The Maine book, Part 15

Author: Dunnack, Henry Ernest, 1867-1938
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Augusta, Me.
Number of Pages: 368


USA > Maine > The Maine book > Part 15


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26


178


.


179


GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL


case of impeachment, with such restrictions and limitations as may be deemed proper and subject to such regulations as may be provided by law.


Commander The governor is commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the state and of the militia, except when called


of Army


into the actual service of the United States, and he has


and Navy authority on extraordinary occasions to convene the legis- lature in special assembly.


The governor and council are required to tabulate the returns and elections of votes cast at primary, state and


Election Returns special elections, and elections for the choice of presidential and vice-presidential electors.


General Duties The statutory powers and duties of the governor and council cannot be enumerated without reference to many of the chapters of the Revised Statutes and Session Laws. Some of the more important are the power given to the governor to appoint agents to demand and receive of the executive authority of any other state fugitives from justice charged with crimes in this state, to issue his warrant to surrender fugitives found in this state charged with crimes in other states, and he may offer rewards for the apprehension of fugitives from justice.


He is required to issue his proclamation for an election to fill any vacancy in the representation of the state in the Senate of the United States or the National House of Representatives, or any other office required to be filled by vote of the people, as well as his proclamation for a primary election to select candidates.


Of all the duties of the Executive Department there is none greater than the constitutional provision which says that no money shall be drawn from the treasury except by warrant from the governor and council, and in consequence of appropriations made by law. In addition to this the governor and council have general supervision of the work of all state departments, institutions and commissions, the great majority of which are required to make detailed reports at regular intervals. The governor and council are also constituted a board of trustees of the State Library. Payment of Bills Because of these provisions, the Executive Department has intimate control over the functions of all departments and institutions. Since no money can be paid out without warrant from the governor and council, it follows, that every expendi- ture of money by any sub-division of the state government is authorized first by the governor and council. Further than that, no bill is paid by the state except by check of the treasurer of state. In other words, no indebtedness of the State of Maine whether it be a million dollars or one cent, is paid except by check from the treasurer.


ยท


13


180


THE MAINE BOOK


State Under the provisions of Chapter 102 of the Public Laws Budget of 1919, the governor becomes the head of the budget committee. He with the state auditor, state treasurer, chairman of the committee on appropriations and financial affairs on the part of the Senate and chairman on the part of the House of the Maine Legislature make up this budget committee.


An informal budget was inaugurated in 1917. It was continued in 1919 and the Legislature of 1921 will see the first legal budget.


The law provides that the committee shall transmit to the legislature, not later than the fifth day of the first session thereof the budget, and upon request of any committee of the legislature the secretary of the com- mittee on budget shall transmit to such committee of the legislature all statements, estimates and requests which were filed with the said secretary by officers, boards and commissions as required by sections two and three of the act, or copies thereof.


In making up the estimates constituting the budget, the commit- tee shall, in connection therewith and as a part thereof submit an estimate in detail, or a general estimate in any instance where it is impracticable to give specific items, subdivided under appropriate headings, of such sums as may be deemed necessary to defray the several charges and expenses of the public service for the ensuing biennial fiscal period. This estimate shall also include such sums as may be deemed necessary for charitable and benevolent institutions, and for such other purposes for which public money may be properly appropriated. It shall be accom- panied by a statement showing the total valuation of taxable property in the state as compiled by the board of state assessors and the rate of taxation necessary to produce approximately the revenue required to meet such appropriations. It shall also show the estimated income of the state for said biennial fiscal period from sources other than direct taxation.


Pensions The governor and council have the execution of the state pension law, under which approximately $150,000 per year Is distributed to veterans of the Civil War and the Spanish War, and their dependents ; also the law providing for pensions for the needy blind, which was enacted a few years ago, under which several hundred blind persons are now receiving very substantial aid, the yearly appropriation having been increased from $15,000 in 1915 to $50,000 in 1920. They are author- ized to provide for the training and other expenses of blind children in institutions outside of the state.


