The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-13
" WILL T. STEPHAN.

BY WILL T. STEPHAN.
 Tuscaloosa, Sept. i2.--(Special Corre- snondenee. )--In the years that immedi- ately followed the war the South was d conquered province But 10 intefess suffered the misfortune that the fate or the war reserved Tor the uhlVershs Alabama. Its site was charred heap of ashes and practically nothing re- mained to 1t but its traditions.
 It's students had fought upon score of battlefelds and their graves marked the path of the victorious req erals in their march. Those that re- mained were scattered to the TOUT winds and even if the walls of the Uni versity had still been standing their families in most instances would have been too poor to return them to the benificent influences of the University.
 The South itself was prostrate and uoyerty stricken. No educational sys- tenn, in the days before the war, what ever it may have lacked in accomplish tnents for the common schools. was celebrated for its devotion to higher education. But now the whole system was prostrate and there was none so poor as to do it reverence.
 There was no institution under Southern skies which had been so un- fortunate and which was so helpless as the University of Alabama. A vim dictive foe had wiped all that was ma terial of it from the face of the earth. But the cruelest blow had been dealt 1t by its own friends. Its funds, the proceeds of the sale of the rich lands which had been given 1t. had been woe fully "mismanaged." It is charitable to use the word "mismanagement" when the history of the University's finances are considered. The friends of the University have no hesitancy in laying the blame for the losses and financial mismanagemeRt of the Uni- sversity funds upon the Alabama Legts- lature. The course of the ante-bellum Legislature upon the question of the University finances was once publicly denounced by one of its friends as an ''ungodly robbery"
 The State Bank.
 Unquestionably when the bloody rec ord of reconstruction is eliminated the darkest chapter in the States history is the chapter which treats of the Ala bama State Bank. A misguided Ala bama Legislature not content with passing a compromise law for the debt ors, who had purchased the University lands and which was described by the friends of the University as legal repu- diation, enacted law which entwined the interests of the University with the interests of the venal and corrupt
 
 undermined structure fell the chief suf ferer was the University of Alabama.
 In time, beore the wrong was right ed, the upward path of the University was beset with difficulties. Today even the University is hampered in the lack of sufficient room for the students. The present attendance taxes the capacity of the University, Some of the rooms In the barracks will be made to fur nish accommodations for three or four students during the coming winter. They are crowded as they have never been crowded before, a condition that made it necessary for President Aber- crombie to direct that all law and all special students should board up town. The further growth of the attend anee at tho University is assured. And when the increase amounts to another 25 or 30 per cent a serious problem will have arisen. Conditions will then de- mand either the limiting of the Uni versity attendance or the widening of its accommodations,
 In round figures the annual income of the University is in the neighbor- | hood of S50,000. The bulk of this. or l $36, ,000. is assured by the Constitution of the State. This constitutional as- surance forms the most certain part of | the University's annual income. The | fight of four years ago when the pro vision was put in the Constitution Is well remembered. It was led by the lamented Tennent Lomax. q devoted and loyal supporter of his alma mater The way in which his hands were held | up by other University men was H. illustrative of the splendid loyalty that has so characterized the alumni of the institution. +: "@3se
 The remainder of the University's annual income Is made up by the stu l zn,,s ,sat f,ta Ac ha ig ha TAntd in by the students for term tuition.
 Low Cost to Students.
 The records of last year show that the University had upwards of 300 stu dents. The University therefore car ried each student through the year on $15O.
 The figures are convincing that the University expends per student an amount that is perhaps smaller than | is spent by any Southern college.
 The figures are deserving just here | of some weighty and thoughtful con sideration. The cry for State insti- tuition by the people generally Is for more numbers. Numbers Is the popu- liar conception of the success of a col II lege or a University. The importance | of numbers is given due consideration | in all colleges, but the best collegiate thought does not make 1t the sole cri- terion of success, | The importance of number Is recog- nized at the University at it's full weight. The pride in the increased at tendance, the unremitted. but dignified attempts to still further increase the Eattendance Is sufficient proof of this. But the tune is not far distant when the numbers shall have so increased that both the college buildings and the college income must be increased.
 A study, a close study, of the eco nomicaI phases of college life through out the Southern States has been made These investigations have had various results. It has not only shown that the amount of income required tor one student Is remarkably low at the Uni- lversity, but 1t is shown that according to all available figures the support oi 800 students upon an annual Income oi $5O,OO0 Is far below the average and is all that can be expected
 And these same investigations show that the collegiate attendance Is near lily always in proportion to the cole giate income.
 There comes now the consideration lof the expenses of a student at the Uni verslty. A double distinction is claim ed for the University, first. that 1t ii one of the cheapest colleges in tn, South, and, second, that its curriculum Is perhaps as high as that of any South
 ern college and higher than that O lany Alabama college.
 The various college fees and tn,