USA > Texas > A comprehensive history of Texas, 1685-1897 > Part 5
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Governors Hubbard, Coke, and Throckmorton all alluded to the University lands, as originally granted, being very valuable on account of their having been selected chiefly in the most prosperous part of the State.
Among the measures proposed in the twenty-third legislature, in 1893, was a proposition to divide the public domain between the free schools and the Univer- sity, but allowing the latter a liberal proportion, one-third or one-fourth of the lands. The bill was important not merely as a naked proposition, but in the light of con- trast with the provision made for other State universities, showing the advantages of a State university tax, particularly as in Michigan, whose university is the leading one of the great West, and, indeed, the first real model of a complete State uni- versity in the United States. That great institution is endowed by an educational State tax known as the " university tax," by which the income of the university grows proportionally with the increasing wealth of the State ; so its support is neither a matter of constant controversy nor recurring question of legislation further than the legislature desires of its own motion to act in its behalf. Thus, as educa-
' The twenty-fourth legislature ( 1895) passed an act giving the regents control of the Uni- versity lands .- EDITOR.
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tional demands increase with the growth of the State, the University is developed mainly from its separate resources to keep up with the general development of the country and educational progress in other States. In this way the tax is not felt to be burdensome, as the increased income from it simply corresponds with the growth of the State in wealth to justify, as well as in population to require, improved edu- cational means of every character. Not only Michigan, but other States, some of them purposely to profit by her example, have adopted the plan of a State univer- sity tax as a sure and the readiest method likely to be acceptable for providing a university fund that would be at once available without waiting for accumulations from interest on bonds or the slow process of land sales, and because, too, it removes such institutions from uncertain dependence upon special legislation for their main- tenance.
The university tax in Wisconsin is one-eighth of a mill on the dollar, in Ne- braska it is three-eighths, in California one-tenth, and in Colorado three-fourths of a mill, which permanent incomes are generally supplemented by liberal appropriations by the legislature for buildings and other expenditures for the universities. Taking Nebraska University as an illustration of the rapid increase by the tax provision, its income, derived mainly from the tax, increased biennially as follows : For the years 1883 and 1884 (during which the Texas University went into operation ) the income for the two years was $107, 164.52 ; for 1885 and 1886, $120, 873.80 ; and for 1887 and 1888, $170,585.65.
For 1889 and 1890, when the above figures were given, the income for the two years was estimated at from $225,000 to $250,000, or for one year largely in excess of the present annual income of the University of Texas. And so, with all the great landed provision made for the Texas University, it falls far short in availabil- ity of the tax plan for producing the early revenue which would probably have put the University into operation before the war, or at least long before there was any practical attempt for its organization. A university tax, even at the rate of that of California, of one-tenth of a mill on the present assessed realty values of Texas, would produce over $60,000, which, supplemented with the University's existing resources, would make an annual income of over $100, 000 for the University.
Of the various land grants as confirmed to the University, aggregating near two million five hundred thousand acres, there remained unsold two million and twenty thousand acres on December 31, 1891, as shown by the last report of the land commissioner, published in 1892. The permanent University fund, arising mainly from proceeds of sales of University lands, amounted, according to Comptroller McCall's report of August 31, 1893, to $575,840, invested in State bonds, and a variable small amount in cash from such sales awaiting investment.
As the University is now operating, with its scope for usefulness widened, it has grown in public estimation until it has come to be regarded with something of the favor which, higher education should everywhere evoke, and which naturally does attach to public institutions as they are kindly fostered and develop and mature with the growth of the country. Though not yet what it must become, the Uni- versity of Texas is in some respects an exemplar in meeting important educational clemands and promoting the general welfare of the State, and as such merits private benefactions as well as public support. What it still needs is to give it a more prac-
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tical tendeney by providing greater facilities for instruction in arts, mechanics, and technical work generally ; in a word, a thoroughly equipped technological depart- ment at Austin, or an arts and science school of the highest order, like those of some of the Northern universities.
AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE.
This institution, which is located at Bryan, in Brazos County, owes its founda- tion to the act of Congress of July 2, 1862, as amended in 1865, and to a resolution of the legislature of Texas, adopted November 1, 1866, accepting the provisions of the Federal grant, and the further legislation of the State in providing for the insti- tution, and the action of the county of Brazos in donating some eighteen thousand dollars in value of grounds and buildings as a bonus for securing the location of the College at Bryan. The Constitution of 1876 made the College a branch of the Uni- versity of Texas, and it was formally opened for the reception of students on Oc- tober 4, 1876. It has a permanent endowment of two hundred and nine thousand
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AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE, Bryan, Texas. Main Building. Ross Hall.
dollars from proceeds of the Federal land grant, which produces in interest an annual income of fourteen thousand two hundred and eighty dollars. It is further main- tained by tuition fees paid for students by the State, and by State appropriations, including generally amounts allowed by the legislature from the University fund. The first board of directors met in Austin on July 16, 1875, and proceeded to organize the College, electing Hon. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi (who, however, did not accept), president of the institution. The present directors are : A. J. Rose (president of the board). W. R. Cavitt, John D. Fields, John Adriance, and John E. Hollingsworth. Ex-Governor L. S. Ross is president of the College.
An act of the legislature made the College the beneficiary of the annual appro- priation of fifteen thousand dollars granted to each State by act of Congress in 1887 to equip and support agricultural experiment stations in the several States ; and an act of the twenty-second legislature apportioned one-fourth of the money to the Prairie View Normal School as "an agricultural and mechanical branch of the College."
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The courses of instruction, as expressed in the College catalogue, "cover all that is comprised in the curricula of the best institutions of our times, except the ancient languages. The time usually devoted to these is here given to the applica- tion of the principles in the fields, shops, and laboratories. Mere text-book study is regarded as comparatively of little valuc unless supplemented by intelligent prac- tice in applied science. This practice occupies from six to eight hours per week. Experimental work furnishes the chief means of training students in accordance with this view, and hence a most important subsidiary object of this institution is the discovery and dissemination of all sorts of information with regard to industrial pursuits."
"The recent action of Congress in setting aside fifteen thousand dollars per annuin for the establishment and maintenance of agricultural experimental stations
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ASSEMBLY HALL, AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL, COLLEGE.
in the several States will in a short time place at the disposal of the college the means for efficient experimental work, and offer to students the great advantages of observation and participation in researches which promise important results for the benefit of the whole country. The 'agricultural experiment station' has been estab- lished at the College as one of its departments, and students in the agricultural course will hereafter assist in the work of the station."
As to manual labor the catalogue states : " It is taken for granted that every farmer-boy can learn at home such things as involve mere manual drudgery. It must, therefore, be understood that the student will not waste valuable time in labor which is not instructive. The education here given to young men is not intended
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to make mere laborers of them, in the ordinary sense of the word. A student who graduates here may begin life as a field-hand ; but it is expected that by virtue of his superior training he will be able speedily to find promotion and casily fill the highest position of honor to which his ability may lead him."
" Military instruction is embraced by law in the objects of the College, and will be given such attention as is necessary for an honest compliance with the act of Congress."
The annual catalogues of the College show the following attendance of students from the beginning :-
Session 1876-77
106
Session 1885-86 170
Session 1877-7S
261
Session 1886-87
174
Session 1878-79
2.16
Session 1887-88
211
Session 1879-80
1.44 Session ISS8-89
205
Session 1880-81
127 Session 1889-90 272
Session ISSI-82
25S
Session 1890-91 316
Session 1882-S3
223 Session 1891-92
331
Session 1883-84
IOS
Session 1892-93 293
Session 1884-85
1.42
Session 1893-94 312
The latest estimated value of the property of the College, independent of the endowment fund, as given in the report of the State Agricultural Bureau, is as follows :-
Grounds and buildings .
