The Daily Missoulian., 1914-05-25

school OF mines building Is valued al1
$1440Oo. Thus over $150,000 worth of
property purchased by the taxpayers
money will be thrown away in Butte |
alone in the event of this consolida-
ton. The state must face much |
greater loss in the event of the aban- |
donment of the university at Missoula.
The university site, consisting Of 40
acres in Missoula and now practically
surrounded by high class residence
| property, was donated to the state ~bS
the Higgins estate and the South Mis-
/ sorla Land company Each of the
deeds transferred this land provided
that the state should build, erect and
4 forever maintain thereon the state uni
4 versityl of the state of Montana" and
could use the land for no other pur
/ pose or purposes whatever it being
i provided that when the state shall
cease to use the said land and prem
4 ises for the purposes above mentioned
/ the land shall revert to and become
| the property of the grantors, their sue
cessors and assigns 1t would be diff
/ ficult and probably expensive for the
state to secure additional land in the
vicinity of Missoula SO as to comply
with the terms of the proposed bill
requiring a site of 1000 acres for the
greater university. If. however, the
university should be moved from Mis-
soula this entire property, conserva-
lively valued at over 100000, would
/ be lost to the state, the reservation
clauses in the deeds even preventing
the establishment of so-callcd sub
/ colleges which the advocates of con-
4 solidation have without authority ann
apparently without giving thought to
/ the expense involved offered as a balm
to the wounded feelings of the city
which under consolidation shall lose
the university.
College Lands.
The agricultural college at Boze-
man is the owner of 1,0i0 acres OF land
of an estimated value of $120,000
From this, however, this state could
realize little in the event of the ahan-
donment of the present school OF the
SO acres of land comprising the college
campus proper 40 acres were donated
by the citizens of Gallatin county un-
der conditions similar TO those in Mis-
soula. One hundred sixty acres of the
320-acre irrigated farm land adjoin-
ing the campus, and valued at $4S,000,
was likewise so donated The GAO
t acres comprising the old Fort Ellis
military reservation, now used for dry
land farming, and being valued at $32,-
600, was given to the state for public
Use and would be Valueless to the
J state if the experiment station were
) removed. Conservative estimate
) places the value of the equipment at
1 ,,} md hn ,1a11t nj
: the states buildings on this campus at
$32O,O00. Thus if consolidation is
G brought about and the consolidated
/ university is placed at Missoula, the
4 states initial loss at Bozeman alone
t would be over $550,000.
Rapid Growth.
= The rapid growth of the states in
n stitutions Of learning must constantly
4 call for heavy expenditures of money
for permanent improvements, but {
9 careful study of the situation fails t.
9 convince me that any money is to bt
r saved the Taxpayers of this state by
Il consolidation. The history of til,
larger universities of this country is
+ continued story Of ever-i increasing eX
a pense Wisconsin is often referred t.
s enthusiastically by the advocates o
: consolidation not only because of thu
o strong position this university holds il
o the educational world, but also be
II cause of the predominant influence i
: eNerts over the political life of tha
e state. The greatness of the Universit.
V of Wisconsin is readily conceded ant
e its influence upon the political life 0
: the state is unuuestionably supreme
T but it must be borne in mind that TIL
j. university alone costs Wisconsin prac
g. tically S2,5UO,oOO per year and tina
during the last 10 years state taxes i
4. that state have increased over 242 pc
: cent. | speak candidly when I sa
IS that l hesitate to believe that Montan
rt is anxious TIC repeat Wisconsin's eX
eel perience in higher education.
x Class Feeling.
Unfortunate as it is, we may as we
admit that university life tends to
ward the development of caste. Som
,yl of our greatest leaders in edlcationt
m work have been brave enough to rec
| ognize this fact and to resolutely figl
"a this evil, but even Woodrow Wilso
I'd admits that his long struggle to mall
he Princeton democratic was only pal
i'll TALLY successful. / can conceive
re- nothing which would more strong
iii serve to develop this class feeling tha
l. a consolidated university in Whic
l. there were sharp lines of demarkatio
s. between the efforts and the intende
IS life pursuits of large bodies of stt
ic dents. To consolidate our agricultur;
xt college and our school of mines wit
IS, our state university would, in N
s. opinion, tend not only to make pure
lie university work the predominant az
lie tivity of the institution. but Wou
dc also operate to make those studen
al aspiring to artistic and profession
oy education the dominant influence
IN college life. Such a condition Wou
or inevitably result in the weakening
lie the work in agriculture and other al
l. piled sciences.
ch l have no disposition whatever
lis minimize the importance of a gener
at collegiate education but at the san
be time have no hesitancN in expressil
ds the opinion that 'Montana's need t