This phrase, intended in a sense altogether complimentary, was perverted by the enemies of the university into a term of reproach.

Nobody will now question the entire propriety of the name which the university bears. The university, undoubtedly, owed its existence to Mr. Cornell's noble generosity. Its subsequent material prosperity was no less the result of his sagacity and devotion. He did, indeed, build a monument to himself, but he built it, not for his own glory, but for the perpetual service of mankind. Into that service it bears his honored name, the name of a true and genuine and noble man, who, coming from the people, remained to his last day in sympathetic touch with all their needs and struggles and aspirations.

3. THE LOCATION OF THE UNIVERSITY.

The location of the university at Ithaca was a concession to Mr. Cornell. Many of the friends of the university felt that it was a serious mistake to place it so far from the great lines of travel, and Mr. White offered to add a large sum to its endowment if Mr. Cornell would consent to have it built at Syracuse.1 But as Mr. Cornell was anxious to have it situated at Ithaca, and promised to do as well by it as Mr. White would do, his wishes naturally prevailed. He cared nothing for the name of the university, but he loved the noble hills and quiet valley, the bold ravines and broad lake, where for more than a quarter of a century he had wrought with honest toil and with merited success, and he wished this best and crowning work of his life to rise upon those hills above lake and town and flashing cataract the pride and glory of them all. And so Ithaca became the seat of Cornell University.

2

4. GENERAL PROVISIONS OF THE CHARTER.

The charter creates a body corporate, to be known as Correll University, and fixes the location of such university at Ithaca.

The leading object of the corporation is to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, including military tactics, but such other branches of science and knowledge may be taught as the trustees may deem useful and proper. The farm and grounds must consist of not less than 200 acres. Two years, from the passage of the act, are granted the trustees within which to provide suitable buildings and equipment.

A system of free scholarships is provided for, whereby the university

'MS. in possession of Mr. White. Mr. White at that time lived in Syracuse and represented the Onondaga (then the Twenty-second) district in the senate. Mr. Cornell lived at Ithaca and represented the Twenty-fourth senatorial district, of which Tompkins County was a part.

is required to receive annually one student from each assembly district in the State free from any tuition fee or incidental charge.1

The university is to be absolutely nonsectarian. Two provisions fix this beyond all question. The first relates to the trustees, and provides that "at no time shall a majority of the board be of one religious sect, or of no religious sect." The second relates to faculty and students and declares that "persons of every religious denomination, or of no religious denomination, shall be equally eligible to all offices and appointments."

The limit of the capacity of the university to hold real and personal property is fixed at $3,000,000. This provision, inserted in unconscious deference to the ancient statutes of mortmain, proved eventually a costly mistake, as it stood in the way of the university's receiving upward of a million and a half of dollars, bequeathed it by Mrs. Jennie McGraw Fiske. The section has since been amended, so that there is now no limit, save that of its own needs, to the capacity of the university to hold property, real or personal.2

5. THE TRUSTEES.

In the original charter the number of trustees is fixed at twenty-four, seven of whom are trustees ex officio. The trustees named by the charter were Ezra Cornell, William Kelly, Horace Greeley, Josiah B. Williams, William Andrus, John McGraw, George W. Schuyler, Hiram Sibley, J. Meredith Read, and John M. Parker. These ten trustees were empowered to select seven others to act with them. The ex officio trustees are the governor, the lieutenant-governor, the speaker of the assembly, the superintendent of public instruction, the president of the State Agricultural Society, the librarian of the Cornell (Ithaca Public) Library, and the eldest male lineal descendant of Ezra Cornell. The first board was completed by the election of the following additional members: Andrew D. White, Charles J. Folger, Abram B. Weaver, George H. Andrews, Edwin B. Morgan, Edwin D. Morgan, and Erastus Brooks.

