Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-02-08

my vote to vote for S25 900 IA year for 10
years, because think that when my sue
cessor comes here the conditions of that
college may possibly be changed They
may require more or they may require
less, so that in that respect / think it Is
entirely wrong to bring in bill or a
resolve asking this House to appropriate
for term of 10 years for any amount,
whether it be $4,000 or S25, COO.
In looking u little further / find that
the cost of instruction down there is quite
heavy According to the presidents re-
port you will see that they have u faculty
of % for the past year and 1871 scholars,
which is about one to every seven scholars.
Now that is pretty costly teaching of
agriculture and the mechanic arts, and
that is what the college was intended for.
1t seems to me that If they would dispense
with little of the faculty and pay n
little more attention to the college, IL
would not require so much money. When
you come to. compare that with the nor
NAL schools of our state, you viii find
that they have an average of about one
to 20, and think that the scholars that
| have graduated from the normal schools
are fully as competent To go out in the
world to earn their living as those that
| graduate from the State college. Now
| can remember few years back, and |
! happened TO be q member of this House
and also the other House, that we Were
asked to appropriate for this college ana
| the members of the committee and their
| friends were invited down there as / was
at this time We were met there by the
citizens of OronS. They took great interest
/ in that college, 10 years ago They met
US at the station and showed us all the
points OF interest about the grounds and
| the buildings When the matter came
up for an appropriation for that college,
1 the citizens of Orono, or a portion of
| them, came here before the committee
aud stated the wants and needs of that
college But how is it today: When
that committee and the members of the
legislature arrived there, not single
citizen in the town OF Ororo came TO
meet the members of this House, and not
one of them came to see them or explain
| the wants and needs of this college.
When the hearing was before the commit
tee not single citizen came here to ask
for an appropriation, and why? | don't
wish to cast any reflection on tho college,
but / wish to say that from what informa-
ton / have received and from what letters
| have received, that the citizens of Orono
are not crying for any appropriation for
that college 1t would seem to me that
| If the institution can stand upon its own
merits it would not require the faculty
of this college or large portion of them,
to come to this Legislature and stand
around here and button-hole every mem
Der for the sake of getting an appropria-
ton If the college is worthy, no doubt
the members of this House will grant an
appropriation, but it seems to me entirely
wrong for us to go to work and appro-
pirate the large sum of money that is
asked for this institution under the present
circumstances.
Mr. Gilbert of Greene said that rs a
member of the committee he would say
that the committee made their report in
the first place to the House. The report
was recommited with explicit instruc-
tons to present the needs of the institu-
ton in the form of resolve covering u
term of 10 years, and the committee con-
sidered itself bound to be governed by
it. The committee rcconsidered the mat
ter and unanimously reported the resolve
that is before you today, accompanied by
n statement of facts. This institution
was established by grant from the
United States government, and in that
grant there was specification that moth
! ing whatever of the annuity should be ex
pended in the construction or maintenance
of buildings but should be spent for in
struction purposes exclusively. The in
come of the Coburn bequest, $4,000, may
be used at the discretion of the trustees
The necessary expenses of the school,
necessary for the success and continuance
of the school, must come from the State
The State has been to liberal expenditure
to establish the facilities necessary for
carrying on course Of college instruction
in the industrial line there at that institu
ton In order for that expenditure to
yield its returns, we must add to it from
time to time the necessary amount to
make that institution available. The
committee have with the minutest care
gone over all the items of necessary ex-
penditure, and the summary is found in
the statement of facts before you.
Mr.. Gilbert explained the larger items
in the statement of facts and added that
the committee had averaged it for the 0
years. and that the best possible figure
they could make out of the problem was
knocked off the 1882 and made it an,
even s25 900, and reported it accordingly
The remarks of the gentleman from
Canton (aIr. Gilbert) cast some suspicion
on the MATTER of excessive instruction at
that institution. Remember that we
have ignored the experiment station in
these estimates because the experiment
station is supported entirely by the gov
ernment. We are talking about the col
lcge proper. The college has given it the
full time of Is instructors. There are on
the list of instructors more individuals
than that, but large majority of their
time is devoted to other purposes and in
other directions So averaging for the
full time of those teachers it gives us IS
at Orono for 207 students, and in six
courses. Bowdoin college has II profess
sors for 30 students Colby has Is in
strnctors, and only one course of instrsic-
tion. There is no institution in New
England OF the kind where its faculty is
worked so hard aud confined so closely to
their duties as is the case at Orono. mol