The log cabin Democrat., 1922-03-02

Next to the paucity of educational facilities Arkansas greatest handicap
 has been the absence of good high ways. When Dr. Millar 30 years ago went from Missouri to become the
 head of the incipient Hendrix College there was no such thing in Arkansas as a good road. They were all dirt trails which were impossible in bad weather-and practically so in fair Even 70 years ago there was not a SIngle foot of hard surface highway Tn the state.
 Dr. Mlllar, president of Hendrix was the first practical and constant advocate of good roads that Arkan- sas ever had. Interpreting his work as intimately related to the advance ment of the state, he began a wide | spread agitation of the question: He Stumped the entire state pleading for better highways. He organized the first statewide good roads associa. alton, and was elected it's president 1 and in 1899 he succeeded in securing the adoption of an amendment to the. constitution authorizing counties to levy taxes for highway construction. And at the same time he was year after year filling Arkansas with grad uates and students of his college, all of whom were imbued with his ideas and enthusiasm.
 After many years these endeavors bore and are bearing abundant fruit There IS perhaps no state in the union which today surpasses Arkansas in Its road building program. The state now has 2,000 miles of modern hard surface highway, about 2,500 miles are under construction, while 4,0OO additional miles have been provided for. The present road building pro- gram of Arkansas, officially provided for by legislation and actually under way, calls for an expenditure of $65,- OOO,000 for highways. In this is the longest road district in America through which will be built an as- phalt highway 100 miles in length and traversing three counties. Ar kansas today has invested more in good roads in proportion to it's wealth and population than any other state in the union.
 That this tremendous progress is due in large degree to the pioneer eff forts of Dr. A. c. Milar and his work as president of Hendrix College, all we'll informed citizens of Arkansas are quite aware.
 pr. Millar was president of Hendrix College from 1887 to 1902, when he was succeeded by Dr. Stonewall An derson. His teacher had trained the new president well, and he was quite as active in the domain of modern agriculture as his predecessor had been in the matter of good roads Dr. Anderson's administration was marked by the launching and compile tion of a movement for raising the first $300,000 as a permanent endow- ment. He it was who first interested in Hendrix College the General Edu- cation Board of New York City whose gifts to the institution have totaled $35O,OOO.
 In 1910 Dr. Anderson became the general secretary of the board of education of the church, and Dr. Mil lar was again called to the presidency of Hendrix College for two years. In 1913 he was succeeded by the pres ent incumbent, Dr. J. H. Reynolds, a Hendrix graduate and sometime pro- lessor in and acting president of the University of Arkansas. Dr. Key holds continued the public service which had marked the careers of his two predecessors, and has perhaps done more than any other person to among the people of Arkansas. He was the organizer and secretary of the Arkansas Historical Association, author of the law creating the Ar kansas Historical Commission, secre tary of that commission, editor of it's publication, and the author of the standard history of Arkansas which is now used in the public schools of the state.
 Under the administration of Dr, Reynolds the college itself has made  notable advances. Additional gifts from the General Education Board were secured and all of the conditions have been met except those for which the date of compliance has not yet been reached By the end of this scholastic year Hendrix College will possess an endowment of S1,00O,OO0, thus making it the greatest college in Arkansas and one of the greatest in the south.
 One outstanding feature of the work of Dr. Reynolds has been the erection of a magnificent dormitory Martin Hall, sacred to the memory of Capt. w. w. Martin, the greatest benefactor Hendrix College ever had and one of the greatest philanthro- pists Arkansas ever produced. In the early days when the college was en-