April 22, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



665 



This law gave to all municipal corpora- 

 tions the right to appropriate property for 

 university purposes, excluded the tax for uni- 

 versity purposes from the maximum levy for 

 general purposes, provided for pro rata taxa- 

 tion for university property, for public im- 

 provements on university grounds; made the 

 city auditor the supreme accountant of the 

 university funds and finally provided that the 

 control of such universities shall be vested in 

 and exercised by a board consisting of nine 

 electors of said municipal corporation who 

 shall be appointed by the mayor. The board 

 thus constituted was empowered to exercise 

 full control over the university.^ 



The provisions of this law, relating to the 

 appointments of trustees, when brought for- 

 ward in the legislature, were met by appro- 

 priate protest, but the principle of uniformity 

 which it was intended to establish in the 

 government of municipalities, a principle by 

 which authority and responsibility alike were 

 centered in the mayor, prevailed — and the 

 University of Cincinnati went into politics. 



Of the board appointed, eight members are 

 republicans, and one is reputed to be a 

 democrat. 



Scarcely had the eloquence of Secretary 

 Wilson and Secretary Loomis and the ap- 

 plause over the achievements of President 

 Ayers died into an echo, when a concerted 

 move was made to displace the executive un- 

 der whose intrepid leadership so much progress 

 had been made. 



It was then discovered that some of the 

 alumnal members of the board, former pupils 

 of the deposed professors, whom, in one or 

 two instances, they had formerly served in a 

 professional capacity, had entered into a com- 

 pact with a minister and a doctor — a repre- 

 sentative of and a professor in the medical 

 faculty, also members of the new board, to 

 remove President Ayers. About this time 

 one member announced in the public press 

 that he knew how every member of the board 

 stood upon the question of dismissing Presi- 

 dent Ayers before they were appointed. 



It was openly stated that this compact was 

 a written one and that it was entered into 

 not later than a few days after the appoint- 



ments were made. An inspired article in one 

 of the city papers declared that President 

 Ayers was about to resign, as a majority of 

 the board was unfavorable to his administra- 

 tion. 



Word was sent in. a personal way to Presi- 

 dent Ayers intimating that a change in the 

 administration was desired. President Ayers, 

 however, chose to stand upon the record of his 

 achievements and to place the onus of his 

 displacement, if he had to be displaced, upon 

 the board where it belonged. 



When the matter became public there were 

 general and surprised inquiries as to the 

 cause. The answers made vague references 

 to ' arbitrariness ' and ' lack of tact,' but more 

 generally consisted in the statement that 

 ' Ayers is not the man for the place.' Dr. 

 Charles A. L. Heed, former president of 

 the American Medical Association, and a 

 member of the former board, answered these 

 objections as follows : " There is, it is true, 

 some talk about a ' lack of tact ' — but the tact 

 of President Ayers seems to have given the 

 university the best four years since its founda- 

 tion by Charles McMieken; there are mutter- 

 ings about ' arbitrariness ' — but the arbitrari- 

 ness of President Ayers seems to be of the sort 

 that has brought order out of chaos and estab- 

 lished government instead of anarchy; and 

 there are whisperings about ' tone ' — but the 

 tone of President Ayers seems to be of the 

 stuff that, imparted to professors and students 

 alike, has resulted in hard work in the class- 

 room and fair play on the athletic field and 

 that has infused high ideals into the lives 

 of all who have been brought under his in- 

 fluence." 



Mr. E. C. Goshorn, a leading manufacturer 

 and business man, wrote : ' To-day the uni- 

 versity occupies a position of which we may 

 all well be proud, and it certainly would be a 

 mistake to ask for the resignation of the man 

 to whom this result is due in part if not 

 wholly.' 



Hon. John W. Warrington, a leader of the 

 Cincinnati bar, wrote: "T had supposed that 

 the last commencement day of the university 

 furnished satisfactory evidence to all, not only 

 that good work was being done at the univer- 



