1903-04 Volume 28 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

364 THB SCROLL.cause the Standard Oil magnate is to subscribe toward the erection of abuilding.Dr. Andrews regards Mr. Rockefeller as a Christian gentleman, kindheartedand liberal, much villified and misunderstood. The chancellor isnot the defender of the business methods of the Standard Oil Company.He says he is a believer in bequests to universities, whether the contributorbe a trust magnate or not, because he holds that the educational system cannot be maintained at the desired standard by taxation alone. All, or nearlyall, of the large universities, he argues, are aided by individuals.Dr. Andrews declares the University of Nebraska has been able to maintainits high place, despite lack of funds, because of an exceptionally strongand unselfish faculty and because of popular backing. He holds that theseconditions cannot long continue without private aid.The opponents of the chancellor assert that his intimations that educationalinstitutions need aid does not apply to Nebraska. They assert thatthe university can flourish "without Rockefeller or any other magnate," andput forward figures in support of this contention. These show that there are2,675 men students in the institution and 1,313 women. These totals includea preparatory department with 843 boys and 445 girls. The tuitionfees reach $115,750 and the moneys from productive funds $82,524. Theproductive fund itself is $888,903. From state and government appropriationsthe university receives annually about $159,950. The annual incomeis $369,916. There are 342 male instructors and 83 women teachers.The resignation of Dr. Andrews as chancellor was demanded by somepartisans, but the faculty has stood by him firmly and consistently and assistedhim in organizing committees for the collection of the money.A Special correspondent of the New York Evening Postwrites from Lincoln as follows:Firmly grounded antagonism to trusts in general, and to the Standard OilCompany in particular, is the primary cause for the protest against acceptingthe gift; and of this opposition there is, on all sides, irrespective ofparty affiliations, also much that is silent, that is not venting its feeling inthe newspapers. In Nebraska the Standard Oil Company is especially unpopular.Among the radical Populists, and the Democrats and Republicans,too, of rural Nebraska the hatred of trusts is bitter. To tell them that thereis any good whatever in' the system of concentrated capital or in any trustmagnate, especially Mr. Rockefeller, is to elicit the retort vehement,, theargument by epithet.But to propose to this radical element that the state university, the apexof their public school system, use Standard Oil money to educate their sonsand daughters, is to call down on your head curses hot and heavy; and onthis proposition the radicals are not alone. With them are many conservatives,who, while not "trust busters," believe that it is unwise for the universityto form anv "entangling alliance" with a great trust. Mr. Rockefeller'sgift, the largest, so far as known, to a state university, has called upthe question: Should the state university—a part of the public school system—becomea beneficiary of a trust'magnate?The negative arguments rest on three assumptions. First, in making thedonation suggested by Chancellor Andrews, Mr. Rockefeller's motive is unworthy,for he is trying "to build up an undeserved reputation for philanthropy,"by "distracting attention away from the infamous means by whichhe attained his wealth." In this Nebraska should not help him. "He isseeking to buy our good opinion; that ought not to be for sale." Oneeditor prophesies that Mr. Rockefeller will fail in both his attempts—"to