They also examine claims for reimbursement of cities, towns, and plantations, for aid to dependents of soldiers, sailors and marines, who served in the war with Germany, and have ordered the payment of such claims to the amount of more than $750,000 between the time of our entry into the war and the close of the year 1919.


181


GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL


Various other claims of cities, towns and plantations are examined and allowed under their direction, such as claims for support of dependent persons having no settlement within the state, for which purpose alone the funds now amount to $150,000 per year.


In addition to all these specific duties, there are hundreds of matters coming up that would naturally appear in the administration of a big busi- ness for which no specific legal provision could be made. Under the present day system, the Executive Department has such a multitude of activities, that no longer can a governor be a part-time official. The state has come to that opinion and has provided him with a home at the capital.


CHAPTER XXXIII


EDUCATION


In education Maine is one of the most progressive states in the union. Its advanced legislative enactments for education include the formation of all towns of the state into unions for the promotion of effective super- vision; a workable compulsory educational child labor act; a requirement of at least thirty weeks' schooling in all towns; the elimination of all school districts and the substitution of the town as a unit of school man- agement; the abandonment of the small, weak school of less than eight pupils in regular attendance and the centralization of schools by means of transportation; the encouragement of industrial forms of education, and a retirement fund for teachers.


Enrollment Maine has 228,489 children between the ages of 5 and 21 years ; of these 131,313 were enrolled in elementary schools during 1919 with an average attendance of 97,638, mak- Attendance ing 75 per cent of attendance to enrollment, which greatly exceeds the average in the United States. In 1919, 7,962 children com- pleted the elementary schools. The enrollment for the same year in the secondary schools, high schools and academies was 23,291.


Management The schools of each town are under the management of a superintending school committee of three members who are elected, one each year, at the annual town meeting in March. For the purpose of supervision, the towns are grouped into unions. A joint committee for the union is composed of the superintending school com- mittees of the several towns forming the union. This joint committee selects a superintendent for the union, apportions his time among the towns and fixes his financial consideration, apportioning the same to the towns concerned.


Certification of Teachers No teacher who has not completed a four years' high school education or its equivalent is entitled to enter the examinations for teachers' certificates. Students of the state normal schools receive elementary school certificates upon the com- pletion of the course. Persons who complete the course of study in the state normal schools or two years of college work are eligible to examina- tion for certificates of superintendence grade. Teachers who wish to con- tinue in the service and who take training have the privilege of certificate renewal from time to time until certificates become permanent. Gradu-


182


and


183


EDUCATION


ates of college and universities who have completed the educational requirements are granted certificates enabling them to teach in secondary schools.


Financial Support The public schools of the state are supported by funds derived, (1) from a tax levied on the property of the town by the legal voters at the annual town meeting in March, (2) the income from the permanent school fund which represents the pro- ceeds of the sale of lands apportioned for the support of schools, and other moneys appropriated for the same purpose to which is added one-half of the sum received by the state from taxes on the franchises of savings banks, and one-half the sum assessed upon the deposits of trust and banking companies, (3) the school mill fund which is the proceeds of a tax of one and one-half mills on the dollar annually assessed upon all the property of the state according to the value thereof, (4) the common school fund which is a tax of one and one-half mills on the dollar annually assessed upon all the property of the state according to the value thereof. In addition to these funds are moneys raised by direct appropriation through legislative enactment.


Rural Schools Equal opportunities for all the children of all the people is our motto, and in this spirit school facilities are being carried into the unorganized townships where the great forests abound, to the islands along our shores; and an attempt is now being made to make the rural schools of Maine the foremost in the Union through centralization which will bring good buildings and equipment, afford a division of labor for teachers and provide at least two years of high school within reach of all. Such schools will form the basis of social life.


