Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/523

476 education. The extent to which the subsequent development of the University has been in accordance with the policy announced in this report, is apparent from the fact that all of the courses and departments just named, with the exception of the departments of commerce, mining, and medicine, are in operation at the present time, together with several additional courses and schools.

The establishment, therefore, of a school of law at Cornell was but the carrying out of a part of the original university scheme. That such a school was not organized earlier was due to circumstances beyond the control of the governing board. The University was opened in the fall of 1868, with ample provisions, as it was supposed, for the demands that would naturally be made upon its treasury. In a very few years, however, the financial outlook was threatening in the extreme. Pine lands had become a drug; and in consequence of this, the income which had been counted upon from this source was not forthcoming. Expenditures were, of necessity, reduced to a minimum. All departments suffered, but most those whose prosperity depended upon expected profits from the sale of lands. The establishment of new schools at such a time was, of course, out of the question. This condition of affairs continued until 1881, when a marked appreciation in the value of pinelands and large sales by the University at good figures put the institution upon a solid financial basis. From that time to the present, the growth and prosperity of Cornell in all directions have been uninterrupted.

With the incoming of the present administration, the original purpose of the founders and Trustees of the University to add at some time professional schools was again made a question of the hour. In his inaugural address, delivered Nov. 19, 1885, President Adams, in considering the possibilities of enlarging the scope and the influence of the University in the near future, suggested, among other desirable advancements, the early establishment of a school of law. In his first annual report, submitted to the Trustees June 16, 1886, the President brought the matter formally to the attention of the Board, and concluded his consideration of the subject by recommending that a department of law be established, and that it be opened for instruction in the autumn of 1887. At the same meeting an exhaustive review of the situation was also presented by a committee that had been previously appointed to consider and report on the question, and this, too, concluded with a recommendation that such a department be opened at an early date. As the result of these recommendations, the School of Law was officially established. By an announce ment issued by the President, June 17, 1886, the public were advised of the fact, and that the school would be in readiness for the admission of students in the autumn of 1887.

The Faculty of the school was chosen the following March. It had been previously determined that that body should consist of resident professors, whose time should be devoted to the work of instruction, and of such non-resident professors and lecturers as might from time to time be appointed. It was thought by the Trustees that the teaching of the law is as much a profession as is the practice of it, and that no school can now attain to the greatest power or usefulness without having a resident faculty of competent men whose duty it is to give their predominant energies to the labor of imparting instruction. The Hon. Douglas Boardman was elected Dean of the school, and Harry B. Hutchins, Charles A. Collin, Francis M. Burdick, Moses Coit Tyler, and Herbert Tuttle, resident professors. The last two named were already professors in the University. The follow ing gentlemen were elected non-resident lecturers: The Hon. Francis M. Finch, the Hon. Daniel H. Chamberlain, the Hon. William F. Cogswell, the Hon. Theodore Bacon. Since that time the following have