$304,100 Equipment, including stock, machinery, apparatus, library, etc. 77,000
Total value of property $381,100
During the administration of Governor Roberts, in 1879, there was some com- plaint of the studies of the College in agriculture and the mechanic arts being too much subordinated to other branches of instruction. Differences also arose between President Gathright and other officers of the College taking sides in the matter, on account of some statements publicly made by one of the adjunct teachers as to the qualifications of one of the professors. The tendency of the College interests on these accounts was such as to induce the governor, after consultation with the members of the College board of directors, of which the governor was er-officio president, to notify the faculty that if these matters could not be adjusted among themselves a reorganization of the College would be necessary. The differences proving irreconcilable, the resignation of the president and others of the faculty involved in the controversy, and embracing all but two of the faculty, was requested. All complied with the request but one, who stated that the board might discharge him, but he would not tender his resignation. The vacancies, however, including .the chair of the recalcitrant professor, were soon filled,-Colonel John G. James, president of the Texas Military Institute at Austin, succeeding President Gathright, and the College being opened at the ensuing fall term with the new faculty in charge, and the curriculum of studies reverted to the originally intended channels ; so that the College was no longer, as the governor had expressed it, "a mere literary academy with a military attachment," but was a combination of what the law required it to be, as a branch of the University of Texas, for instruction in agricul-
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ture, the mechanic arts, and the natural sciences connected therewith ;" and, as the Federal act for endowing such institutions further expressed it, "without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics."
The prescribed policy has since been more rigidly observed, and the institution is particularly flourishing under the administration of General Ross.
OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
Sam Houston Normal Institute .- In 1879 the Sam Houston State Normal School was established for the purpose of training competent teachers for the public schools. It was named in honor of General Sam Houston, and is located at Hunts- ville, the last place of residence of the distinguished hero and statesman. It is maintained by State appropriations, and is aided by donations from the Peabody Fund.
The school was opened October 10, 1879, with Bernard Mallon as principal. H. H. Smith succeeded Mallon, and was followed by Joseph Baldwin. The incum- bent of the position at this time is H. C. Pritchett, late State superintendent of instruction. All students sign a pledge to teach for a term of years in the public schools, corresponding to their term of studies in the institute, which is open to students of both sexes. The school is subject to the direction of the State Board of Education, which appoints the local board of control. The institution is greatly indebted, not only for its establishment, but also for its continued success, to the liberality of the trustees of the Peabody educational fund, the general agents of the fund, Barnas Sears and J. L. M. Curry, having canvassed the State and done everything possible to build up and foster a normal school worthy of this great State. Governor Roberts co-operated heartily with them in the enterprise. There are memorial windows of Houston and Peabody in the main building.
The property of the institute is valued as follows :-
Grounds and buildings $149,780
Apparatus and library 15,000
$164,780
Total donations up to this time from the Peabody fund amount to $ 58,000
And from State appropriations . 256,000 $314,000
The catalogue for the session of 1892-93 shows an enrolment of four hundred and eight students.
Prairie View Normal School .- This school is located near Hempstead, in Waller County, and as a branch of the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Bryan is governed by the directors of the College. It was organized by act of the legislature in 1876, entitled " An Act to Establish an Agricultural and Mechanical College for Colored Youths." The act allowed twenty thousand dollars for the purpose, and the site then known as ".Alta Vista" was purchased, together with suitable agricultural lands. Not being sufficiently patronized to warrant its being maintained as a school of industrial training, it was converted into a State normal to meet the demand for trained colored teachers. The school was made a branch
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of the College probably with an eye to revenue from the University fund. At least, such seems to have been the idea of the seventeenth legislature, which made some appropriations to it direct from that fund. The school could not constitute the colored branch of the University which the law required, so as, in that way, to have support from the University fund, for it had already been provided for locating the colored branch of the University at Austin ; but it could be, and so was, made a branch of the College at Bryan, as a means for succoring it along with the College from the University fund. Comptroller Brown, however, regarding appropriations of the trust funds of the University by such indirection as unconstitutional, refused to issue the warrants to cover them, and, as it transpired, no further attempt was made in that direction, and the State returned to direct appropriations for the school from general revenue, or the regular school fund.
