The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-05-17
A WORD FROM KINGSTON.

| OF hluSstOn, WTllteD III DcndlI Oh tue
Kingston Agricultural school, from a
point of view opposed 10 that of this
newspaper, which has also published Il
considerable amount of material written
in behalf of the institution.
We regret that we were unable 10
print it in an issue prior to the action of
the House Of Representatives on the
| appropriation bill, which is the special
order for to-day. Mr.. HELME's letter
reached our Office at about 2 o'clock
yesterday afternoon, the envelope being
| postmarked at the Providence post
Office at p. IN. The hour of mailing
| from Kingston we could not make
out Oh the postmark. We should have
been very willing that the letter could
have excited any influence possible or
necessary on the action of the House of
Representatives which, before these
lines are read, We suppose will have
been taken.
We are disappointed in Mr.. HELME's
letter. We hardly think it does his
case or himself justice. We have no
doubt there are pretty good arguments
for running the school in its present
location and some explanation as to why
it has not been conducted more success
fully. There seem to have been good
enough ones to convince the
Senate and the House finance
committee, and, maybe, by this time
the House itself, that it is not required
of the General Assembly to look into
the affairs Of the school. But Mr..
HELME only gives us the merest insight
into what these arguments may be like,
and, instead of more, picks out what may
be minor errors in the statements of
this newspaper, and more than intimates
that the policy of TEE NEWS on the sub
ject has been dictated by somebody or
other outside THE NEWS cffice. We
plead guilty to the charge of Mr.. HELME
that in covering the matter we have
| given some attention TO minor
details, such as cracked walls and
a consideration Of railroad schedules. We
have aimed to cover the ground exhaust
lively and had proposed to leave no stone
unturned that bore upon the matter of
the management OF the Kingston School
and its conducting as affected by its
location; and some of these minor details,
while of small Importance of themselves.
made possible an impression of methods
in vogue, or cumulatively bore on the
general argument. We disclaim any
charge of unfairness in this, or of at
tempting to make much out of little,
and If by reason of the mass of material
made use of our main purpose has been
dimmed, we do not believe it has been
entirely obscured. Mr.. HELME states
that the friends of the school, j. e., those
who are friendly to the methods
pursued at the school and to maintaining
the institution where now located, have
been embarrassed for an answer "be-
cause of their inability to find out what
there was to be answered" but we think
most of our readers have understood that
everything we have said pointed directly
or indirectly to but one conclusion,
i.e.: that the State Agricultural
School has not been and can never be a
success so long as it is located on top of
Kingston Hill. Incidentally we have
also taken exceptions to some of the
methods of management.
Now, we can say to Mr.. HELME that
the trouble did not arise "from the de-
struction of the first building by fire."
That casualty simply seemed to offer an
opportunity to remedy with small ex-
pense trouble that has existed since |
the school was established on Kingston
Hill. If it had not been for the fire, we |
might not have tuken occasion to make |
"A study of that trouble" at this time,
but we are confident that at future
time we should have been
prompted to it because we be-
lieve the "trouble" would have grown
more troublous as the years went by, AS
we think it will be perpetuated so long
as the institution is maintained in its
present location.
We will make no issue with Mr..
HELME on the matter of his historical
sketch of how the Kingston Hill location
came to be chosen. We recall all the
of the controversy, and
have since been convinced that great
many good persons. who advocated the
location then, would favor change
today if the Assembly would give them
hearing, and we believe that good
deal of the favorable influence at the
time was of artificial manufacture. In
other words, power was brought to bear
because certain influences, like the
oranges, for instance, were worked"
in favorable direction by the
astute and energetic leaders of the
Kingston Hill boom. But we do not
care to so into this subject at all or to
make any reflections ON tba ,na,bo1. |