The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-17

have recently received letter from Dr. Wyman, the President of the Uni versity, in which he reviews the income of the different colleges which are de- pendent upon land grants by Congress and he states in that letter, and the figures show 1t. and ask leave to have it read and printed as part of my remarks, that the State of Alabama stands at the very foot, or almost at the very foot, of the list in reference to her great institution of learning. Now, Mir President, that ought not to be so. I have not voted against any appropriation for the common schools. If know my own heart, I would be willing to grant millions to the com mon schools, If We had it to grant.
 I don't believe that this State ought to take one backward step in It's ap- propriation for the benefie of it's Con- federate soldiers. They ought to be maintained in comfort, aye, in luxury. until they join the grand army up wonder where Lee is now in command. But I appeal to this Convention to look to higher things. You need cap stone to your educational system; you need a great institution where men can go and qualify themselves to oc- cupy any position in the world. Great educators have said to me in the re- cent past that there Is one need of the South; that need is great Central University, like Harvard and Yale and Princeton and the University of Chi cago. They have said to me, in addt- tion to that that the University of founding of such an institution but can you hope to found it; can you hope to lay even the bed rock of such an institution when. year after year, and day after day, the University Is put to the necessity of coming to the Leg islature and begging for the very stan of life? You cannot do 1t. The Uni versity is and should be the great cen- tral sun around which revolve the educational and intellectual life of the State and I appeal to this Convention, not simply because 1 am Trustee or that institution, but besause I am an alumnus of it. The best influences that have ever come in my life, save those that came from my home, are those which came to me from her classic halls. I have done all that l could in the years that are gone for her prosper ity and her advancement and her pow CT, and I propose to do all that I can in the future years that are left to me to make her an institution that shall reflect credit upon the State Of my birth and of my love. l ask this Con vention for this small pittance. It does not amount to much It will not take dollar from the common schools. It won't take a cent from the Confeder- ate veterans. It won't account to row of pins in the payment Of the States debt, but it makes the UniVer- sity safe and sound, and If you do 1t, gentlemen of the Conventions; If you put her upon high ground, where poll tics can not enter, and where the sole purpose will be her advancement and her progress. she will rally to her ald her sons from the Tennessee Valley and the Gulf. and they will do the rest.
 I ask the reading cerk to read this letter from Dr. Wyman already re- ferred to in my remarks.
 Mir. Wilson (Clarke) took the chair.
 The letter was read as follows:
 University. Ala, Aug. F, 1901. Hon. Tennent Lomax. Montgomery
 Ala:
 Dear MT. Lomax-I send you en- closed some statistics compiled from the World Almanac" for 1901, show ing n) the amount of productive funds of all the land grant colleges in the United States (that is, endowment from sale of lands granted by Con gress); CD the amount of annual in- come of the same from all sources, in- cluding interest on endowment, appro- priations by the Legislatures and by Congress, special taxes. tuition fees; etc. In many of the Western States, there is a special tax levied on all personal and real property for the bene- fit of the State University. The very large Income of the Universities of the following States. viz. Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, and some others is derived from d very small special tax levied on all the real and personal property in the State for the benefit of the State University. In some there are perhaps regular appro- prlations by the Legislature also.
 I send you these statistics, not with the hope or expectation that any taxa tion of this sort can be incorporated in our new Constitution. but only to show what royal benefactions these Univer- sities receive from the people through their Legislature, by comparing them with the small sum that you are ask ing for from the people for the Uni versity of Alabama; also to show, by comparison. what small annual in- come We have.
 In point of fact so far as State lib- eraIity is concerned, we are at the foot