The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-20
PAST YEAR AT
 CENTRAL COLLEGE

Greenville. July 1a.-(Special )-Th, following report was tepdered the Ala bama Baptist convention by the trus
 tees of the Central college:
 Tn making this formal report l. the convention it would be well to re peat in part a leaflet containing som, facts that are well known to som, of our people, and that ought to b. recorded In the minutes of this con
 vention. It is worth while to note il
 what follows that the buildings A ,, they now stand were not all erected
 by the state. This leaflet. written bl the president of the board of trustees
 is para graphed as follows:
 "1. The building occupied by the Central college was once the capitol oi Alabama, built at a cost of S1S0,000
 and was afterward given by the state
 to the university for educa tonal pur- poses.
 "2. The university found the distance l tmore than mfle1 so great that the
 building could not be used to advan- l tage and so abandoned it to decay.
 g. Later on several gentlemen pro- 1 posed leasing it to carry on the work 1 the university found unable to do Glad to have the property cared for and to get the work done, the university leased it to those private parties for 99 years. with the privilege of renew ing the lease at the end of that time. The considera ton to be paid was the free tuition of five girls annually. The special grade or size of the school was not stipulated. This was strictly a private transaction with which no Bap- tist body had anything to do The lease was of great value to the lessees and they had the legal and moral right to use 1t for private gain, but with rare generosity they dedicated it to the public good. So far from deriving profit. they expended care and money to present to Tuscaloosa and to Ala bama great institution.
 D. They secured a charter, rased S50,000 in cash, put the building in thorough repair. thus saving it from decay, erected the four-story dormi tory in the rear of the capitol, added necessary equipment and opened a high grade college for women, They se- cured these gifts from the people at large to found the college the charter describes and thus what was a private concern became morally a public insti tuition.
 "6. The trustees of the college to whom its affairs were entrusted have ceive any personal profit from the school. They give much of their time and no little of their money to main tain the great trust committed to them without any sort of return. '7. In operating the school the trus- | tees secure a first-class educator as president, require him to employ figf FA1 l.
 repairs on the buildings, and to give
 free tuition to five girls. He gets
 the entire income of the college pays 1 the faculty and is responsible for al l bills. It will be seen that the college l itself has no income beyond this $50(
 referred to and which is by contract
 spent on the buildings. It may be wise 1 to. change this method of conducting
 the school at the expiration of pres 1 ent contracts.
 "s. Its founders in dedicating theil 1 school to the public service stipulate et l that two-thirds of the trustees should
 always be Baptists. This is fixed by
 the charter. The board of trustees i. lf-perpetuating, but at the request
 of the college the Alabama Baptis.
 state convention at the Andalusia meet ] ing designated five men to serve or the board, all of whom have been elect
 ed to the office The relation between the denomination and the college which was always close, was made by | this act closer still. In view of these facts the Baptists of Alabama are giv- ing their hearty cooperation.
 Tt only remains to be added that the appeal made last year at Albert vile for help to put the buildings ir repair met a hearty response. Tho pledges made there, the money raised in Tuscaloosa and the very valuable sympathy and financial help of the ed ucational commission resulted in $500; cash, which has all been put on ana into the buildings. A limited amount of painting and clustering needs vel to be done. but 1t will require no great amount.
 The college has no debts of any kind and has been for a number oi years easily self-supporting so far as its current expenses are concerned.
 Tt has full, strong faculty whose work with the necessarily limited number of the school is eminently sat- isfactory.
 Last year there were 55 boarding and B day pupils in the college, and the prospects for another years pat ronage and work are all that could be wished.
 Next session will be the fifty fourth. Our people can hardly appre- 1 ciate how little the school has cost them since our fathers spent the first
 s50,o00 to give it life. And just as lit l tie as can they know the vast work
 it has done in this more than half century.
 MT Tom Tart. one of the five trus- l tees named by this convention, has re signed. It will be necessary at this meeting 10 name a man whom the trustees can elect to fill his place. Re- | spectfully submitted,
 "L D. DAWSON, President Board of Trustees"