The provisions for the selection of free students have been three times amended since the passage of the charter. (Laws of New York, 1872, chap. 654; Ib. 1886, chap. 614; Ib. 1887, chap. 219.) By the terms of the last amendment the scholarships are awarded upon a competitive examination, in which competitors must be at least 16 years of age and of six months' standing in the common schools or academies of the State during the year immediately preceding the examinations. Examinations are held in each county and the results certified to the department of public instruction, which also prepares the examination questions upon subjects designated by the president of the university. When a scholarship is unclaimed in any county it may be filled by the State superintendent from among those first entitled to a vacancy in some other county. At that time the number of assembly districts was 128, but by the revised constitution, which went into effect January 1, 1895, the number is increased to 150.

2 Laws of New York, 1882, chap. 147.

By a subsequent amendment to the charter the number of elective trustees was reduced to fifteen. This was effected by making Ezra Cornell a life member, and the president of the university, to which position Andrew D. White had then been elected, a member ex officio.1 At the same time the term of office of the elective trustees was fixed at five years, three members to be elected each year. The amendment also provides that when the number of alumni shall reach 100, 45 of them may, by a majority vote, elect annually one of the three incoming trustees.

By a subsequent amendment in 1895,2 the number of elective trustees is raised to thirty, twenty of whom are to be elected by the board and ter by the alumni, the board to elect four each year and the alumni two. Elective trustees serve for a period of five years each. This, with the trustees ex officio,3 makes the number of the present board after June, 1895, thirty-nine.

The novelty and importance of the provision as to alumni representation have been demonstrated in the interest attaching to the elections. But the difficulty of gathering a large body of electors from widely separated points gave eventually a somewhat local character to the election and wrought an injustice to those living at a distance. This was obviated by another amendment permitting alumni to send their ballots, under their signatures, to the treasurer of the university and to have them counted as if personally cast. Concert of action in such elections is secured by a provision whereby any ten alumni may file a nomination for alumni trustee with the treasurer, whose duty it is to mail a complete list of candidates to each alumnus. Much interest has always been taken in these elections by the alumni, and in some years, when questions of university policy have been involved, campaigns have been conducted with the greatest vigor by well-organized committees. In the early years the alumni chose a representative from outside their own body, but of late their choice has invariably fallen upon graduates of the university, and it is doubtful whether any others will hereafter be chosen by them. The plan, the credit for which is due to Mr. White, has worked extremely well, both as regards the interest it serves to keep alive among graduates and the character of the men who are elected to the board. The board has also begun the practice of electing alumni as trustees, and with the increase in the alumni body and their growing importance in university affairs, it is altogether probable that Cornell, like the older colleges, will eventually pass largely under the management of her own sons.5

1 Laws of New York, 1867, chap. 763.

2 Ibid., 1895. chap. 87.

3 The State commissioner of agriculture was added to the ex officio list.

4 Laws of New York, 1883, chap. 423, as amended by L. 1895, chap. 87.

Five of the twenty trustees elected by the board are now Cornell alumni.

E. THE ORIGIN OF THE IDEA OF CORNELL.

To Ezra Cornell belongs the honor of being the founder of Cornell University. Even before the conception of such an institution had taken form in his mind he had fully determined to devote a half million of dollars to the benefit of the people of New York State.1 When he realized the immense advantages to be gained by uniting this endowment with the land-grant fund, and came to see the futility of division and the wisdom of concentration of resources in higher education, his purpose was quickly formed. From that purpose, thereafter unchanged, came into being the university that bears his

name.

To Andrew D. White, his faithful friend and coworker, belongs the equal honor of having first conceived the idea of such a university. Of this, happily, there is ample evidence.

