26 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



1:30 P. M. TUESDAY AFTERNOON. 



Mr. Mason : "The meeting will please come to order. I 

 take pleasure in introducing to you Mr. E. Davenport, Dean of 

 the College of Agriculture, University of Illinois." 



Mr. Davenport 



''Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Six years ago the University of Illinois went upon the Mill 

 Tax basis. It was believed by many that at last a plan had been 

 found which would effectually care for the institution indefinite- 

 ly. This plan was based upon the assumption that the increase 

 in taxable property of the state would be sufficient to meet the 

 normal growth in the University. 



Two facts were lost sight of in this assumption : First, 

 that there is no direct relation between the increased educational 

 demands of a commonwealth and its taxable property; second, 

 that the University of Illinois is not yet built, so that the prob- 

 lem of its support is something besides the problem of its main- 

 tenance. 



Whatever theories might once have been held, six years' 

 experience has shown that it is impossible to meet the increased 

 demands for new courses of instruction and the increased at- 

 tendance in students, and at the same time construct the plant 

 of the University upon anything like an adequate plan. Indeed, 

 the time is near when every dollar of revenue provided by the 

 Mill Tax is likely to be needed for the operating expenses of the 

 institution, leaving nothing with which to construct additional 

 buildings. 



In this connection it should be pointed out that the proceeds 

 from the Mill Tax fund are not very rapidly increasing, and 

 that measured by other first-class educational institutions in the 

 world — among which Illinois purports to stand — we have only 

 begun to build the permanent plant. Many of the buildings 

 have been cheaply built. They were good enough for small 



