The University--state "aid."

Editor of Aroüs : - In the House on the 25th inst., the Hon. Fitch Phelps, ohairman of the Univereity Comtnittee, n response to a resolutiou calling for "a abulated statement to the House, showng the various appropriations, the esjecial purpose for which they were made, and the total amount of the e ame, made by the State for the benefit of the State University since its organization," reported the following: 'uid up to September 30, 1878, on account of interest on University lund by the State, - - - $639,198 % By holders of part paid certificatcs of .ale, 412,884 27 Total, $1,052,081 23 Account of legislativa appropriations : Aid in 1867, 30,796 60 Aid rn 186, 75,000 00 Aid in 1873, 141,760 00 Total aid, $247,54660 New building, 1871. .... 75,000 00 New building, 1873, .... 25,000 00 Total, ...... $100,000 00 Difloit in revenue, 1873, - - - 13,000 00 Water aupply, 1875, ----- 5,000 00 Outstandlng warrants,(1875, - ■ 13,000 00 Lstabliching homeopathie departinent 1876, ....... 18,000 10 Dental school, 1875, ..... 6,000 00 Professors in school of minea, 1875, - 10,000 00 Kquipment of school of mines, 1175, - 4,600 00 Building hospital, 1875, - - - 5,500 00 Equipment of hospital, 1875, - - - 2,500 00 Professor in geology, 1877, - - - 2,000 00 Physical laboratory, 1877, - - 1,500 00 Professors of physics, 1877, - - - 2,000 PO Hospital, 1877, 4,000 00 Physiological laboratory, ... 3,500 00 General library, ..... 5,000 00 Professor in dental school, ... 9,000 00 Apparatus in dental school, - - 1,600 00 Repairing building for school, - - 1,000 00 Astronomical department, ... 1,60000 Extending terms in medicine and surgery, ....... 4,500 00 Ejximiuiug venus 111 nomeopaxmc CO1lige ....... J,5CO 00 Total miscellaiieous, - {469,046 60 Grand total, .... $1,521,127 83 The amount upon which the State is paying interest 1b .... 462,317 56 Amount due f rom lands aold about - 91,136 68 I am at a loss to see why Mr. Phelps, or hia committee went outside of the terms of the resolution and embodied in hia table and in his "grand total" the tirsttwo items of his table, - items not asked for either directly or inferentially. Was it simply to weight down the ITniversity in the eyes of the bimpleminded colleagues of Mr. Phelps, or to atartle the general public with the magnitude of the University's drafts upon the treasury? The f 1,052,081.23 "interest on University funds," or interest, in plainer words, on the moneys of the University borrowed by the State and used in meeting its ordinary expenses, was not an " appropriation " and had no place in the report called for. It came not from the State by an accumulation of " appropriations," butfrom the lands given or set apart by Congress for a University, and is held by the State as trustee. The Univeröity is debtor to the State for only the $469,046.60. Divide this amount by the 37 years of the University's work and we have the munificent, perhaps extravagant, sum of $12,677 annually. Comparisons may be odious, but the Agricultural College has oost the State, in direct appropriations, during the 21 years of its existenoe, $501,241.41, or an annual sum of $23,868. Will any intelligent citizen compare the works done by the two institutions and presume to say that the University haa not yielded much the larger returns, both in education and reputation? Let legislatura look at all sides of the question and the friends of the University will take their