Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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OLEMSON COLUEGE IN THE LMPLIGT t (Continued froin Page One.) ."aars called the attention of the zeneral assembly to the fact that a :aajority of the board of trustees of t Clemson college is not under the ,entrol of the State: and while this z -ommittee has no evidence whatever I :hat the trustees appointed under i :he Cleimson will are not just as loy al, just as competent and just as watchful of the interests of the state, yet we believe the soon er the State can by any means whatever get the entire control f-f appointing the board of trus :ees, the better it will be for the welfare of Clemson college. We call Jhe attention of the general assem 'sly to the former reports made by _his committee, a,d recommend that teps be taken to ascertain if under ,he Clemson will there is any possi 'le way for the State to obtain entire eontrol. While there has been no friction between the trustees under the Clemson will and the trustees of ihe State, yet we believe that it would be ,best f:;z the State of South Carolina and the college, even if it ihonld cost an appropriation of an amount equal to the original valua tion of the Clemson bequest, for the state to make the expenditure and rain entire control of the appoint ment of the trustees." Your, committee refers you to the report of the treasurer as to the ex penditure &f money by this institu -ion. It is impossible for us, in the very short time given to this inves Zigatio, to go into each expenditure, 'ut as far as we can judge, they are t correeg and the books are well kept. We do not. think it advisable for t ihe Legislature to take any radical t action at this time, as we hope that, with a new set of by-laws and a new t president, conditions will soon be vastly improved. T. I. Rogers, C ,On the part of the Senate. I E. W. Duvall, c L. M. Lawson, s On tre part of the House. s Hot StUoff from Dr. Mel. An exhibit reading as follows is t appended to the report: - 1 Senator T. I. Rogers and Repre- C -sentatives L M. Lawson and E W. ? -Duvall, committee of the General i Assembhly: Sirs: In aeeordance with your request I furnish you with the fol aowing information concerning thet eonditions w.hieh 'have prevailed at Clemson Agricultural college for some years, resulting in serious oppo sition to good government and the proper management of the affair"s of Ahe institution. 1. The board of trustees have in lihe past interfered too much with the duties of administration, which be-t long in all well regulated institu tions to the president of .the col- [ lege and his colleagues. The com mittees of trustees have been accus tomed to meet frequently at'th-e col lege for the purpose of enforcing the C o)rders of the board, instead of leav fing to the president of the college this responsibility, which by right ' 'J>elongs to his offiee. For illustratios C I cite the following instances: The farmer directed iby a commit- . -ree of trustees without consultation 1 "wiih the president of ~the college. ' A committee .of trustees taking mninute charge of all details~ of work ~ and construction. and, cultivation of i -e-rops on the coast experiment sta xon, near Summerville, when all - 'ueh matters should be under the president of the college and in direct ! eharge of the director of the experi m.eet station. Prior to April, 1908, interfering with the discipline of the corps of e adets by setting the action of the. ftaculty aside in more - than one in stanee. A resolution passed in Marchi, 1908, however, corrected this, - evil for the present and enabled the' . discipline committee to control the situation when the cadets left the college .in April, 1908. The budget taken out of the hands, Of' the president of the college and a placed in charge of committees of's -trustees, who have, prior to Decem ber, 1909, consulted directly with the -offleials who are under the president. t 'At i.he 'last meeting of the board an *efort was made to correct this prac The finance commnitee of the board, assuming by board order, and, by the authority of the by-laws, full eharge of the college library, in all of its inferests, ordering the books and making rules and regulations for th-e proper conduct of the parties, who frequent the library. This du tv of purehasing books ~and making rules for ore should belong to a ,.Ommuit