The first principal of the school was L. W. Minor, who was succeeded by E. H. Anderson. L. C. Anderson has been the principal since 1884. In 1880 there were thirty-six students, in 1890 there were one hundred and eighty, and in 1893 there were two hundred and fifty students. Students of both sexes are admitted to the school. There are twelve teachers, all colored persons. The property of the school is valued as follows: Grounds and buildings, $125,000; apparatus and library, $7000.
The school gets one-fourth of the congressional annual provision of $15,000 for the agricultural experiment station in Texas.
Summer Normals .- For the benefit of teachers and others aiming for that profession the State a few years ago made appropriations for summer normal schools, one of which was held at the State University during the University vaca- tion, when several members of the University faculty assisted as teachers to the classes and as lecturers. The State, however, discontinued the appropriations, and the normals, as well as what are called "teachers' institutes," were held in the various cities and counties which provided for them. The Summer Normals arc located and conductors of them appointed by the State superintendent of instruc- tion.
The Schools at San Augustine .- The town of San Augustine is situated on a beautiful and fertile strip of red-land country running in an east and west direc- tion through the counties of Sabine, San Augustine, and Nacogdoches, which was well settled with good farmers as early as 1840, and from that time to 1850 that town was one of the largest and best-improved towns in all Eastern and Northern Texas. It was situated thirty miles west of the Sabine River, on the old King's Highway, leading from Natchitoches in Louisiana through Nacogdoches and Bas- trop to San Antonio. The wagon-road made along or near it, commonly called the "San Antonio Road," was the principal thoroughfare along which immigrants came to Texas by land, and it was the route of the first stage line through Eastern Texas. A master builder, a Mr. Sweet, erected a large two-story frame building and sold it to the county of San Augustine for a league of land that had been given to the county for the erection of an academy, though the school had the high-sounding name of "The University." A small school having been taught in it for several years, in the year 1843 a gentleman by the name of Montrose, of medium size, about thirty years old, and of apparently good manners and intelli-
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gence, appeared at the hotel, and, learning that there was a large school-building in the town, let it be known that he was a teacher. The board of trustees were soon assembled and sent for him. He was a man of few words and very positive in his utterances. He said, in substance : " All 1 ask is to give me control of the house, and I will build up a large school that will attract scholars to your town." They complied with his request, and before the end of the second session he had verified his assertion and had a large school, with numbers of scholars from a distance. It so continued for several years. One of his great merits as a teacher was his con- trol of the scholars in school by a regular system, and the anxiety he produced in them to attend school punctually and an ardent desire to attend to their studies. He did not seek to acquire favor in the community, except through his scholars, and was seldom seen upon the streets of the town or otherwise in communication with its citizens. He taught school as a business strictly and had no difficulty in collecting his tuition through his scholars, although there was a great scarcity of money in the country. After his school increased his plan for assistance was to engage some of his advanced scholars to teach classes under his direction. The school soon became the pride of the town and surrounding country, with a united recognition of its advantages. It may be instructive to tell how discord and con- tention were produced that ultimately led to bad consequences in reference to that and other schools in that place :
A Methodist preacher came there, fresh from "The States," as the United States were then called, and preached a sermon in favor of "perfect sanctification on this earth," the most numerous denomination of Christians there being Metho- dists. Professor Montrose, being a Presbyterian and a good reader, had occasion- ally read sermons, as a layman, to a few Presbyterians and others on Sunday. By their urgeney he was induced to read in public a sermon opposed to the doctrine advanced by the Methodist minister, who promptly challenged him for a public debate on the subject. Professor Montrose, though not a preacher, was pressed into the debate by his religious friends, moderators were chosen to regulate the de- bate, and it was held before a large audience. Professor Montrose simply read extracts from books when it