EARLY MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING BOARD 



CHARLES W. GARFIELD, 1870 



To successfully manage an educational institution which 

 connects itself with important matters of statecraft requires the 

 highest type of public-spirited citizenship. To perform the best 

 work in this capacity a man's purview must exceed the range of 

 vision which is limited by a desire to serve his own ambition. 

 Men of this type are not so plentiful as to make the task of their 

 selection an easy one. 



In any special type of education, which has to work its way 

 into popular favor by the development of results which appeal 

 strongly to the average man who feels it his right and privilege 

 to criticize, there are special difficulties which often become a 

 menace to the highest grade of management. When this 

 management is in an appointive board the authority which is 

 responsible for the appointments really holds the reins of the 

 institution. In our own state the governor has from near the 

 beginning of the Agricultural College had the appointment of 

 the members of the Board of Agriculture. He has not always 

 been guided by the highest purposes, but has occasionally con- 

 sidered these appointments as opportunities to wipe out the 

 lesser political obligations incident to a political campaign. 



However, as I review the history of our College management 

 and recall the anxieties connected with its growth, I think we 

 have been extremely fortunate in having at every period in its 

 history representatives of the highest type of citizenship in the 

 management of the institution. 



In the early days the position of a member on the Board of 

 Agriculture was far from being a sinecure. Not only did the 

 members serve without pay, but the closest economy in their 



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