Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/522

There was a problem when proofreading this page.
The Cornell University School of Law.
475

Cornell University." The terms proposed were accepted by the State; and subsequently the rights and obligations of Mr. Cornell under the contract were, with the consent of the State authorities, assumed in full by the Trustees of the University. The " Land Scrip Fund," then, is the fund realized from the original sale of the scrip, while the " Cornell Endowment Fund," which at present constitutes the larger part of the endowment from which the income of the University is derived, is made up of the profits realized from the sale of the lands located with the college land scrip.

The income from the former must be used for the purposes indicated in the original grant from the United States; while the in come of the latter can be applied to any and all university purposes in the discretion of the Trustees.

As will be seen from the foregoing, the act of incorporation contemplates, and the endowments are planned with a view of providing for, a university in the most comprehensive sense of that term. That such an institution was in the mind of Ezra Cornell from the first, and has been constantly kept in view by the Trustees as an end to be realized, is apparent from the most cursory examination of the documents bearing upon the history of the undertaking. At the inauguration of Andrew D. White, LL.D., the first President of the University, Mr. Cornell indicated his comprehensive purposes by the use of language that cannot be misunderstood. In the course of his remarks upon that occasion he said : —

"I desire that this shall prove to be the beginning of an institution which shall furnish better means for the culture of all men, of every calling, of every aim; which shall make men more truthful, more honest, more virtuous, more noble, more manly; which shall give them higher purposes and more lofty aims, qualifying them to serve their fellow-men better, preparing them to serve society better, training them to be more useful in their relations to the State, and to better comprehend their higher and holier relations to their families and their God. It shall be our aim and our constant effort to make true Christian men, without dwarfing or paring them down to fit the narrow gauge of any sect. Finally, I trust we have laid the foundations of a University, an institution where any person can find instruction in any study."

Nor were the ideas of the men who cooperated with Mr. Cornell in his great work any less liberal and far reaching. The report of the committee on organization announced a university scheme that was both advanced and comprehensive. Besides making provision for the ordinary classical course, for general courses in which French or German should be substituted for Greek, for a scientific and for an optional course, the plan embraced the organization, at such times as should be thought practicable, of the following departments, — agriculture, mechanic arts, civil engineering, commerce and trade, mining, medicine, law, jurisprudence, political science and history, and