas
professors, and had to fix salaries tina
| would draw them. IL would bav
been useless 10 offer the pitiiul salar,
paid the governor, who Is tn
hardest-worked and poorest-paid OF
| ficer in the state, or even tn
allowance given our supreme Judges
which Is so meagre that they are neceE
ssrlly separated from wife and children
nine months in the year. and saerilic
their private interests while they wea
out stul aud body Ia the service Of tn
| people. Professors Maillet, Brown ant
! nun Duit1 ~ NCulu LIZ Nt IclclipJOali
declined our oiierif we had not slloweI
Communication for rent, and they wer
first selected.
The gentlemen came Ia our mids
under contract for permanen
engagements. and at q fixed sal
airy, made with regents veste'
by law with power TO contract
High as these salaries are said 10 b
they were found insufficient 10 kee
two of the highest paid, who resigned
ut the close of the first year. ID
Maillet went from here to the medlcs
college at Philadelphia at salary {
$1,000 and a splendid home and ha
since been called 10 the university {
London. His reputation was world
wide. Yet the most potent factor Il
causing his departure was the bite
hostility be saw cropping out agAins
the university. His Who'll
time was given to the un
versiiy, and to bin are we indebte
for the present arrangement OF profes
sora. The salaries as now paid were
in the main. suggested by him an
met with a hearty approval by tn
board after careful examination
the facts