PRESENTATION OF PORTRAIT.

LETTER OF PRESENTATION.

COLUMBIA, MISSOURI, June 24, 1873.

THE HON. ELIJAH PERRY, Vice-President Board of Curators, State University of Missouri:

Dear Sir: We have been appointed a committee by a number of the personal friends of the Hon. James S. Rollins, who desire, through us, to present to the Board of Curators a life-size portrait of him, to be permanently placed in the University edifice, along with those of other gentlemen who have manifested a commendable zeal in the cause of education.

This portrait was executed recently by George C. Bingham, Esq., Missouri's gifted artist, and is pronounced by competent judges a faithful likeness of the original, and a most excellent work of art.

We may properly add that this compliment is justly due Mr. Rollins on account of his lifelong labors in building up and promoting the best interests of the institution, now taking rank with the first literary and scientific institutions of our country.

More than thirty years ago Mr. Rollins was the author and principal advocate of the Bill in the General Assembly, providing for its establishment, and was amongst the largest contributors to secure its location in the County of Boone.

Whilst a member of Congress from this district, he was the earnest friend and advocate of the Bill approved July 2, 1862, providing for the endowment of agricultural and mechanical colleges by the general Government in the different States.

Subsequently as a member of the General Assembly of the State, from the County of Boone, he was the author of the Bill which provided for the location of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Missouri as a department of the State University, and which, after a prolonged struggle, running through a number of years, became a law, and was approved February 24, 1870.

He was the author and the earnest advocate of the Bill approved March 11, 1867, establishing a normal department in connection with the University, and securing, according to the ninth article of the Constitution of the State, a portion of the State revenue for the permanent maintenance and support of the institution.

He was the author of the Bill subsequently amended by an amendment offered by Senator Morse, of Jefferson County, adjusting a complicated account between the University and the State, approved March 29, 1872, whereby one hundred

thousand dollars was added to the permanent endowment of the University. Thirty-five thousand dollars was appropriated for the benefit of the Mining School department of the University, located at Rolla, in the County of Phelps, and the scientific building was completed.

He was the author and eloquent advocate of the Bill approved April 1, 1872, throwing open the doors of the institution and making it substantially free to all the youth of the State, male and female, between the ages of sixteen and twentyfive years, which has been the means, among other agencies, of bringing within its walls nearly five hundred students during the collegiate year just about closing, representing upwards of seventy counties of the State.

We feel that these long-continued and faithful labors of Mr. Rollins deserve honorable recognition, not only at our hands, but by every friend of education; and that this painting, so handsomely executed and so true to nature, should have a place in the halls of the University, so that his form and features, along with the fruits of his labors, may thus properly descend to the future youth of Missouri.

In referring specially to a few of the principal measures of which Mr. Rollins was the author and chief advocate, adding to the strength, permanence, respectability, and usefulness of the University, we do not in any way underrate, but commend alike the efforts and actions of all friends of education in and out of the General Assembly, at home and abroad, in their zeal and energy to build up and sustain a first-class literary and scientific institution in our great State. We have the honor to remain, with high regard, your obedient servants,

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: It was the understanding and agreement of a portion of the members of the committee, if not of all, who subscribed the letter just read by the honorable secretary of the Board, that it should speak for the committee and the citizens they represent; that no address formally presenting this portrait should be superadded on this

occasion.

Certainly this was my understanding; and it was not till the moment of my rising I was informed of a desire or expectation on the part of any one

that the letter of the committee, so full and accurate in its historical citations, and, I may add, so pertinent to the occasion, should be supplemented by remarks from me.

Mr. President, my long residence in Columbia as a journalist, a residence and professional life which antedate the completion of the building in which we are assembled, and the deep interest I have always felt, personally and professionally, in the prosperity of the University of Missouri, have made me familiar with its history, and with the self-sacrificing efforts of James S. Rollins in public and private life, and for a period of years embracing more than a generation, to enlarge its means, quicken its efficiency, and add to the number and glory of its achievements.

We behold to-day in the breadth and solidity of this foundation the grand results of his efforts, seconded and supported by the efforts and sacrifices of other friends of the University, among the great living and the illustrious dead.

Let these efforts and sacrifices be remembered and reported. His and theirs are the common heritage of the country, the aggregate achievements of more than a quarter of a century. While we to-day conspicuously honor him, and in presenting to the Board of Curators this life-size portrait, the masterpiece of Missouri's most gifted artist, George C. Bingham, we also honor ourselves, let us not forget the noble men who by unexampled liberality in 1839 secured the location of the University at Columbia. Let us not forget those who in subsequent years, as members of the faculty of instruction, contributed almost unrequited labor and great learning to the maintenance of this institution.

Mr. President, noble deeds will be reported. Distinguished services will be remembered. The works of good men follow them. Some one has uttered the golden thought that "the planet, the pebble, goes attended by its shadow. The rolling rock leaves its track upon the mountain, the river its channel in the soil, the animal its bones in the stratum, the fern or the leaf its modest epitaph in the coal. The falling drop makes its sepulchre in the sand or stone; not a foot steps in the snow or along the ground, but prints in characters more or less lasting a map of its march, and every act of the man inscribes itself in the memories of his fellows. The air is full of sounds-the sky of tokens; the ground is all memoranda and signatures, and every object is covered over with hints, which speak to the intelligent."

