Page:The History of the University of Pennsylvania, Wood.djvu/67

Rh in the government of the newly constituted university. The gentlemen thus appointed, together with Thomas Mifflin, the governor of the state, met, for the first time, on the 18th of November, 1791; and, having regularly organized themselves, proceeded without delay to restore to order the disjointed affairs which had been committed to their charge.

One of their first measures was to unite the offices of secretary and treasurer in a single person, to whom they gave a compensation adequate to the trouble and responsibility of his station, exacting, at the same time, satisfactory security for the faithful discharge of the duties intrusted to him. As treasurer he was bound not only to receive and disburse money, and to perform such other services as are usually attached to this title; but also to exercise a general care and superintendence over the estates of the university, and, with the approbation of the trustees, to execute all those measures, of a financial character, which it had hitherto been the custom to refer to the management of committees. It was thought that the attention of one individual of respectable character and standing, whose peculiar interests, moreover, were made to correspond with the duties of his office, would be more profitable to the institution, in the management of its pecuniary affairs, than the gratuitous services of members of the board, whose public spirit could not be expected to withstand, on all occasions, the calls of private business, or to bear, without a relaxation of effort, the irksomeness and