The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-31
PLAN IS ENDORSED
TRUSTEES ADOPT THE GREATER UNIVERSITY IDEA.
President Abercrombie Says Instttufion is Doing all the Work Possible ;.
 Under Present Appropriation and Must Expand.


 University, May s0.--(Special) )--The trustees of the University of Ala bama today formally endorsed the movement for a greater University. They will back the movement and they will throw the weight or what influence they possess towards the fruition of those plans which have been pitched for the greatness of the University's future. So much they decided at the annual meeting held In Garland Hall this afternoon and to- night The trustees were face to race with a grave condition
 They knew and if they did not know 1 the report of President J. NJ. Aoer- crombie informed them that the limit of the University accommodations and equipment had been reached. Tne
 been greater than In any previous year in the history of the institution. No more students could be accommoda- | ted than were accommodate last year If the University was to grow. its fa- cilities and accommodations must pc increased. This much President Aber-
 crombie emphasized in the annual re- port he submitted to the trustees. committee from the alumni. com nosed of President Hill Ferguson. Dr. E. A. Smith and Robert Jemison ap- peared before the trustees. With them they brought the splendid plans and perspectives for the greater Univer- sity which had been prepared by the famous New York landscape arcni-
 tect and which had been received with
 such enthusiasm by the alumni The
 trustees were no less in favor of this
 greater University than were the mem
 bers of the society of the almuni.
 The energies of the one will be uni
 ted with the energies of the other m
 bringing 1t about. By resolution the
 chairman of the board of trustees was
 authorized to bring the question 10
 the attention of the next Legislature
 This committee will cooperate with
 similar committee from the aiumn-
 The report of President Abercrombie showed that the condition which sur rounded the University was one wnicn demanded attention and action: It was demonstrated in President Abercrom- bie's report that the institution was
 not handsomely endowed as was gen
 eralIy supposed in some quarters, belief which has caused the University
 no little embarrassment.
 Instead of being handsomely endow-
 ed and financially independent, the
 University was In pressing neeo er
 sistance. It was shown. too. that this
 need had been so pressing that no
 buildings had been erected at the uni versity in the past twenty years. not
 withstanding It's great growth. In ms report Dr. Abercrombie said: With a material equipment at Tuscaloosa adeauate for about 200 students the registration for the year has been over 800. the largest in the history of the Institution Into dormitories having only sixty-nine rooms we have been compelled to crowd more than 200 stu dents. I assert and without fear of successful contradiction that no insti- tuition of like grade is doing more with the funds provided"
 In proof of this pr. Abercrombie quoted figures relating to fifteen uni- versailles established in various States of the Union, Northern, Western and Eastern States, showing that the in come per student was smaller at the I University of Alabama than at any one of the fifteen universities.
 The income per student at the Uni- | versity of Alabama amounted to only | S15S per student, a sum much smaller | than at any of the others. The report
 asked "does the State want to double
 the attendance at the University, then. if so, let the State double its in
 come." Dr. Abercrombie pointed out
 that some of the other State institutions
 had had their income increased in the | past twenty years more than 300 per
 cent The appropriation for the com | mon schools In recent years had been | increased 130 per cent
 President Abercrombie did not re- | flute those increases; he indorsed them,
 and quoted them to show that the Uni
 versity was not handsomely endowed | as 1t was believed in some quarters He declared thata a more generous
 support of the university was abso-
 lutely necessary to It's future useful
 ness. That it had not come he be- | lieved was due to the fact that the
 alumni had not been as we'll organized
 or as energetic as they should have
 been.
 ! This condition he was glad to note was happily past. The alumni were | better organized than they had ever l been before and the President paid a high tribute to the zeal and energy of l President Hill Ferguson.
 l At this the great celebration of the l seventy-ffth anniversary of the found- | ing of the university the university | faculty and the members of the board | of trustees saw fit to confer a num- | Der of honorary degrees of doctors of laws upon several distinguished 1 citizens of Alabama. several well l known educatoors and several of the l famous visitors who had come to the celebration exercises.
 At the brief meeting held early this | morning the trustees passed upon and | granted these honorary degrees. They | were especially considerate of the press | of Alabama recognizing the splendid
 assistance the press of the State had
 rendered in the present great educa- | tional movement in Alabama. s 1 In the comforting of the honorary l degrees today the editors of three of 1 the great daily newspapers were re- membered and honored. Editor W. W. Screws of The Montgomery Adverti- ser. Editor Rufus N. Rhodes of the | Birmingham News, and Editor Erwin | Craighead of The Mobile Register. The report of the committee on the conferring of degrees included the l name of Governor W. D. Jelks. but Governor Jelks appreciating 1t at Its | fullest the compliment firmly declined ] the honor. He was moved by his idea | of propriety to decline the honor be- 1 cause he was the presiding officer of | the board which conferred the degrees
 Upon his insistence for this reason his
 name was left off the list honors con-
 Those upon whom the honorary de l ferred by the university at its , celebration of its seventy-flf
 anniversary. Those upon whom
 the honorary degrees of Doc
 Doctors of Laws were conferred as
 follows: Isacc W. Hill. W. c. Richard son. James T. Murfte. Thomas W. Pal rer. T. c. McCorvey. Eugene A. Smith. w. w. Screws. w. s. Thoringtin, John T. Morgan, Erwin Craighead, Rufus N.
 Rhodes, Thomas c. Bush. Charles A
 Kent. J H Penniman, T. w. Page. J.