The Columbus commercial. (Columbus, Miss.) 1893-1922, 1908-01-21
Setting Forth Facts Lead.
ing Up To Late lln-
DIeaSantnGSS at 4,
and M. College.
To the people of Mississippi ::

To the people of Mississippi
| deem it my duty, in addition
to sending a circular letter to
each patron of the College, to
give the public, who are almost
equally interested in tn welfare
of this great institution, the
facts as | see them leading up to
the late unpleasantness.
Nearly all newspaper reports
have indicated that there was a
misconception of the nature of
the real issue. The waters have
been greatly muddied. There
never has been any conflict be-
tween the President of the Col
lege and the Senior Glass, nor
between the President Of the
G. 3lege and the great student
>dy. The Senior Glass and stu
Ce4 body, not seeing the under
Tents that were perfectly Wis
! II to the President, had
ri interpreted his motives. and
therefore he never blamed the
Senior Glass nor the student
bQ v for the position they as
sumed relative to his action in
having Mr.. Blanton to withdraw.
And, while every student, from
the highest to the lowest, was in
an unlawful combination contra
ry to the College regulations,
which prohibit combinations for
redress of grievances, the Pres
ident did not undertake to pun
ish anv one for such comtina-
tiOns. nor will he.
The following is a brief synop-
sis Of the whole matter:
On the afternoon of December
18th, there was presented to the
President by a Committee of the
Senior Glass a set Of resolutions
calling his attention to the con-
djtiOns of the old Mess Hall.
The resolutions were presented
by Cadet 1t. Col. S. c. Ward
Major J. M. Rigby and Capt. z.
r, Blanton. The President told
them that they could not con-
dern the old Mess Hall in more
severe terms than he had cor
demned it in his report to the
Board or Trustees, which result
ed in the transferring of the
funds that were intended for
new Oh mical Laboratory to a
new Mess Hall, which will be
ready for occupancy now within
q very few weeks. He told them
dat he had already employed a
new cook at a salary of nearly
one hundred dollars a month,
who would be here on December
2Sth, (and the cook came at that
date.l He told them that the
Ste ward, of whom the resolu-
tions complained very bitterly,
was of their own selection, that
the Board of Trustees had elect
ed him because of their unani-
nous petition, and that they
had approved him twice within
the last year; first, when the
Board met on Dec. 3, 1906, i'm
mediately after Mr. Galloway S
death. to elect a Steward, and
again at the close or last session,
w ich Was less than three Schol-
astic months previous to this
very time, that only one student
had ever complained to him of
the inefficiency of the Steward,
and that the President had men,
toned the subject to this student,
Maj. ] NJ Rigby. before his
opinion was expressed. The
President told him that he had
come to tfe conclusion that the
Steward was lacking in execu-
tive ability and that he had al
ready informed the Steward ano
the Board, and that he was or
the lookout for a capable man.
and that such a one would bt
employed as soon as he conld bs
located.
The President told them tha
the Board OF Trustees and him
self, together with Prof Ard
were doing all in their power t