The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1897-08-21
The STATE PRESS.
Comments on the University
The Selections OF the Regents General
iy Commended.

The appointment of Hon. James
III. Stewart as Director of the Exper-
iment Station, at Morgantown, is a
most commendable one and the Adj
vertiser at once congratulates the
Board of Regents upon its choice
and Mr.. Stewart because he was its
choice.-Huntington Advertiser.
The quarrel over the Experiment
Station at the University has been
solved by the election of ex-state
senator James H. Stewart, of Put
nam county, to be director. The
choice is regarded as fitting one
Parkersburg Sentinel.
Senator Stewart, the new Director,
is native of West Virginia, is a
graduate of the University and is an
intelligent and progressive and a
successful business man. He owns
large estate on the Kanawha river
and manages it with eminent sue
cess. He comes to the Station thor
oughly posted upon all matters rela-
tive to the farm and farm life. He
is most genial gentleman and can
easily be approached by any of our
farmer friends.-Inder.
The Rev. DIR. Riker's friends in
this city are disappointed over his
defeat for the presidency of the uni
versity. They were confident that
the doctor, with the administration,
would win, and it is the collapse of
the high hopes that makes the mat
ter harder to bear. 1t seems to be
the opinion that cog has slipped
somewhere. Gov. Atkinson a few
weeks ago declared emphatically for
DIR. Riker for president and most
people considered that with the en-
dorsements, he had the best chances
tof any of the aspirants. 1t would
seem that the governor cannot con
troll the regents as many supposed
he could, since they went directly
contrary to his wishes in selecting
DR.. Raymond. The governor is I'M
fortunate.-Inteliigencer.
Ex-senator James H. Stewart. of
Putnam county, who has been chos-
en- as the head of the agricultural
station, is well known here and has
host of friends. He served with
signal ability in the senate and was
one of the Democratic leaders in the
sessions of 1898 and 1895. He is a
practical farmer and well educated
man. In the last campaign he was
a Bryanite and his election would
seem to show the absence of par
tisanship in the board of regents
| Charleston Cor. Ne,os.
After careful investigation which
| it is to be presumed covered the
whole field of available men, the
board of regents of the university
has chosen president, of whom
much is promised, and necessarily
much will be expected. The News
is not familiar with the record of the
new president, but it is especially
gratified that the board has seen fit
to choose a trained educator and
scholar, instead of q makeshift. 1t
seems to be the opinion of a great
many people that any broken down
minister, lawyer or hack is good
enough for the presidency of great
school. The board of regents of the
state university has more than once
acted on that principle. This time
a change has been made. A man
who has devoted his best years to
school work has been chosen, and
the News believes that the results
will show the wisdom of the choice.
Wheeling NeacS.
The selection of Jerome H. RAY
mond, of Wisconsin, as President of
the West Virginia University, is
good one. While he is not well known
in this State, he is known to be an
exceptionally able educator and he
was the unanimous choice of the
Board of Regents.
Let us trust that President Raw.
mond will be able to steer clear of
the shoals upon which every other
President Of the University has run
sooner or later. 1t is prevalent
fault of the system of managing the
State institutions in this State that
the heads of these concerns are left
practically with no executive au-
thority, which is invested in boards
of control-in the University it is
the Board of Regents. This Board
only occasionally visits the Univer-
sity. Meanwhile the President is
powerless against INSTRUMENTATION
among the professors, especially if
they happen to have a political pull
for they know that he is without vest
ed executive authority and that they
are on an equal footing with him be-
fore the Regents, who naturally must
know little Of the practical workings
of the institution.
1t is an old trouble to which the
Register has called attention fire.
quently in the past as occasion has
arrived, and one which we hope to
see remedied for the sake of this ex-
cellent institution Even Thomas
Jefferson's plan of governing the I'm
iversity of Virginia, which has no
President, all power, except to APP
propriate money, being vested in the
faculty itself, is better than the pres
ent arrangement in this State.
We trust that President Raymond
will not be called upon to meet, or
will succeed in overcoming, the OBJ
stacles that have been presented to
every President of the Morgantown
institution, which has thrived, how
ever, in spite of this defect in it's
management. 1t is one of the best
institutions of learning in the coun-
try to-day, and properly managed by
a capable, energetic President with |
proper executive powers, can be
made second to none in point of eff |
Wheeling Register.
While the Board did some things
the Index would not have done had |
it been managing affairs, still we see
very little that should be critised. if
the gentlemen who discharge
a public duty honestly and to the
best of their ability, shos.ld ever be
We are pleased to note
that partisan motives did not control
the action of the Board to any ex-
tent, if at all, for which the Board is
to be congratulated. 1t was thought
when this ROard hold its fret Ynoat