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VOL III. RICHN
Our Ec
THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN UNIVERSITY.
A QUESTION THAT WILL NOT DOWN.
BY THORN WELL JACOBS.
My father has often told me of the first proposal
to establish a Presbyterian University for
the Southern Church. It was in Augusta, Ga.,
in 1861, at the time of our first General Assembly.
A conference was held there, one of whose
members was the immortal B. M. Palmer and
another the illustrious James Henley Thorn well
looking toward that end. Even at that early date
the "city" of Atlanta was suggested as a suitable
location for such an enterprise on account of
its accumulating railway traffic. Nothing came of
the conference?nothing tangible?but some
ideas seem to follow Plato's law, they persist
until they have bodies given them. It had long
been a theory of Dr. Thornwell, well known to
all who have read his works carefully, that Education
falls rather than rises; percolates rather
than vaporizes. He believed that a system of education
should begin from the top with a university
rather than at the bottom with a high school.
But that is neither here nor there.
Since that memorable conference many things
have happened. The greatest war in history said
"no" to its plans and prevented a successful
outcome of its purposes. Afterward came Reconstruction
days with their added horrors and
when the South at last was in a position to plan
again for educational advance, Dr. Thornwell
was a memory and Dr. Palmer an acred man.
Although nearly a decade has passed there are
those among us who remember how nearly the
Southern Church came, once again, to having a
university after its own heart. Interestingly
enough, Atlanta was again the storm center of
the movement. Something had been said about
the consolidation of Clarksville and Columbia
Seminaries and it soon grew to include the collegiate
part of the Southwestern Presbyterian University.
For months the Synods most vitally concerned
were agitated over the question. It was
voted to remove Columbia, easily enough, for
that was really only a going home (the seminary
o lO\ having been born in Georgia) but when it came
-r?*,to removing the university from Tennessee the
, \ loO movement met its death. Atlanta had raised
something over a quarter of a million dollars for
the prospective institution for this town of five
thousand in Iftfil had Wnmo nnn icon
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had acquired the spirit of an unbounded enthusiasm
and the purpose of a man who begins to
see a glorious destiny before him.
Long ago when we were boys, we learned thax
"the third time is the charm." Even in the wake
of the bitter disappointment caused in Atlanta
by the failure of the consolidation plan the wis
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IOND, NEW ORLEANS. ATLANTA. JU
lucational I
est of her citizens knew it was only a postponement.
Things that are to be have a way of biding
their time but they always work their will.
If any one happens to have a file of the Pres
Dyterian of tmHSouth at hand and will turn to
the Special Educational number published in
August, 1910, he will find the idea again expressed,
this time with a great many accumulated
facts and evidences in attendance upon it. Shortly
after that article was published, the Presbytery
of Paris, away out in Texas, overtured the
General Assembly to establish such a school and
to locate it in Atlanta. The public prints had it
that way although, I understand, the last suggestion
was later abandoned lest it might seem
a prejudicing of location. The Synod of Georgia
heard of this and promptly seconded the moJ|
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REV. W. L? LINGLE, D. D..
Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Ga.,
who has been appointed Chairman of the Assembly's
Committee on a Southern Presbyterian University.
tion. Then Dr. J. I. Vance came down to address
tne great Presbyterian Convention in Atlanta
last November and suggested to the 8,000 Presbyterians
assembled there that our fiftieth anniversary
could in no way be more fittingly observed
than in putting our long-craved school into brick
and mortar here in this Georgia city where the
conference was held which initiated the Southern
Presbyterian organization. Months passed
and in the hustle of preparation for the General
Assembly at Louisville no one was appointed to
look after the university in its councils. No one
went up to champion it.
But the idea defended itself. For when the
(Continued on page 2.)
BMAM
WESTERN PRESBYTER/ATA
>al Presbyter/an s
thernPresbyter/a n
LY 26, 1911. NO. 30.
dumber
WHAT THE UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE IS
DOING.
BY W. L. LINGLE, D. D.
The recent General Assembly of our Church
passed the following resolution: "That this General
Assembly in answer to overtures Nos. 71
and 72 from the synod of Texas and Presbytery
of Atlanta, touching the establishment of a great
Presbyterian university in Atlanta, appoint an
ad interim committee of five members to consider
this whole question with regard to the feasibility
of locating such a school in Atlanta or any other
central point." ?
Under this resolution the following committee
was apointed: Rev. Walter L?. Lingle, Atlanta,
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w. v. vaisuu, jDi'isiui, ienn.; nev. J.
H. Bellot, Honey Grove, Texas; Mr. John B.
Boss, Charlotte, N. C.; and Mr. Rutherford
Lapsley, Anniston, Ala.
Now comes a request that I wili write down
some of my ideas about the proposed university.
This I cheerfully do with the understanding that
there has been very little time for forming mature
judgment and with the understanding that
I speak only for myself. I was not at the Assembly
and do not know what was in the minds
of the brethren who voted for this resolution.
There has been no meeting of our committee
and I do not know that the other members would
subscribe to this paper. Here are some thoughts
which have come to me:
1. First of all we ought to decide what kind of
a university the Southern Presbyterian Church
needs, or whether she needs one at all. The committee
I am sure would welcome light on this
subject. If you have any ideas please let us have
them.
2. We ought to make a careful estimate of
the minimum amount of money needed to start
such a university. Universities are rather expen- -1
sive luxuries. My own idea is that we ought to *
have a million and a half dollars to start on. \
3. "We ought to inquire carefully into sources
from which this money might come. I believe
that we can count on Atlanta for $500,000 which
would be one-third of the whole amount. This
would include a site worth $150,000, at a moderate
estimate. I believe that $350,000.00 could
be secured from what I consider legitimate
sources outside the Southern Presbyterian
Church. That would leave $650,000.00 to be rais- |
ed in the Church at large. Is the Church at large !
interested enough to raise that amount of mon- j
ey? It may be that some existing institution or Jj
institutions might wish to come into the movement.
If so they might bring with them half
* wi . ' - ' *
mis amount, mat would leave 9325,000 for the
Church at large to raise. If the Church really
wants a university she could readily raise that