tee of the faculty, assisted by the librarian. Under the faculty management the library has grownt ato one rl the most valuable collec ion of isooks to be found in South .aroina. L.uis new action of tlie >oard has been maae part of the by aws wuere t win L.eqaire niae votes >f the trustees to correct. The repair of baudnags pla"u in 'he charge of a committee of trus ees wheu Lnore effective work can be tecomplislied and tie buildingz iiept n much uetter condition if the pres dent was charged with this duty. rhis is customary in most colleges. The orders of the board are at :imes promulgated by committee di eetly to sub-officials and the presi lent often is embarrassed by not be ing informed lconeerntng tihe4 or lers until he hears of them through ,le subordinate. This practice de 4iroys the president's authority with the officials. The walks, roads and management f the campus are now in charge of i committee of trustees, who. direct ill matters regarding the improve ment of the grounds, even to the de tails. The president of the college as been added to this committee,,but ais infiuence is made small by the requirements imposed. O:n, January 26, 1909, a committee rom the State Farmers' Union visit d the college to examine into itsi orking. My plans were made to en tertain these gentlemen but these ylans were frustrated by the appear mec of Mr. R. W. Simpson, a mem er of tne\board, who took these far ners in charge, and I did not have :he opportunity of presenting the ollege' work to these visitors. Mr. impson gave instructions to the far ner in charge of tie cartiages and irdered other officials in regard to he care of these visitors, and in all ther respects assumed the preroga ives and duties of the president of he college in the entertainment of nd the direetion of these - farmers hrough the eollege. Serious interference with the pres dent's secretary, who is a relative f a member of the board, and caus ng an unfortunate condition in my ice which I have found it impos ile to overcome so that a competent ecretary could be secured to do the ork of the office. My appeal to he board to allow me to have abso te control of the secretary in my. fice because of th econfdential us. re of the work has been unavail ag. I found it was njecessary to call 'or the seeretary 's reignation for he accomplishmen.t of good service or the college. The board of trus ee have set aside my action and the oung lady has been given leave of bsence until "the ne* president is leeted.'' (See board of truxstees' inutes, D ecem.ber, 1909.) The committee of trustees indst ag that the arrangement of the sub, ets into courses shall first receive he approval of the board of trus ees before they can be placed in the atalogue is bad legislation. This uty belongs alone to' the fac'i.ty. See by-laws.). A committee of trustees takang harge 'of the farmers' institutes and irecting all the details of the work f sending to the farmers the instr22 or the college has to offer. T.is ork belongs to t.he salaried officers f the institution under the genieral jieetion of the president. Petitions and papers of every kiadf utended for the board of tr..tstees ave in many instances reached the oard .direct and not throughi the resident's oflice. This pgaetieeha era sanctioned by the .trustees as adividuals. The prest,leat shoulid a the officer to biing everything rom the offici'als to the board, so Lat he may be well-inf..rme-i con ~rning~ all matters. in alA. about the e colllege. 'Trustees Meet too Often. The board of trustees are meeting o often, and I think the State io is ,being violated in thecse fre sent meetings. There would be Schance for interrup:ion as above iven if the *meetings were only two ':sch year.A The code says on this abject: "Fr.r the purpo~se of carrying out be duiies hereby devo:ved upon Le said board of trustees shall meet t the call of the governor, and at uch time and place as he may des nate, but shall bei allowed their etual expenses for not . exceeding o meetings in one year while en 'aged in the duties of the boird.im osed upon them by this article.'' See Code of 1902, Section 1,312.) In 1908 the board of trustees met July 14, 1908. September 1. 1908. December 9, 1908. March, 1908. In .1909-1910 .the board of trus es. met onu: Marueh. 190)9. .lilv 8. 1909. Auus 12. 