Sanitary Conditions Maine is taking advanced grounds in regard to health and sanitation in her schools. Buildings are being stand- ardized in regard to light, heat and sanitation; grounds and outbuildings are receiving attention, and our laws provide for medical examination. Many old buildings are now being remodeled and all new buildings must conform to proper standards. Extensive repairs cannot be made or new buildings built without the approval of the State Super- intendent of Schools.


Maine schools rank among the best in the land in secondary


Secondary Education education. As in other eastern states secondary educa- tion began in academies supported by private benefactors and by tuition. In 1873 the state authorized free public high schools and from that time there has been a steady progress until today her publicly supported secondary schools, with their fine buildings, adequate equip- ment and well prepared teachers are a source of just pride to the citizens of the state.


184


THE MAINE BOOK


Side by side with our high schools are found forty-eight academies well founded and strongly intrenched in the hearts of the people. These schools have become semi-public through state support. Out of these schools have come men and women whose influence has been great in state and nation and whose lives have immortalized the institution which gave them beginning.


Vocational Early in the development of the idea of industrial educa- Education tion Maine took advanced standing among the states by making liberal appropriations for the support of indus- trial courses in public schools and academies, and also for industrial edu- cation in night schools. This ground work well laid formed the basis for vocational education under the Smith-Hughes Act recently passed by Con- gress. Under this act Maine was among the first to secure approval of her plans and specifications for placing the provisions of this law in opera- tion and began at once to establish strong courses in agriculture, home economics and the trades and industries in all-day, part-time and evening schools and classes throughout the state. Through this means the schools of the state are connected with life, re-enforce the activities of the com- munity and bring the youth into contact with work he desires later to pursue, thus increasing both individual and national efficiency.


Bowdoin College


History Bowdoin College was incorporated by the General Court of Massachusetts upon the joint petition of the Associa- tion of Ministers and the Court of Sessions of Cumberland County. The Act of Incorporation was signed by Governor Samuel Adams, June 24, 1794. The college was named in honor of James Bowdoin, a distinguished Governor of Massachusetts, of Huguenot descent.


First


Circumstances delayed the opening of the college till 1802, when the first class of eight young men was admitted.


Classes Since then more than nine thousand students have been admitted, and more than six thousand of these have received degrees.


Presidents But eight presidents have guided the affairs of the col- lege in the more than a century of its existence: Rev. Joseph McKeen, D.D .; Rev. Jesse Appleton, D.D .; Rev. William Allen, D.D .; Rev. Leonard Woods, D.D., LL.D .; and Rev. Samuel Harris, D.D., LL.D .; Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, LL.D .; Rev William DeWitt Hyde, D.D., LL.D .; and Kenneth C. M. Sills, LL.D.


Noted Among the graduates may be mentioned Longfellow and


Hawthorne; Franklin Pierce, Melville W. Fuller, Thomas


Graduates B. Reed, William Pitt Fessenden, John A. Andrew, and William P. Frye; Generals Howard and Chamberlain; Charles Carroll Everett, Calvin E. Stowe, Egbert Coffin Smyth, and Cyrus Hamlin.


185


EDUCATION


College Liberal Arts From the first the college has been essentially a college of liberal arts, but science has not been neglected and courses are offered leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science. From 1820 the Medical Department of the college has given courses leading to the degree of Doctor of Medicine.


Equipment The material equipment consists of sixteen buildings, grouped on a campus of about forty acres :- including sci- entific laboratories, a library of 116,000 volumes, extensive art collections ; and an endowment of more than $2,500,000. The academical faculty con- tains thirty names and the medical faculty sixty. In 1919-20 there were 456 students in the academical department and 43 in the medical school.


Tuition The tuition charge is $100 a year in the college, and other annual expenses are from three to six hundred dollars. These figures are reduced considerably for needy and deserving students by the application of scholarship and other assistance granted by the col- lege each year-at present more than $15,000 is annually distributed among such students.


