The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-12-06
RICHARDSON ON
THE LAND SALE
CONTINUED on Second Page.)

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quorum of the board of trustees was pres
emit
II insisted on that. 1 urged that the ex-
ecutiye committee Consisting of Mr..
Webb, Mr.. Pratt and myself, two of whom
were ABSENT, which by ordinance of tine
board had the charge and supervision OF
the lands-all of whom approved of the
system of leasing in preference to selling
Should be consulted or at least be present
before the order of sale was made. AT
this point Governor Johnston remarked
that Mr.. Webb favored the sale.-I ex-
pressed my surprise at this.
THAT the sale ought not to be made
because the university did not need and
could not use, under Inc act of congress
donating the lands, the proceeds of the SALE
With the annual appropriation made by the
state (Which feared the sale of the lands
would endanger and render doubtful in
the future), with other sources of income,
the university mad enough money to meet
all present demands and expenses. The act
of congress prescribing and limiting the
use of the proceeds of the sale of the lands
was read. I thought that a full board
should be present before we acted on the
matter. 1 offered a motion to postpone,
which 1 voted for, but the motion was de-
Heated. Before this motion to postpone
was voted on, some one Colonel Sanford,
I think asked Governor Johnston would
a postponement for a short time, in order
to get large attendance of the trustees,
jeopardize the sale. The governor said
he thought likely it would.
Voted Against Resolution
''Mr. Davis, as I now recall it, then in
troduced his resolution declaring a sale OF
| Tho lands to the Sloss-Sheffield company
and directing Governor Johnston to exc
| cute the deed. 1 voted against the resolu-
| ton, which was adopted. After the reso-
luton was adopted something was said
| to the effect that Governor Johnston had
| better consult with the absent trustees
| before he finally closed the sale. The gov
ernor said that he had no objection to do
| ing that, providing there was no danger
| OF missing the sale, or words to that eff
feet
mo proposition to lease any portion of
the lands sold had ever been communicated
| to me, or submitted to the executive COM
mittee when was present. Nor had ever
heard of any such until after the meeting
| of the I'D of September. AT no meeting of
the board OF trustees prior to the 22d of
september, when l was present has there
been discussion of the necessity or pro-
priety of selling any of the coal lands of
the university. The lease system has been
approvingly referred to whenever the mat
ter of the coal lands was mentioned.
made no pledge of secrecy to anyone after
the order of the sale was passed. No one
asked me to make such a pledge.
Attention Directed sale
my attention was directly called to the
sale on the 10th of November last. l was
then under the impression that the action
of the board of trustees was taken in ex-
ecutive session. On reflection, l became
satisfied that my impression was not cor
rect, but that the order of sale was in open
session. l do not wish to be understood
as claiming accurately to recall all that
was said and done that evening, or the or
der in which 1t was done. 1t is eminently
proper that should state that neither
saw or heard anything during the progress
of the meeting of the 22d of September that
caused me to suspect that anyone favoring
the sale had a personal interest in the
ssame.
my most earnest and continued OPPOSE
ton to the order of sale was based upon
the fact that I sincerely believed that tbs
best interest of our State university vas to
rigidly adhere to the lease system with roy
atty as a part thereof, which the BOARD of
trustees had adopted. 1 hsd no personal
knowledge of the value Of the lands pro-
posed to be sold. 1 accorded sincerity, in
tegrity of purpose and earnest desire to
do the best for the university to each and
every one that took part in that meeting.
If there be reasonable and fair grounds for
believing that the interests of the universe
ty have been subordinated to personal or
private gain by anyone acting for or con-
nected with the university, then a calm,
dispassionate, unprejudiced and thorough
examination should be made"