While still a student in a small denominational college in central New York, Mr. White had begun to think of the needs of New York in respect of higher education. With his larger experience at Yale College and in the great universities of Europe, the idea had strengthened that in New York there should be a university, broad enough to meet all the needs of the Empire State and of this nineteenth century. On his return from Europe he took positive steps toward the accomplishment of his cherished plan. Several wealthy men, notably the well-known philanthropist, Gerrit Smith, were approached by him on the subject and a definite offer was made by Mr. White of a generous share of his own fortune for such a purpose, but nothing tangible resulted from these efforts.2

The most remarkable testimony as to the early ideas of Mr. White on this subject is borne by George William Curtis, long a regent and afterwards chancellor of the University of the State of New York. In his address at the inaugural ceremonies of Cornell University. Curtis said:

Mr.

It is now just about ten years since I was in the city of Ann Arbor, Mich., the seat of the University of Michigan. I was in that city and I sat at night talking with my friend, a New York scholar, professor of history in that institution, and one of the men who have given that institution its great place in this country. There, in the warmth and confidence of his friendship, he unfolded to me his idea of the great work that should be done in the great State of New York. Surely," he said, "in the greatest State there should be the greatest of universities; in central New York there should arise a university, which, by the amplitude of its endowment and by the whole scope of its intended sphere, by the character of the studies in the whole scope of its curriculum, should satisfy the wants of the hour. More than that," he said, "it should begin at the beginning. It should take hold of the chief interest of this country, which is agriculture; then it should rise, step by step, grade by grade, until it fulfilled the highest ideal of what a university could be." It was also his intention that there should be no

1 White: My Reminiscences of Ezra Cornell, p. 7.

2 Ibid, pp. 5, 6.

man, wherever he might be, on the other side of the ocean or on this side, who might be a fitting teacher of men, who should not be drawn within the sphere of that university. Until the hour was late this young scholar dreamed aloud to me these dreams; and at the close, at our parting, our consolation was that we lived in a country that was open to every generous idea, and that his dream one day might be realized was still a possibility.

Ten years ago—and why are we here? Why am I speaking to you? What is this building that we see? What are these bells we hear? What are these chimes, whose musical echo lingers and will always linger in your hearts? Why, on this autumn day, when every crop is in its perfection, when all the sweet blossoms of your orchards are now glowing in gorgeous piles of fruit, all the grain dropped by you in the furrows is now piled and to be piled in the granaries of the world; why, in this spot, on this autumn day, the vision of the New York scholar has come true. Here in noble stone, here scattered through this village of yours, here upon these everlasting hills, founded now, and with these hills to endure, more wonderful than the palace of Aladdin, you behold, you realize the dream of the scholar of the Michigan University, your honored president, Andrew D. White.1 Thus was conceived, thus born, Cornell University. What the brain of the scholar planned, the heart of the philanthropist builded. New York has her great university-broad enough for the needs of all her people, high enough for the aspirations of her most ambitious sons-and for it she owes her meed of praise most of all to two menEzra Cornell and Andrew D. White.

III.

THE BUILDING OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

A. PRELIMINARY MATTERS-SITE AND BUILDINGS.

After the passage of the charter the trustees were obliged to remain inactive for three months, during which time the People's College, by depositing the sum fixed by the regents, might defeat the land grant to Cornell. The sum fixed by the regents was $185,000. On the 28th of August, 1865, the secretary of the regents certified that no such deposit had been made, and, as the time limited had then more than expired, there could be no further claim on the part of the People's College. Cornell University was entitled henceforth to undisputed possession of the great endowment.

The first meeting of the trustees had been held at Albany on the day following the passage of the charter, at which time the board had been filled by the election of additional members, and the grant of the land scrip had been formally accepted.2

The second meeting was held at Ithaca on September 5. At this time Mr. Cornell agreed to execute his bond for the sum of $500,000, bearing interest at 7 per cent, and secure the same by capital stock of the Western Union Telegraph Company to the amount of $700,000.

1 Proceedings at the inauguration of Cornell University. (Ithaca, 1869.) pp. 33, 34. 2 Laws and Documents Relating to Cornell University (Ithaca, 1892), pp. 33-35.