Colby College


History Colby College originated with the Baptist churches of the District of Maine. Upon the petition of the Bowdoin- ham Association, the Cumberland Association and the Lincoln Associa- tion for the incorporation of a college, the General Court of Massachusetts passed an act to establish a literary institution in the District of Maine, under the name of the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, but refused the power to confer degrees. The act was signed February 27, 1813.


The institution opened in 1818, the trustees having selected Waterville as the site of the school. Upon the petition of


First Classes the trustees to the first legislature of the State of Maine, the power to confer degrees was granted on June 18, 1820. The first class graduated in 1822.


Change of Name In 1821 the name of the institution was changed to Water- ville College. In 1867 it was again changed to Colby Uni- versity in honor of Mr. Gardner Colby, a generous bene- factor. In 1899 it was once more changed to Colby College in recognition of the real character of the institution.


Women Students


In 1871 young women were admitted to the college on the same terms as young men. In 1890, upon the sugges- tion of President Albion Small, the trustees organized within the college a division for young men and a co-ordinate division


186


THE MAINE BOOK


for young women. In class organization, rank, prize contests, appoint- ments, honors, and so far as possible in the work of the class room, the two divisions are treated as independently as though they were distinct insti- tutions.


Noted Among the graduates may be mentioned, Elijah Parish Lovejoy, General Benjamin Butler, William Mathews,


Graduates Martin Brewer Anderson, Josiah Hayden Drummond, Albion Woodbury Small, Shailer Mathews, Nathaniel Butler, Asher Hinds, Holman Day, George Otis Smith, Harrington Putnam, Leslie C. Cornish. Courses and Equipment Courses are offered leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science. The material equipment consists of an extensive campus on the western bank of the Kennebec River and thirteen buildings, including well equipped scien- tific laboratories, a library of about 60,000 volumes, and an endowment of more than $500,000. The faculty consists of 25 members and the student enrollment in 1918-19 was 360.


Tuition The charge for tuition in the Men's Division is $90 per year. The charge for room rent varies from $45 to $55 per year. In the Women's Division the total charges for tuition, room and board vary from $280 to $290 per year. A large number of scholarships are available for needy and deserving students, and abundant opportuni- ties for self-help are available.


University of Maine


History The University of Maine is the direct outcome of the Morrill Act approved by President Lincoln, July 2, 1862. The legislature of the State of Maine accepted the conditions of this Act in 1863 and in 1865 created a corporation to administer the affairs of the College.


First Classes


The institution opened in September, 1868, with a class of 12 members and a faculty of 2 teachers. The first class was graduated in 1872.


The original name of the institution was "The State Col- lege of Agriculture and the Mechanical Arts." In 1897


Change of Name by act of the legislature of the state the name was changed to "The University of Maine."


Women


From the opening women students have been received on the same terms as men. The attendance of women until


Students recently has not been large. The institution is in every respect co-educational. Women have precisely the same opportunities as men and compete with them in the classes and in various contests. At this time the women constitute one-fifth of the student body.


187


EDUCATION


Noted Graduates William T. Haines, ex-Governor of Maine; E. F. Ladd, President of North Dakota Agricultural College; Hon. S. W. Gould, Skowhegan, Maine; Frank L. Scribner, Special. Agent and Agrostologist, United States Department Agriculture; William R. Pattangall, Lawyer, Augusta, Maine; Dr. Whitman H. Jordan, Director New York Agricultural Experiment Station; Allen Rogers, in charge of Industrial Chemical and Tanning Courses, Pratt Institute; Dr. Jeremiah S. Ferguson, Physician Cornell Medical College; Arthur M. Farrington, Assistant Chief, Animal Industry, United States Department of Agricul- ture, are some of the prominent graduates.


Courses and The University maintains four colleges: Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Law. In addition to this the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station is an integral Equipment part of the institution. Courses are offered leading to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences, to the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, Home Economics, and Forestry, to the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Engineering, and to the Degree of Bachelor of Laws in the College of Law.


