CHAPTER XXV 



CONCLUDING YEAES 1881-1885 



TO this work of pressing on the development of the 

 leading departments in the university, establishing 

 various courses of instruction, and warding off attacks as 

 best I could, was added the daily care of the regular and 

 steady administration of affairs, and in this my duty was 

 to cooperate with the trustees, the faculty, and the stu- 

 dents. The trustees formed a body differently composed 

 from any organization for university government up to 

 that time. As a rule, such boards in the United States 

 were, in those days, self -perpetuating. A man once elected 

 into one of them was likely to remain a trustee during 

 his natural life ; and the result had been much dry-rot and, 

 frequently, a very sleepy condition of things in American 

 collegiate and university administration. In drawing the 

 Cornell charter, we provided for a governing body by first 

 naming a certain number of high State officers the gov- 

 ernor, lieutenant-governor, speaker, president of the State 

 Agricultural Society, and others ; next, a certain number 

 of men of special fitness, who were to be elected by the 

 board itself; and, finally, a certain proportion elected by 

 the alumni from their own number. Beside these, the eld- 

 est male lineal descendant of Mr. Cornell, and the presi- 

 dent of the university, were trustees ex officio. At the first 

 nomination of the charter trustees, Mr. Cornell proposed 

 that he should name half the number and I the other half. 

 This was done, and pains were taken to select men accus- 

 tomed to deal with large affairs. A very important pro- 



427 



