The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1910-02-20
note$ and news
Of Interest
.AAAss Rg mi. +. 10. .s&AA

The New Advocate of Baton Rouge
has issued special edition containing a
full and most interesting account of the
semi-centennid of the Louisiana State
University which was appropriately ant
impressively celebrated on January .
and g. 1t is hard to realize that there
was time in the history of our now
flourishing L. S. U, when its very ex-
istence was threatened, when but for the
fearless devotion mainly of one man
its president, David French Boyd. ii
would have gone down i'll humiliation
From 1873 TO 1877 the carpetbag gov
ernment of Louisiana refused to make
appropriations for the L, s. u. To pre-
vent the closing of the school and the
loss of the library and equipment, Pres
ident Boyd and few professors re-
NAMED without pay at their posts, until
the people regained control of the State
government. The following extracts
from the diary of President Boyd pub
hshed in the Advocate are heart throbS
of his devotion that thrill us with ad-
miration
July Is, 1874, This day finds our poor
school in very bad condition, terribly in
debt, ourselves so poor that we are &C
tually in want-no money and no cred
it-and the impression pretty generally
throughout Louisiana that the university
can not long stand-if, indeed, it is not
already broken up An insti-
tuition deserted by the State, because we
are not iii accord with the ignorance and
villainy of the powers that be, and very
little supported by the people of Louis
lana because of the general law of the
State which makes it obligatory on all
the schools supported in whole or in
part by the State, to receive negroes as
students; has no hope for its existence
but in its powers of endurance, till right
and reason and enlightenment again
have their due weight in our Legisla-
ture.
The anxiety and care of this place is
now very great-with all the while the
greatest difficulty to procure bare sub
sistence. And today we are nearly out
Of such few common articles as bread,
meat peas, rice, sugar, coffee. tea x
We have not a dollar in the treasury
and where the money is to come from
to pay those who have fed us this month
don't know,
August 8, 1874. Today and up to Sat
friday we will no doubt have beef and
bread but unless | can get money. or
get sals meat and flour, there will be
nothing to eat at the university.
August 10, 1874 What is to become
IF us if wcIstay here much longer, or if
should die, God only knows. | have
lot dollar, owe great deal of money,
md what is due me from the university
may never get
And SO the diary continues setting
,orth the bravest struggle men ever
made to preserve an institution of learn
ng. President Boyd and his faculty
we're eminent educators, their services
we're sought and would have been Sc
cured with handsome salaries, but they
hought only of the Southern boys, al
ready impoverished and in every mate
'iaf way handicapped by the terrible
conditions, and they staid at their. post.
Relief came in 1876 when President
Hayes announced his Peace Policy by
Federal troops from the
Southern States. The carpetbag system
It once fell to pieces. and the govern
nent of these States was left in the
lands of the white citizens.
Peace and prosperity now came to the
south, the Louisiana State University |
vas saved. and its noble defenders lived |
0 see its rehabilitation. Anticipating its
apid growth, David F. Boyd traced the
inward movement of progress of his
BELOVED university, and, with the vision
# seer, saw it crowned with glorious
chievements-ranking with the most |
educational institutions of the
and