The material equipment includes campus and farm of nearly 400 acres on the Stillwater river in Orono, a farm of 100 acres a mile north of the campus, and the experimental farms of about 250 acres each in Mon- mouth and Presque Isle. The college buildings are numerous and well equipped. The Carnegie Library building houses about 66,958 volumes. The faculty consists of 176 members. 1214 students are now enrolled. Tuition The charge for tuition for students from within the state is $30 per year, for students from without the state $100 per year. By legislative enactment, students in agricultural and home economics curricula are exempted from the payment of tuition charges. This applies only to students from within the state. The room rent in a dormitory is $36 per year and board is $180 per year. In addition to this each student pays a registration fee of $10, an incidental fee of $30 and laboratory fees varying from $10 to $25 according to the course taken. Text books are anywhere from $10 to $30.


Bates College


Bates College admitted its first class in 1863 and received


History its charter in January, 1864. Bates was named for one of its largest benefactors, the late Benjamin E. Bates, of Boston.


Professions Forty-three per cent of Bates graduates have entered the teaching profession, eleven per cent the ministry, and many of its alumni have been prominent in law, medicine, journalism, leg- islation and social service. Bates is famous for its success in intercollegi-


188


THE MAINE BOOK


ate debating, having won in thirty-one out of forty-one contests, seventeen of them with universities. The college has no secret societies, its policy being to foster the open literary societies, musical clubs, and other organ- izations that encourage and inspire the democratic, simple life.


Department of Forestry A Department of Forestry has just been established, with resources that assure to it high rank in a field now recog- nized as of great importance to our country. The courses in Education entitle graduates who have completed them to teachers' cer- tificates of the first class from state boards of education.


Endowment Bates has an endowment of $960,000. Its total resources amount to $1,500,000. It has sixteen buildings and a campus of fifty-five acres. In the fall of 1919 Chase Hall, the men's social building, one of the finest buildings of its type in the country, was dedi- cated. It was so named in honor of the late President George Colby Chase who served the college for fifty years. This building affords accommoda- tions for the Y. M. C. A., the social, literary, scientific, and musical organiza- tions of the young men, and assures opportunities for extending hospitality to guests and returning graduates.


Expense Expenses are very moderate-the total expense for one year for board, room rent, tuition, books and general cost of living being between $266 and $307. There are one hundred and eleven scholarships, most of them paying $50 of the annual tuition fee of $75.


Enrollment The faculty numbers 40, the student body 494. .


Bangor Theological Seminary


History Bangor Theological Seminary was incorporated February 25, 1814, under the name "Maine Charity School.". This legal title was changed to the one by which it has generally been known, by an act of the Maine Legislature in 1887. The institution grew out of the work of an association of Congregational ministers and laymen in southwestern Maine, called "The Society for Theological Education", one of the earliest, perhaps the earliest, educational society in the United States, incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts, February 27, 1812. The seminary was opened in October, 1816, at Hampden, in connection with Hampden Academy, and under the care of Rev. Jehudi Ashmun, later prominent in the American Colonization Society. In 1819 the institution was removed to Bangor, its present site being the gift of Isaac Daven- port, Esquire, of Milton, Massachusetts, "an old-fashioned Orthodox Uni- tarian", who also gave the site for the present Unitarian Church of Bangor. Property The seminary property consists of this site, of seven and a half acres, most beautifully situated in the heart of the city ; a dormitory with a capacity of fifty students ; a boarding house which


189


EDUCATION


serves also as a residence for the matron and the superintendent of grounds; a chapel containing not only the assembly room for services but four recitation rooms and the library ; a modern gymnasium; and six resi- dences for members of the faculty. The library contains over 31,000 vol- umes. The endowment is but $325,000, about one-third the average endowment of the other theological schools of New England.


Faculty The faculty consists of five active professors and a libra- rian; there are three supplementary teachers, besides occa- sional lecturers. "Convocation Week", consisting of four groups of lec- tures given by eminent men in various walks of life, was begun at Bangor in 1904, and has achieved a nation-wide reputation.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.