The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-12-16
HOW THE UNIVERSITIES RICH HERITAGE
 WAS SQUANDERED BY STATE MOTHER Showing That the Proposed Appropriation the Legislature Would Be Nothing But Partial
 and Enormous Debt the Vrfabe SepMoher

other expenses incident to organiza ton.
 This amount. together with the sum in- vested in the state bank, comprised the unversty's entire assets, total of SS99-
 162. .36.
 At this time. 1884, the university em-
 ployed B. F. Porter, an experienced law
 yer and accountant of Tuscaloosa, 10
 make an exhaustive audit of the univers- tvs books and accounts. Two years
 later he made the following statement:
 Amount reported collected on
 land sales ........................S .S327 ,Sbo .2i
 Amount of debts due as principal
 and interest ...................4... 22,94o. i9 Amount of loss from relief laws, forfeiture resales. leases, etc., as can best be estimated. ...... 14.051 .2i Total $49o, ,O0l Fl
 It was in 1S43. chiefly through the in- strumentality of Dr. Frederick A. P. Barnard, at that time a professor at the university, and afterwards the famous president of Columbia college, New York, that the legislative committee urged the passing of the bill calling for a settle- ment. This committee prefaced it's re- commendation by stating: '1nasmuch as the state has so badly mismanaged the
 university endowment" This recommen-
 dation obtained the passage of the act
 calling for settlement, but this settlement WdS nOl llidue uutlf live years idlel, do
 stated above, when the act of "ungodly
 robbery" was perpetrated
 State Appropriations
 In 1859, in anticipation of the great civil war, the state made of the university
 military school, and in compensation
 increased the endowment to s300. .o00-s1S, 900 annual income.
 That chapter of the university's history in which the excellence of it's soldiers inspired the hatred of the north, with a result that it was eventually destroyed by United States troops, is well known. The destruction of the university was accomplished April 4, 1865, and the famous rotunda with a library of 25,000 volumes,
 four dormitores and other property was
 burned. The loss is estimated at $300,0 In. November 1865, the state made to the university loan of s30.000 with which ! tc begin rebuilding This loan was after wards made donation, it being the first bona fide appropriation that the state had ever made. With this money. and with other obtained from private citi- zens. Woods Hall was finally erected. and the university resumed operations in 1871.
 In 1sS3 the universltys one hall was so fearfully crowded that the state was induced to make a second appropriation of S6o0D0. With this amount, Manly and Clark Halls were erected. The second land grant from the government was made in 1884, in which year the United States recognized the wanton destruction of the university by it's army twenty years before. and granted 46,070 acres of mineral land in Alabama This grant was made with the objects that tho destroyed
 buildings might be reconstructed. and a provision was made that in case there
 was surplus, this should go to ncreas- ing the endowment of the college. In
 1885. the trustees sold 14.296 acres of this
 land for sl96. 716. 46 This amount was ex-
 pended in the erection of Garland Hall.
 the chemical laboratory. the combined
 physical laboratory and gymnasium,
 eight houses for the professors, laun-
 dry electric lights and water works
 plant. After this it was a biennial strug-
 gle to get appropriations sufficient to run
 the university. Since 1886, not another
 building has been erected
 In 1901. through the constitutional con-