came to his turn to speak, and he did it with such impressiveness as to make it appear that he had achieved a victory over the chal- lenger. At once a religious storm was raised. There being a number of promi- nent Methodist preachers and other leading citizens of that denomination in the town and in the surrounding country, it was readily determined to put up in that place a Methodist college. A large three-story frame building was erected, and an excellent teacher, as well as preacher, was brought from Ohio to take charge of the college. His name was Janes, a cousin of Bishop Janes. Other Methodist preachers were engaged to teach in the college and several Presbyterian minis- ters were engaged to assist Professor Montrose. Both schools prospered for sev- eral years, with scholars in each to the number of one hundred and fifty. San Augustine claimed to be the Athens of Texas. There are two prominent citizens still living who were educated at one of those schools,-Colonel Frank B. Sexton, who was a member of the Confederate States Congress, and Colonel J. F. Miller, of Gonzales, ex-member of the United States Congress. Doubtless there are others living of the many since prominent men who received their education at one
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of those rival schools. The rivalry that made a spasmodic success for a time for both schools could not last long. Professor Janes left the college, and it declined and was sold to the trustees of the so-called university for a female institute. Pro- fessor Montrose, hampered with assistants, contrary to his own plan of getting them by engaging his advanced students, left and afterwards taught at Nacog- doches, and at Anderson in 1857. His only son, Thomas Montrose, is a promi- nent lawyer in Greenville, Texas. The university, as it was called, struggled along for a time under its trustees, but gradually declined, and that place has never been able to keep up a good school since its failure. Both of the buildings have been burned, and the vacant places where they stood attest the sad calamity of a religious rivalry entering the management of the schools of a community, where it assumes the character of bitter partisanship. 1755089
Schools at Gilmer .- For a continuous period of ten years previous to the summer of 1870 Professor Morgan H. Looney kept an excellent school at Gilmer, averaging largely over two hundred students annually, of all classes, male and female, young men and women, as well as the minor children of the town and neighborhood, during ten months each year. The school was attended by ad- vanced scholars from a hundred miles in every direction. His pupils were taught from the lowest grade to a high grade in the English and ancient languages, in mathematics, and in composition and other studies. He was a man of medium size, vigorous in speech and action, had been thoroughly educated at the college at Milledgeville, Georgia, had taught school as a profession, and had two brothers that were teachers. One of them, Mr. Bud Looney, assisted him part of the time at Gilmer, though his assistants were generally scholars that he had educated, con- sisting of two young women who taught classes of girls and two young men who taught classes of boys. He also taught classes of both male and female students together. As a teacher of both high and low classes he had an extraordinary capacity of explanation that made even the dullest student understand him. He artfully excited a lively interest in all of his pupils to learn, and with many of them to be- come well educated in the higher branches of learning.
Equal to any other of his remarkable powers as a teacher was that of the sys- tematic government of his school within the school-rooms, and of his students when not in the school-building. He took general supervision of his students everywhere, day and night, from the time of their enrolment until they left the school. Nearly every residence in the town received his students as boarders, and any misconduct there, or upon the streets, or in the public-houses, would be re- ported to Professor Looney, his school and its management being the leading busi- ness enterprise of the little town. As part of his government he had a set of rules regulating the conduct of his pupils both in and out of school-hours. Some of them were that there must be no arguments leading to contentions about politics or religion ; that there must be no criticism upon the dress of any pupil, whether it was coarse or fine ; that everywhere young men were to act as gentlemen and young women as ladies ; that they must, govern themselves according to his rules, other- wise leave the school ; that while attending his school they must make learning their exclusive business as a regular occupation. To enforce these and many other requirements he opened his school every Monday morning with a brilliant lecture
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