1909. December 2, 1909. Special attention is called to the .lause in the above extract from the code in regard to the expenses of the trustees while engaged in tran-3 acting the business of the college. And the committee of the general assembly is directed to the vouch ': :ared in by the member from Pendleton for hi: 'expenses, who comes to the college in his buggy and has his horse fed by the college, and the expenses of the members from Greenville and from Walhall.. Tie expenses of the last two are reason able. The ec~mparison is interest ing on the question of expenses. (See pages 131, 132, 133, 134, 135 of An nual Report of the College Treasur er, a copy of which accompanies this paper.) Nepotism Charged. Nepotism is a serious drawback to good -nd efficient growth in the college, and there should be some renedv for this evil. The following trustees have relatives on the offi cial force of Clemson Agricultural college: R. W. Simpson-Three sons-in law on the faculty. W. V. Bradley-A brother on the faculty. J. E. Wannamaker-A brother-in law on the faculty; a nephew on the st-tion staff; a niece in the office of the president; a relative in the treasurer's office. W. D. Evans-A son in the treas urer's office; a son holding the po sition of fertilizer inspector. Alan Johnstone-A nephew on the faeulty. -Three other members of the col lege force are supposed to be rela ted to trustees by marriage, but I m not in possession of accurate in formation on, this score. Since the College was opened for students, in 1893, the board of trus tees have appointed t1wenty-one of tfheir relatives to important posi-. tions in the college. There are now eleven relatives on the. present force. The board have also appoint ed two " of their members to good salaried places in the institution within the past eight years. The practice of nepotism has eaused much of the troubles a1d dis. t;urbanees during the admninistratioii of my predecessors and during my term of servicee as president. As an evidence of the 'wilting innuence ciepotism has on the official action of the board of trustees; I will cite three instances which came in~ my :>wn experience in my effort to equip the College with strong- 'and capa ble officers: March, 1908, I recomn mnehded to the board of t-ruistees a list of mathematical experts, for the :-hair which had been vacated by the death of Prof. P. T. Brodie sev 3ral months before. I hea4led this ist with the name of Dr.' Otto Dun kel, who was then associate pro essor of mathema&ties in the Uni versity; of Missouri. (See attached etter from Dr. Dunkel.) Dr. Dun kel ,was a native of Virginia, a ~radua.te of the University of Vir inia with the degree .ef master ofl ~rts; a graduate of Harvard Univer ~ity with the degree of doctor of philosophy, and also a graduate in nathematics in Got tengen -Univer-. ~ity of Germany. He spoke German ukld Freneh fluently and a reading knowledge of Spanish and Italian. While abroad hestudiedmathematics mnder some of the best mathemati rians both in eGrnmoyand in France. l'here were two other strong men on ny list, but I endorsed as my first :hoice Dr. Dunkel.. At Prof .Martin's request I submitted his application :o the board for -the chair. I did -act tonsider Prof. Martin equal to Dr. D)unkel in mathtematical training. After several ballots the ,board railed .to elect anyone, and after ransacting other business adjoura. nd to meet in July, at rhich time Pi-of. Martin was elected,. although Prof. Dunkel 's name was submitted y me again. Prof. Martin is a son n-law of R. W. Simnppn, the for ner president of the board and a life :riistee. My work for the College from .thrat time became greatly ham ered and interrupted by serious dif Reulties thrown in my way by the Eriends of Mr. Simpson on the board >f trustees. Prof. Martin was eleet ad assistant profe-ssor of mathematics before I became president of the' ?'ollege. In 1908 I recommended to the soard the election of a chemist for :he expert on the station staff. My list 'contained a gentleman who had received fifteen years training ini hehomical experiments and was fa niliar with difficult station, research is. A nephew of a member of the >o)ardl was nominated ,by Mr. Simp ;on and was elected in a few minutes ifterwards. TPhis nephew was but -eently graduated from Clemson and svas without experience concerning bright young man, but could not in any particular compare with the mn I had nominated, in , ex erienee and edueational ad Vt ges. o