How grandly, how eloquently to-day speak the growing reputation and achievements of this University, of the unflagging zeal and personal sacrifices of time and money of the early friends of the University of Missouri! In its unexampled prosperity we trace in characters more or less lasting a map of their march. In its achievements we read their modest epitaph.

Among these early friends stands conspicuously James S. Rollins and by

:

his side a long and honored line of noble men, most of whom have gone to their reward, men but for whose active coöperation and great sacrifices the University of Missouri would not occupy this spot to-day.

I have here a paper, Mr. President, which is eloquent of early and remarkable sacrifices for this institution, and one which was never before exhibited to this Board. It is a copy of the original subscription made by the people of Boone County in 1839 to secure the location of the University at Columbia-a paper which may quite appropriately be called a Roll of Honor. Although made nearly a third of a century ago and at a period immediately succeeding the great financial revulsion of 1837, it guaranteed to the State of Missouri a bonus of one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars, on condition of the permanent location at this place of the University of the State.

This Roll of Honor in some enduring form ought to be spread on the records of the Board; and with this view, Mr. President, during our present session, I intend offering a resolution making it the duty of the Secretary, in an appendix to the journal, alphabetically to record their names, together with the amount subscribed by each.

Look at that Roll! There stands the name of the eminent citizen and lifelong friend of the University whose portrait we present to the Board. On the same line with his name is his subscription of two thousand dollars.

But he is not alone. See there also the name of Edward Camplin, a citizen who although unable to read or write made his mark and subscribed (and paid) three thousand dollars. See there also the names of Eli E. Bass, David S. Lamme, and Jefferson Garth, each for the same large sum; and after these for large amounts the names of William Jewell, Anthony W. Rollins, Warren Woodson, William Cornelius, David and Roger N. Todd, John Guitar, Sinclair Kirtley, John B. Gordon, Moss Prewitt, Robert S. Barr, Oliver Parker, James H. Bennett, Moses U. Payne, A. W. Turner, William H. Duncan, Robert S. Thomas, William Provines, Joseph B. Howard, Hannah Hardin, N. W. Wilson, R. C. Branham, Jonathan Kirkbride, Stephen Bedford, David M. Hickman, Thomas M. Allen, and hundreds of others for similar or smaller amounts, alike liberal and public-spirited.

Sir, the history of the people of no county of a western State affords evidence of such sacrifices for the cause of education, or presents a more brilliant page or a roll of honor more worthy of the lasting gratitude of mankind.

Mr. President, nearly twenty years elapsed after the admission of Missouri into the sisterhood of States before any legislation was had looking to the location of a "Seminary of Learning" or State University provided for in the Act of Congress authorizing the people of the Missouri Territory to form a constitution and state government.

The first act having in view the location of the institution was introduced by Mr. Rollins, then a member from the County of Boone, during the session of 1838-9-an act which was approved February 8, 1839. [See Session Acts 1838, p. 185.] By this act five commissioners were appointed to select a site for the State University, namely, Peter H. Burnett of Clay, Ch. Durkee of Lewis, Archibald Gamble of St. Louis, John G. Bryan of Washington, and John S. Phelps of Greene. The act provided the site should contain at least fifty acres of land in a compact form within two miles of the county seat of the County of Cole, Cooper, Howard, Boone, Callaway, or Saline.

It was made the duty of the commissioners to meet in the city of Jefferson on the first Monday of June, 1839, and thereafter at such times as they might appoint at the county seat of each county mentioned, to receive conveyances of land and subscriptions of money, to be void if the University was not located at the county seat of the county in which they were made.

After visiting all the county seats and receiving bids as aforesaid the commissioners were to return to the seat of government and open the bids; "and the place presenting most advantages to be derived to said University, keeping in view the amount subscribed, and locality and general advantages, shall be entitled to its location."

The passage of this act was followed, in five of the six counties to which the location was limited, Boone, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, and Howard, by the most extraordinary contest, in the popular excitement and unexampled liberality it disclosed, ever witnessed in any State at any period of our country's history. In each of these counties little else was done for several months than to attend public or private meetings, make and hear addresses, and circulate subscription papers with the view of excelling rival contestants in the amount of the bonus offered for the location of the University.

During the pendency of the contest in the County of Boone, which was indeed signalized by a great upheaval of the popular heart, James S. Rollins, the author of the Act of the Legislature, was a tower of strength. Although younger in years than many of the noble spirits who contributed their acknowledged wisdom, great influence, and larger means to the magnificent enterprise, Mr. Rollins, unexcelled in zeal, ceaseless in effort, and eloquent in speech, led the friends of education in Boone County to battle and to victory.

Under the law each county was privileged to appoint an agent or com missioner to represent it at the seat of government at the final meeting of the commissioners whose duty it was to open the bids and make the location. The Boone County Court honored James S. Rollins with the