OCR Text |
Show MALICE OVERREACHES. President Kerr of the State Agricultural Agricul-tural College of Oregon has just spent a few hours in this city, arriving yesterday yester-day on his way to the National Educational Edu-cational convention at Denver. President Presi-dent Kerr is well known here, having spent the most of his life in Utah. Ho is a man of prominence, of activity, of decided character and force, nnd became president of the Agricultural College of Utah. His enemies, official offi-cial and otherwise, were determined to oust him from that presidency, which he held for a number of years, hoping thereby to do him serious injuiy. Tt turned out, as it oflet does in such malicious persecutions, that Lis enemies ene-mies did him the greatest possible service by ousting him from our Agricultural Agri-cultural College, because it open-id lo him the much more, extensive and lucrative lucra-tive position which he now holds as president of the State Agricultural College of Oregon. It will be remomborod thai; some four years' ago, a great furore was raised about the duplication of studies as between tho Agricultural College and the State University. The then Governor of the State, John C. Cutler, made an outcry against that duplication duplica-tion nnd waste of money and effort. Ho appointed a commission to investigate investi-gate tho case, and report upon it. In the meantime, Wr, Kerr's enemies got together in an effort lo oust, him from the college. It was assumed that he was responsible for whatever was wrong, and his enemies lost no time in assailing him; but his real offense was not as stated. The committee appointed ap-pointed lo investigate that duplication of studies split up in fragments on its conclusions, three different reports having hav-ing been made, and thero appears to have ' been no oue to speak for President Presi-dent Kerr. But tho Board of Tn&lccs of the Agricultural College wna packed against him, and he was ousted two years ago. Tho effort to oust him had boon made two years previous to that time, but President Kerr was saved by the favorablo vole of Mr. W. S. McOorniek, then ' president of tho boanL, When the Board of Trustees was packed lo oust Mr. Kerr. Mr. McCornick rcsignod as trustee, declaring declar-ing that ho would have nothing to do with tho bad faith that was then' and there executed. On the failure of the effort to oust President Kerr, tho outcry was mndo about tho waste of money in tho duplication dupli-cation of studies, about the encroachment encroach-ment of 'hc Agricultural College upon j the University, and vice versa, but after Mr. Kerr was ousted, this outcry ceased, and nothing has boon heard on this point since. The claim of serving tho public, by stopping tho duplication duplica-tion of studies, tho wasto of money involved in-volved therein, and the proposition of making both tho College and. University Univer-sity conform to tho bost possible standards stand-ards as well as lo tho best intoresta of tho public, was plainly a mcro pro-tense, pro-tense, a dishonest outcry, raised to effect ef-fect tho ono object of ousting President Kerr. Tho Agricultural Collego runs along very much tha samo now as it did, doing good scrvico as wo believe, but no better than before, nnd doing about the samo class of work. The talk about tho duplication of studies was a mere cloak under which to stab Prosidont Kerr. And as soon as tho real object of tho furoro wns obtained, the ousting of President Kerr, tho troubled wutors at once became calm, there was no outcry out-cry anywhere, and everything wns satisfactorily sat-isfactorily and serenely settled. But tho benefit of it all camo to President Kerr, tho malignity overreaching itself and serving, instead of injuring, tho object of its attack. |