The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1897-07-23
OREGON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.
Richly Endowed and Best Equipped of Oregons
Educational Institutions
A nfcn
Growhnd ewad9klO orumtyh it offers M Women
Cbama Practical and Ush Education

of the parties, transferred to Multnomah
county, and was tried before Hon. E. D.
iShattuck After voluminous testimony
was taken, the Court, considering the
law and the facts, decided against the
State and in favor of the church. The
case was again appealed to the Supreme
Court by the State Trustees, and, on
October 5th, 1892, the Supreme Court
reversed Judge Shattuck's decision and
upheld the deed which had been made
by the church trustees to the State Trus-
tees. This case upheld the dissenting
opinion of Judge Lord in the former
case, and held that the Corvallis Col
lege Corporation could hold this prop
erty independent of the church.
1t had been contended by the plain
tiffs that the action of the Board of
Trustees in authorizing the deed to be
made to the State was invalid, be-
cause the session of the Board was held
without notice to all of the members of
the Board. One of the members lived
east of the mountains, and at the time
the meeting was held it was impossible
to notify him on account of the snow
in the mountains, but the Supreme
Court held that the deed was valid be-
cause the action of the Board had been
afterward ratified in June of that year,
by full meeting of the Board, and,
further, because their action was only
ministerial duty, which they were re-
quired to perform by the direction OF
the church authorities, as indicated at
the conference at Dayton in 1884.
That decree ended the litigation, and
established the right. of the State of Ore
gon to conduct its own Agricultural
College. This is merely an outline OF
the history. The litigation caused great
public concern, not only in Benton
county, but in the State. The question
was much discussed in the newspapers
and in legal circles.
Many OF our citizens will remember
the long and difficult struggle to raise
sufficient money to build college, in
order to insure the location of it al
Corvallis Many meetings were held
Icommittees were appointed, and sub
scriptions were solicited all over Ben
ton county. The writer well 1emem-
bers that at a meeting held at the Court
house the reports of the committees
soliciting subscriptions, that every dol
lar had been subscribed that it was pos
sible to get, and it seemed then as if the
| College was lost to Corvallis. At that
| juncture, Mr.. Wallace Baldwin, then a
citizen of Corvallis, arose and stated
that it would not do to give UP the
fight; that the money must be raised,
and, after few words of encourage
ment, others followed in the same line,
and the solicitors were again sent out
and the subscription was success.
The writer OF this has not thought it
proper to mention the names of citizens
who were prominent in these matters,
lest by omitting some it might be
deemed an invidious omission. 1t will
not be deemed, however, improper to
say that the leading spirit in the College
matters at home here in Corvallis and In
the Legislature, of which he was {
member, was Hon. Thomas E. eau
thorn, now deceased. No history of the
College can be complete without his
name. During the controversy and al
Iterwards in the Senate, his energy ane
i influence secured the State recognition
and support, which has placed the Col
llege upon a firm foundation and Sc
cured for it public favor.
The influence of this institution upol
this city is great; not only in pc
: cuniary sense is it an advantage, bu
{, the moral and intellectual atmospher
of the institution spreads and envelope
were made, and the subscriptions wer
several thousand dollars short of tn
amount required, and it was then state
by one of the persons who had bee
the people. Modern progress more tina
ever depends upon Improvement IN ae
ricultura1 processes and in the mechanl
arts. This feature of this Colleg
therefore, makes it perhaps more IN
portant to the future development OF tn
state than any other institution of learr
ing.
The principle also established by tt
decision of the Supreme Court is III
portant, and will be importa1
as long as time shall last. tt
complete separation of the church ar
State is leading principle in tt
American Government. Notwithstan'
ing this principle, however, for mar
years leading institution of the Sta
was controlled and its policy dictated
lie an ecclesiastical organization. Not on
,e that; but this organization was itself d
n rected from its headquarters in di
l. tant State This principle was wron
" and none the less so because the men
lie bers of the church were good peop
and because the conduct of the &c
Of 1ege was, in the main, able and e.
4 Ii. IL. a.