KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 19 



definitely adopted the policy of excluding from "The Industrialist" 

 all reference to the matters in contention. As issued by him, 

 it will be searched in vain for criticism of his predecessors, and 

 he paid no public attention to attacks in other papers. This 

 policy soon brought about, practically, a cessation of hostilities 

 and a condition in which the acts of the administration were 

 judged on their merits, rather than as seen through prejudice. 

 The acting president became president July 1, 1900. 



When the new Board of Regents took charge in May, 1899, it 

 took legal advice concerning the existing delinquency in payment 

 of College bills. Acting upon this advice, it decided to pay no 

 bills for expenditures incurred previous to July 1, 1899, for which 

 funds were not at that time available; to start with a clean account 

 book, and to conduct the business of the institution on the principle 

 of not spending money till you have it. At a result, thousands oi 

 dollars of indebtedness, including much in salaries of teachers, were 

 not paid until the legislature made an appropriation for that 

 purpose. Throughout the ten years of the administration of Presi- 

 dent Nichols there was never a moment when there was not in the 

 College treasury a balance remaining from the funds at his disposal. 

 He insisted upon it, even to the point of creating trouble with 

 some members of the Faculty, that departments must keep within 

 their allowances. The Board voted that any department-head ex- 

 ceeding his appropriation should forfeit his position. The result 

 was that the credit of the College became gilt-edged, and a condi- 

 tion was created under which the legislature from session to session 

 could be approached on a business basis and asked for appropria- 

 tions without the necessity of defense against a charge of business 

 mismanagement of funds already allowed. 



President Nichols was a man of few words, either written 

 or spoken, but he, with assistance from others of course, succeeded 

 in establishing the College in the confidence of the people to such 

 an extent as to enable him to get appropriations for buildings and 

 maintenance far beyond that of anything previously thought of. 

 The following buildings were provided for: Physical Science Hall, 

 Dairy Hall, Auditorium, Horticulture Hall, Veterinary Hall, Do- 

 mestic Science and Art Hall, Mechanical Engineering Hall, Seed 

 House, Gymnasium and Armory, and extensive glass houses for 

 the Departments of Horticulture, Botany, Agronomy, and Entomol- 

 ogy. In addition, Pairchild Hall was greatly enlarged, the shops 

 were enlarged to more than double their former capacity, and the 

 old chemical laboratory, which was burned May 31, 1900, was 

 rebuilt as a Women's Gymnasium. 



The four courses of study established by the preceding adminis- 

 tration were revised considerably in 1899 and continued. The 

 main features of the revision were that the first year was made 

 the same for all students, excepting for such differences as sex 



