Legislative Visit

LEGISLATIVE VISIT, They See Over 3,000 Students in a Body. DR. ANGELL'S ADDRESS The Entertainment at Gymnasium in the Evening.

The Visitors Were Duly Impressed With the Amount of Work Done Here as Well as With the Vitality and Strength of Lungs.

In University hall Friday afternoon at 4 o'clock there was not a vacant seat. With 3,100 students over 200 members of the faculty and the legislative party of 175, on the platform the auditorium was naturally crowded. The view of the sea of young bright faces was most inspiring and to make it more so, each young man endeavored with the full power of his lungs to make the legislators hear and feel that they were welcome. With a wave of his hand President Angell quieted the ear splitting noise. He then proceeded to make a tactful, strong, pleasing address. He sketched the career of the University of Michigan from its humble beginning to its present enviable position and urging the state to stand behind it in allegiance. The assembled students, he said, showed the university to better advantage than any buildings or teachers could, representing as they do nearly every state and territory in the union and a dozen foreign countries and presenting a cosmopolitan character which no nation can duplicate. Referring to the needs of the university, President Angell said that for the first 28 years of its existence it was supported by endowments received from the United States while since that time the state had appropriated $3,000,000. The annual expenses he gave as $425,000, and showed that though Harvard is the only institution with more students, the expenses of the institution are only one-third of Harvard's, while the leading universities, with several hundred less students, average twice as much in yearly expenses. The figures of various universities were quoted to show the immense sums they ask for notwithstanding their endowments, and President Angell said that the officials of other universities marvel at the work accomplished by Michigan with such limited means. He also took up the question so often asked as to why students from other states were not made to pay larger fees, as they represent four-tenths of the students.

Attention was called to the fact that many of the larger institutions charge no entrance fee at all, while Michigan receives $60,000 from the foreign students. If they were kept out altogether the regents figured that it would only save $25,000 in the salaries of professors, which would leave a big loss. Again, in urging a more liberal spirit, he recalled that the United States had long supported the institution which entitled the country at large to recognition. He decried the argument that the university was inclined to be aristocratic, saying that a large per cent of the attendance was represented by the farmers and the children of wage-earners. It was not wealth or social distinction he said, which won recognition, but merit and noble character, an act which enabled the sons of the washer woman and the wealthy man to sit on the same bench. In concluding, he said that the university would continue on to a still greater career as long as the people of the state stand fast and firm in their allegiance to it.

After he had finished his address, President Angell called upon Senators Loomis, of Grand Rapids, and Potter, of Ishpeming, and upon Representatives Adams, of Grand Rapids, Heineman and Cheever, of Detroit, and Collingwood. Representatives Heineman and Cheever and Senator Potter are alumni of the university. Nearly all the speakers referred to the law department in a complimentary manner and Senator Potter called attention to the needs of the medical department. Representative Collingwood paid a graceful tribute to the work and worth of President Angell. All of the speakers pledged their votes and influence for all necessary funds asked by the university.