OF THE

BOARD OF REGENTS

OF THE

STATE UNIVERSITY,

ΤΟ THE

LEGISLATURE OF MINNESOTA.

PRINTED BY AUTHORITY,

Saint Paul:

PIONEER PRINTING COMPANY,

REPORT.

To His Excellency William R. Marshall, Governor of Minnesota:

By an act of the legislature, approved March 4, 1864, entitled "An act relating to the University of Minnesota," we, the undersigned, were appointed regents of said university, for the special purpose of liquidating the indebtedness of that institution.

But so great was the amount of this indebtedness in proportion to its assets, that the people generally, and even those friends of the institution who had labored most earnestly for its success and who were best informed in respect to its condition, deemed the task a hopeless one.

Governor Ramsey, in his message to the legislature in January 1862, expressed not only his own, but also the public opinion, in relation to the condition and prospects of the University, when he said:

"The affairs of the university will demand your atten"tion. The report of the board of regents, will give you a "very full understanding of its circumstances, and will "doubtless leave the impression on your minds, as on oth66 ers, that the unfortunate condition of that institution can, "in view of present events, be best adjusted by appointing "a commission with full power and authority, to transfer "the lands and property of the university in payment of "its debts. The claims against the institution amount to "$93,500. Upon close scrutiny this may doubtless be re"duced. It is possible that the lands, of which there are

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“46,080 acres, may be made to liquidate the debts and save "the university the buildings and adjacent lands. I come "with great regret to this conclusion, but after much con"sultation with the members of the board, who have been "actuated by a sincere desire to save this much prized “foundation to the noble purposes for which it was granted, “no other alternative seems practicable, while its contin“ued retention only adds to its embarrassments without opening any new sources of relief.”

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In appendix, to the second annual report of the board of regents, (the same report referred to by Governor Ramsey,) the treasurer of the board, in view of the then condition of the university, uses the following language:

"The question arises what shall be done? It is a ques“tion that might as well, and better be met at once, than “ deferred till all hope disappears, and not even the building “be saved. To me there seems to be the following ways by which this debt can be cancelled: "One,-to make sale of the land to parties holding claims “at a price that can be agreed upon per acre.

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"Another, to negotiate with a party or parties who will "take the whole grant of land, or as much thereof as might "be required, and become responsible for the whole indebt"edness."

Here it will be observed that a faint hope, only, (perhaps it would be more proper to say, a bare possibility,) is expressed that the university building and site might be saved.

And from this time until our appointment no material change had occurred except that interest upon this debt of $93,500, had continued to accumulate until it amounted in round numbers to $125,000.

Under these circumstances we entered upon the duties assigned us, with some doubts and misgivings, but with a firm determination to use, to the best of our ability, the means placed in our hands for the accomplishment of the work given us to do, and sustained by the hope that we

might, in some measure, be instrumental in saving to the state, in part at least, this munificent endowment, and in causing it to be devoted to the noble purposes intended by the donor.

We did not consider it worth our while to undertake any negotiations with university creditors until we had funds in hand with which to liquidate their claims.

In order to supply our emply treasury we must make cash sales of lands. The question to be first determined was what lands? After fully considering our present necessities, as well as the future best interests of the University, we were decidedly of opinion that the better course was to dispose of the agricultural lands situated in Rice and Dakota counties.

We, therefore, proceeded forthwith to put these lands upon the market, making sales upon such terms as to credit, &c., as, all things considered, seemed to us best.

We soon found ourselves in possession of funds, to a limited extent it is true, but sufficient, as we believe, to warrant us in making a cautious attempt to diminish this immense pile of debt which we had determined to remove. The attempt was made and was successful, and from that time until the present we have continued the process of selling lands for the largest price we could obtain and of taking up and cancelling the bonds, notes, judgments and other evidences of indebtedness against the University for the least attainable per centage of the amount in each case.

We do not deem it necessary here to enter into the details of our operations—the appendix hereto, we hope, will be found sufficiently minute to satisfy the most curious, but will make a general statement showing all the funds received, and whence, and the character and amount of debts cancelled.

We received:

From former regents,

$1,171 21