The Democratic advocate., 1908-03-06
WESTERN MARYLAND COLLEGE.
President Lewis Answers Critic and
Gives Interesting Information.
70 the Editor of the Advocate.

Sentinel. | have sent tne lOliOWlHS
statement to that paper for publica-
ton, and although | have no clam
upon your columns for this article,
l venture to ask that you Will aiso
print it in order that the Information
it contains may be as widely spread
as possible l have been working all
these years under the impression tnat
I was in some slight way contr1but-
ing to the forward movement OF our
county. | hoped that l was enjoying
the sympathy and confidence OF the
community in this work. The inst1-
tuition that / am president of is not
dividing profits among a number or
stockholders, but it is nevertheless
I am fond to believe, great invest
ment for Carroll county, and mas
been paying large dividends of the
hest sort | think the writer of the
Sentinel, styling himself 81. T. c.
is totally misinformed or uniformed
of our work, else he surely could not
show such a lack of sympathy for 1t.
1. All the money received by
Western Maryland College from the
State of Maryland has been account
ed for in annual reports to the Comp
troller of the State Treasury, and any
person may at any time get full in
formation of the amounts and the
purposes for which they have been
expended simply by applying to the
Comptroller.
2. The State of Maryland has
never contributed large sums OF
money, nor any sum of money to"the
support of Western Maryland Col
lege." The history of the appropria-
tions we have received is as follows:
In 1878 our representatives asked the
Legislature that the free scholarships
already provided for should be so
divided that instead of being all To-
Gated at one college, Western Mary
land College might have share of
them The policy of establishing free
scholarships was not adopted at our
request, nor to help our college. But
we thought it fair that college sltu-
ated as ours, in a large and populous
district, should share in whatever
benefit the State was bestowing on
higher education. In this contention
we thought we were benefitihg our
section of the State as well as our
college. From that time our col
lege has never received any money
from the State except the money paid
for the education of students sent
here by the State. We do not think
this is contributing money to the sup
port of the college in any other sense
than our other patrons contribute
who send us students, because in all
cases we are giving an honest and
fair equivalent in return.
8. But even this amount of money
the Legislature has not required the
taxpayers to contribute. A man who
signs himself, "In behalf of the peo-
Pile" ought to know that the whole
State tax in Maryland is devoted to
the public schools. So that the col
lege has not profited, even in patron
age, at the expense Of the taxpayers.
What we secured from the State In
1873 would now be going into the
treasury of another college If we had
not asked for a share; and taxation
would not have been affected one way
or another.
f. AS to the propriety of endowing
free scholarships by the State In It's
colleges there is room for honest
difference of opinion. -. T. G" evil
IDENTIFY thinks the State ought not to
do it. A great many people do not
agree with him. Almost every State
in the Union is spending large sums
VI
universities. The last Legislature
in Maryland appropriated s125,7O0 for
this purpose partly in paying for
scholarships, and also in donations.
No other State of equal population
gives as little as this, and some with
smaller population give three or four
times as much. Why should not a
State assist in promoting the higher
education as we'll as the lower? Can
Maryland get along without colleges
and college men and women any bet
ter than any other State? Can Mary
land afford to stop its benef1cence
with the public school education,
while every other State Is carrying
it's men and women on to the higher
training of college and university to
fit them for the broadest participation
and leadership in affairs? Other
States are at the expense of sustain
ing State universities. Maryland
chooses the far more economical way
of opening a college course to its
young people best able to profit by it
and least likely to get it by endowing
scholarships in several institutions
so located as to be accessible to all
sections and to be gained by competi-
tive examination.
5. 1t is true, that Western Mary
land College is now asking the Legis-
lature for $4,000 to enable it to erect
a much-needed building. The justi-
fication Of this petition is easy and
convincing. First, this is the only
request of this kind ever made by
this college. In the last forty years
the college has spent more than $780,
600 in buildings and equipment, for
which the State has contributed moth
ing. Secondly, the State has been
meanwhile contributing sums of
money to other colleges in the State
for such purposes, and proposes to
continue to do it. Requests for this
sort of contribution are now before
the Legislature from four other in
stitutions for $240,00O. Why should
Western Maryland College be censur-
ed for setting forth it's needs to the
Legislature and, for the first time in
forty years, asking an outright dona-
tion in its time of need, while other
institutions doing no better work for
the State have been long enjoying
this beneficence? And, thirdly, neith-
er the State nor the taxpayers will be
the loser by granting the request, but
every way the gamer. The taxpayer
loses nothing, as l have shown, be-
cause his taxes go entirely to another
object. The State invests money in
the highest good of its young people
when it helps its colleges. They
should not be pampered; they should
not be given money to waste; they
should be required to do good work,
and better work than they did before
receiving the gift. But unless we are
ready to say that college education
is luxury which only the rich are
entitled to, and that the State has no
business with bringing to flower the
genius of it's poorest, and opening the
way to the highest culture for every
boy and girl able to take 1t, then l
cannot see why it may not wisely
and righteously extend a helping
hand, once in forty years, to an in
stitution that has proved its worth
by its work; that has already educat-
ed to a greater or less extent more
than three thousand young people;
that has never made any religious or
social or sectional distinctions in con-
ferring it's benefits: and that has