During the session of the legislature in 1887, Prof. L. L. McInnis, chairman of the faculty, and Director Garrett were appointed by the board a committee to visit Austin and present the needs of the college to the proper committees. The action of that legislature affecting the college was an appropriation of $25,000 out of the general revenue and $10,000 out of the university funds for two years; an-act accepting the Federal appropriation of $15,000 for the establishment of agricultural experiment stations in connection with the various agricultural and mechanical colleges; and an act establishing a department of agriculture in connection with the department of insurance, statistics and history, and making the commissioner of that department ex officio member of the board of directors.

CONFERENCE AS TO THE COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY.

While the above committee was in Austin there was an attempt made, at the urgent solicitation of friends of both institutions, to arrive at an agreement on some concerted plan of action with reference to legislation for the Agricultural and Mechanical College and the university, and also as to a proper share of the university funds to be apportioned to the Agricultural and Mechanical College. Friends of both institutions, the governor of the State, and members of the legislature urged an agreement, and a meeting at the Driskill Hotel in March, 1887, was appointed, at which were present, on the part of the Agricultural and Mechanical College, Directors Garrett, Scott and Cavitt, and L. L. McInnis, secretary of the board; on the part of the university, Dr. T. D. Wooten, president of the board of regents, Regent E. J. Simkins, and A. P. Wooldridge, secretary of the board of regents, and Prof. Leslie Waggener, chairman of the faculty, and on the part of the medical branch at Galveston, Messrs. Spencer, Luckett, and Callaway, and Hon. Walter Gresham, member of the legislature from Galveston. After full and free discussion, an informal agreement was reached and Messrs. Simkins, Garrett, and Gresham were appointed to reduce the agreement to writing and present it to a full conference. The following, taken from the minutes of the board of directors, is the full text of the agreement entered into by the full conference (with the reservation on the part of the university representatives that they would not undertake to bind the regents to ratify the action of the conference): For the regents of the University of Texas and the directors of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, it is agreed

1. That the university and Agricultural and Mechanical College shall remain under separate management, as now provided by law.

2. That the Agricultural and Mechanical College shall receive annually, after the 1st of March, 1889, one-fifth of the available university fund. Said one-fifth shall be paid directly by the comptroller to the board of directors of the Agricultural and Mechanical College upon proper requisition, and shall be disbursed by said board as in their judgment the best interests of said college may require.

3. That all income derived by the university from other sources than the above, such as tuition fees, private gifts, and appropriations by the State for specific purposes, shall not be taken into account in estimating the one-fifth above mentioned; and the endowment of the Agricultural and Mechanical College by Congress and such appropriations as may be made by the State and by Congress for its benefit shall belong exclusively to that institution.

4. That the legislature be requested to appropriate the sum of $50,000 for the erection of the buildings of the medical branch of the University of Texas at Galveston; this sum to be accepted from the State in full of all claims by the university for money heretofore used by the State belonging to the university fund.

5. That $2,500 out of the available university fund shall be appropriated by the legislature for the use of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas annually for two years beginning March 1, 1887, provided that the sum of $5,000 shall be appropriated by the present legislature out of the general revenue for the use and benefit of the university.

6. That a concerted effort shall be made by the friends of the university and the friends of the Agricultural and Mechanical College to get the present legislature to set aside an additional million acres of land for the benefit of the university and its branches.

7. That the directors of the Agricultural and Mechanical College and the friends of that institution shall use all legitimate means for the passage of the bill, now pending in the legislature, giving the regents control of the university lands.

8. That the regents shall have control and management, subject to the above provisions, of all the university funds and of all lands belonging to the university.

9. It is finally agreed that the directors and the friends of the Agricultural and Mechanical College and the regents and friends of the university shall unite in an effort to secure the legislation necessary to carry out this agreement, and all other legislation necessary for the growth and prosperity of the university and its branches. Signed (subject to the approval of the regents), by E. J. Simkins, C. C. Garrett, Walter Gresham.

A meeting of the board of regents was called to consider this question, but it was never held, and in a paper before the State Medical Association, the president of the board of regents said:

It was an open secret that Bryan and Galveston had entered into an alliance offensive and defensive against the main branch of the university at Austin. The debt of $87,000 due by the State to the university was to be paid with an appropriation of $50,000, which should go to build the medical department at Galveston. Bryan was to have her one-fifth of the university fund, Galveston would get a valuable building and permanent investment which would insure her in the location of the medical school in all time to come, and the university proper might look out for itself. With this ingeniously contrived scheme the regents had nothing to do, but watched its concoction and dénouement with a complacency born of repeated disaster, etc.

GRATIFYING PROGRESS.

The board of directors, on the recommendation of the faculty, having provided for bachelors' degrees, the class of 1888 received on graduation degrees as follows: Six, B. S. A.; one, B. S.; five, B. M. E. ; four, B. C. E.

The college had now grown and increased in popular favor, conforming more and more to the strict spirit and letter of the law as

means were placed at its disposal, prejudices were fast dying out, and the harsh criticisms of the press had almost ceased; many departments have been added, all tending to develop the scientific, technical, and industrial features of the college. The departments of veterinary science, of horticulture and botany, of civil engineering and physics, of drawing, and of experimental agriculture (the latter in connection with the agricultural experiment station, established in 1888), are the added features. New shops have been built and equipped with modern machinery, more and better equipment has been supplied for the agriculture department, better service is provided in the mess hall department, and better barrack accommodations have been made for the students. With all these advantages a better moral tone has gradually developed among the students, rowdyism is not so prevalent, and the student corps is composed of a quiet, well-behaved, and gentlemanly set of young men.

ELECTION OF PRESIDENT ROSS.

In 1890 the board of directors made the coup d'état of their official careers in the selection of Governor L. S. Ross as president of the college. He is too well and favorably known to require a biography at my hands, but brief allusion to some of his achievements may not be out of place. I copy the following from a recent issue of the Galveston Daily News:

Gen. Lawrence Sullivan Ross was born at Bentonsport, Iowa, September 27, 1838. In the following spring his father, Capt. Shapley P. Ross, moved to Texas. His early boyhood was spent surrounded by hostile Comanches, and inured to hardships and dangers. In 1858 while at home on a summer vacation from Florence Wesleyan University, of Alabama, he joined the Van Dorn campaign with a company of 135 friendly Indian scouts, and won his spurs and soubriquet of "The Boy Captain,” in a desperate battle with the Comanches, where 95 of them were slain and 350 head of their horses were captured. In this fight General Ross recovered from these brutal savages a little white girl about 8 years of age, whose parents were never known, but whom General Ross brought up and educated, naming her Lizzie Ross. A dangerous wound received in this engagement almost put an end to his career. He lay for five days under a post-oak tree on the battlefield before he could be removed to the nearest United States post, 90 miles distant. Before the dead were all buried and the smoke of battle had cleared away all the officers of the famous Second Cavalry of the United States Army engaged in the battle, most of whom afterward became prominent generals on both sides during the late war, drafted and signed a petition to the Secretary of War urging young Ross's appointment as an officer of the Regular Army, and Gen. Winfield Scott wrote him a complimentary autograph letter tendering his support and influence. As Ross was not yet of age and desired to complete his college course he did not avail himself of the honor, but on his recovery returned to his alma mater, where he graduated with distinction the following summer. Immediately on his return to Texas in 1859 he was placed in command of the frontier by the clearsighted governor, Sam Houston, and, organizing a band of faithful soldiers of like metal with himself, he defeated the Comanches with great slaughter, destroying their principal village and stronghold, captured over 400 horses, and rescued Cynthia Ann Parker. In this memorable battle General Ross killed in a hand to hand com