Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-12-20
AGREE With TRIBUNE.


AGREE WITH TRIBUNE.
Among the papers of the state urg-
ling a more orderly system of control
ing our educational institutions is the
| jamestown Alert. In an excellent ar
ticle, published recently, that paper
agrees heartily with the sentiments
expressed from time to time in these
columns. We are taking the liberty
to quote portions of this discussion:
North Dakota taxpayers have paid
in direct appropriations and from
| other sources into the nine schools
above named, the immense sum of
s. 1881, S67.22 in the last seven bien-
NAL periods, or fourteen years. This,
in addition to the money paid out for
penal, charitable institutions and the
running expenses of the state govern
ment.
According to the state auditors ia
bile of expenditures, the university at
Grand Forks, beginning with 1901
1902, has received from the state the
grand total of $2,1 1876, 1897 10, and this
does not include a very large amount
from other sources which has been ex-
pended at the institution, received
from tuition fees, dormitory rents and
special fees. .. e, ~
In 1901 and 1902 the Agricultural
| college, according to a statement
from the state auditors office.
has received from North Dakota
the grand total of $2,196,S42.4 "A, and
this does not include the money given
that school by the federal govern
ment, said now to be 100000 a year.
and other sources of income Of which
the state. has no direct knowledge.
u n X
These institutions claim a portion
of this sum does not cost the people
of the state one cent, as it is derived
from income on land given for edu-
cational purposes by the federal gov
eminent. But these lands we're in
tended for the benefit of the people
of the state and not exclusively for
the officers and schools, and were in
tended to remove the necessity for
additional taxation of a direct nature
for these schools This inheritance
was not intended for the special ben
eft of the school interests or the
business interests of the towns
where the schools are located, but for
the general advantages and use of
the people Of the entire state.
1t appears to be a settled convic-
ton amongst the residents of the
towns, wherever a state school is To-
Gated, that the institution is private
property for that town, whose main
purpose in connection with the school
is to secure the spending of as much
money as possible in the town, from
state appropriations and from stud
ents.
This idea will have to be dispelled
in North Dakota, as it has been in
other states whose schools, support
ed by public taxation, are governed
by a board of regents, the manage
ment of which is not controlled by
local influences in the towns where
the schools are situated. Wisconsin.
Illinois, Minnesota and other states
have boards of regents which look
after the schools as state institution;
and govern them accordingly, to the
manifest advantage Of the state and
on a much more economical basis
than If left to local control. i
The number Of students in all de
partments of the university and the
Agricultural college is comparativel.
small. Considering the cost of thes'
two schools, it has been stated tina
North Dakota could send every stud
ent attending them to an eastern uni
versity or college, pay all his travel
ing expenses and necessary expense
during the college year, and still b
much money ahead.