control my steno grapher, who is a niece of a trustee, I was gre tly emI2arassed by the board stepping in and siding with 11ztb,rdination. I found he. -1 :rl-e when I accepted the presidency in 1902. She has been given. leave of absence u&til the new ,In d i 11 be elected, and the inference is that she will be returned to e pre;idcnt's office with a 'sal r ' r !;ed from $650 to $900. .his action of the board ]a.t September I have been unable to secure a competent assistant who w'li -n - -t :o tike the position with the uncer !intv hanging over it. I have .np.ainted eight young men since 1-t September, but all have declined after looking into the situa-1 -e llied he ittention of the board to this unfortunate condi tion, but they have declined torecon 1 eternination to have the niece returned t , the president's of fiee after I retite. Mr. Mamn's) Action. While I was in controversy with :le la-t oim,n.d-nt in the matter of who should discharge the duties of the president's office, the Rev. Coke D. Mann, a member of the .board of I trustees, published n article in the 1 newspapers condeni ning mg in my ef forts to control the affairs of the College, and yet he had not availed himself of the opportunity to inform himself concerning my side of the I matters under consideration. Mr. I Mann was on the jury which was 1 aftierwards called on to decide on the merits of the case. By his eon duct he had rendered 'himself unfit to sit on the case, but he took part in, the discussions which occurred in the board and east his vote against me in the final action of the trustees. 4 The voting of $4,000 to compensate members of the board of trustees (with their law partners) for de fending the College in the dike liti gation is worthy of .consideration J by the committee of the General As- j sembly. . In my efforts to develop the Co- j lege into A high-grade institution of seience, engineering and agriculture, I had worked out, with' the assistance of my faculty, seven courses of study for the students to pursue, and three ~ of these were for the agricultural i students. .But 'the trustees at their ~ meeting in December last cut out all. but one of these agricultural courses, because they thought the Farmers' Union demanded such to be do'ne. Eeasons For Resigning. When I tendered my resignation in 4 July, 1909, the board of trustees weri j informed that my reasons for resign rng were because: 1. The frequient interferen~ce in. the administration of the College af fairs by the trustees. 2. Selecting the officers of thre 4 College without allowing the 'presi dent a large share in determining who sha-ll fill these positions. This will avoid nepotism. 3. The need of a reorganizations of the military department so that the recent attitude of the last com mandant against the .president may not again occur.0 The board of trustees refused to aeept my resignation and adjourned a ing, however, they passed the fol howing resolutions:. "That a. committee of three hbe appointed by the -chairman to take. into consideration the revision. of the tl by-laws, and, in consultation with the i1 president of the College, report sueh h changes as ini their judgment are b necessary to secure the following re- 1 suts: 1. D?fine the powers and dui- r ties of the president of t.he College V so that he shall~ be the absolute head ~ of the College, to be held responsi- I ble for its satif factory working ?nd l success. 2. To define the relation b of the trustees of the College and s their duties as inspectors and legis- g lators, seeking to secure the best re- ti sults at a* minimum of expense; the ce idea being that the trustees shall di- " rect and control the policy of the l College under general rules and regu- ~ lations, while the faculty shall carry 1 them out under the orders of the 1E president of the College, who shall n alone act as the intermediary be- 1 tween the trustees and the various e heads of departments, and shall be g held responsible for results. 3. To t] secure the co-ordination and co-op- h eration of the varicus departments of i the 'College with a view to economy r~ and efficiency9 and a clear definition ih of the duties of th-e various officers t~ 'f the College.