380 HIGHER AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



I feel justified in saying that the condition of the Agricultu 

 ral College is not due to a defective plan of organization, as far 

 as its educational features are concerned. Its defects lie in the 

 extraordinary powers conferred upon the Governor and Board 

 of Regents powers which leave the property of the University 

 in their hands, to be &quot;managed, invested, re-invested, sold, 

 transferred, and in all respects managed, and the proceeds 

 thereof used, bestowed, invested and re-invested by the said 

 Board of Regents,&quot; (see Section 12 of the organic Act), while 

 (see Section 11 ditto,) &quot;no member of the Board of Regents or 

 of the University (perhaps this refers to the Treasurer) shall 

 be deemed a public officer by virtue of such membership, or 

 required to take any oath of office, but his employment as such 

 shall be held and deemed to be exclusively a private trust.&quot; 



&quot;We have thus far presented the anomaly of an institution 

 created by a public fund, endowed from the public treasury, 

 supported by public taxation, four of whose administrators 

 hold their positions only as State officers, which is to all in 

 tents and purposes a private institution, beyond the reach of 

 penalties, of the press, or of public censure for malfeasance in 

 office. 



The amended Codes provide that &quot;the Regents may invest 

 any of the permanent funds of the University which are now or 

 may hereafter be in their custody in productive unincumbered 

 real estate in this State,&quot; (see section 1415 of Political Code of 

 California,) and that if the terms of any grant, gift, devise, or 

 bequest are impracticable in the conditions imposed, such 

 grant, gift, devise, or bequest shall not thereby fail, but such 

 conditions may be rejected, and the &quot;intent of the donor car 

 ried out as near as may be, &quot;etc. These large privileges have 

 been exercised as freely as they were conferred. The grant of 

 Congress to &quot;provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture 

 and mechanic arts,&quot; they tell us, was &quot; really granted for the 

 encouragement of all branches of modern scientific instruction, 

 and was so construed in the application of it to the University 

 of California.&quot; 



Seven members of the Board constitute a quorum. Of these 

 the Advisory Committee (five) -will always be a majority, and 

 the President is now entitled to a vote. It is easy to see, there 

 fore, how a large body of twenty-three members may be con 

 trolled and managed by skillful combinations. 