~ Mr*. Alan .Johnsto! e, the chairmlad appoiited on this committee the fol- t lowing trustees: Senator B. R. Till- h~ man, Messrs. R. W. Simpson and W. p W. Bra.dley. Cao of the by-laws accompany *< f-hamberlain's Cough Remedy is a valuable medicine for throat d lng troubles, quickly relieves ywd cures painful breathing and a ut?izerous1y sounding cough which in ites congested lungs. Sold by W. Pelham & Son. NOTICE FINAL SETTLEMENT. \T-t;ce is hereby given that i will I*. tinal settlement )in the Probate 'nrt for Newberry County, on nesdtv. February 9th, 1910, at 1vren o'clock in the forenoon, as 'v'rlian of the estate of Kate Be enbaugh, and will immediately Office S Typewritei Typewrit Carbon Legal( Legal Ca] Pens, P4 Ink Eraser Daters, Sta Stamp Pad Ink, k Pencils, Indel Carpentei Letter Files; Stick Files, Paj Rubber, Rubber Star ii Sealing N s paper showing in red ink my ree- : amendations to the committee when < uey met in August for the revision-. t hese by-laws were .finally adopted Ii printed by the boaed of trustees their last meeting, December, Several Trusteea.Praised. C I desire to say to the eommit.tee of e gene.ral assembly that the follorw-t g members of the board of trustees a.ve stoog ,by me in my efforts. to nild Clemson Agrieultural Cdlege Lto a high-grafe institution of ag alture, engineering and science, tz: Senator B.. R. Tillman, Messrs. E. Bowen, M. L. Donial'dson, .B H. al, Jesse. H. H irdin, John G. j chards. Mr. 17. I. Manning has en ona the board f trustees' so iort a time I ea; .mot speak intelli ently concerning his probable atti ide on the questi >ns disturbing the lege. I believe, however, that hel ll take a stand with the gentlemen' etioned above in all those matters hich are for the well-being and best Lteests of Clemson Agricultural Col ge. Mr. J. E. Wannamaker has onj any occasions supported the pres-! Lent in his plans for the best inter- I t of the Coilege; like the other1 U ~utlemen, he is an independent iinker, as he should be, but I think! * s sympathy has been with thae pres ent when lhe thought this officer wasj ght. Mr. Wannamaker, however,e s several relatives on the College )!ee, and I do uot know what would. iis. attitude if the test was made. I. In submitting this pape'r I wish ita be distir.;tly understood that I I ive endeavored to withdraw all t rsonality from the accounts I have o yen, and I would be greatly disturb Iif T thought that I had said any-l A LITTLE TrALK ON LUMBERE may pu you in the way of saving i lot of moiey. Come and have it x us. We want to prove to yo. o ' the best lumber is the cheap . .t the - tart as well as in the end. WO cannet si,o you the physicat lifference between poor and the best Imi.ber for we do not hartdle any but. the latter quality. NEWBERRY LUMBER CO, thereafter apply for letters disiki* sory as guardian of said estate a for said minor. Naney A. Bedenbaugh, Guardian Kate BedebAM# 1-11-10-4t Itaw. Work 24 Hours a Day. The busiest little things' ever made are Dr. King's New Life Pills. Een ery pill is a sugar coated globuli .i health. that ebangeA weakness izte strength, languor into energy, brak-e fag into mental power; euring Con stipation, Headeahe, Chills, Dyspep sia, Malaria. 25c. at W. . Pelham's upphes. Ribbon %r Paper, Paper, overs, p Paper, Mstaffs, s, Rulers, uMp Pads, Rubber Ek Box Files er Fasteners, i Stamps, uip Holders, Va8x, -&C. Book$ R E hing which would -bring trcm)is g m. innocent parties. Ir desire~ also o'say that my solfeagues on t~ dlfy and on the College force t ~ers hsve stood by nie k~~~ v'ork of tain co61ee6 ad ~4 to criticisar to make againAi~ >ne of these' gsaeniten; they are oyal to the College and its :f the evils I have tried to relate m his paper are correeted I^ain eonf lent Clemson Agienlttrat iili grow into -the furest instt~ ni the South. Respeetfullf, R. .H.MeII The report as to other State isi utions is thiat there is harmony and he work is progressing well. NEWBERRY UNION STATION? trrival and Departare of Pamsener Trains-Effective 12.01 A.K Sunday January 2, 1910. Southern Railway. io. 15 for Greenville.. .. 8:51 a. n To. 18 for Columbia. .10.58 a. m. 70. 11 for Greenville.. .. .2.48- p. ro. 16 for Columbia.. ....8.59 p.- . C., N. & .Railway. - No. 22 for Columbia.. ..8.47- a. a. To. 52 for Greenville.. 125p.m Io. 53 for Coumbia....32p.i. No. 21 for Laurens. . ..op *Does not run on Sunday. This time table shoiws the times t wh'lieh trains may be expected to epart from thiis station, but their eparture is not guarantee& and the ime shown is subject to change with. ut notice. G. L. Roimson, Station Master.