The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1889 vol.1 no. 7

              ATLA Vol. 1. ATLANTA, GA., FEBRUARY, 1889 THE BULLETIN OF ATLANTA  UNIVERSITY. ------------•------------ Issued monthly during term time from the University printing office. Entered at the Atlanta. Ga., post office as second class mail matter. Subscriptions at 25 cents a year may be sent to the treasurer of Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. When it became necessary, a little more than a year ago, for Atlanta University to appeal to its friends for more than double the usual amount of donations for meeting the current expenses of the year, it was not without misgiving, on the part of some, that the appeal was made. It was a large increase of gifts to ask for. The time for circulating the appeal and securing the responses was limited. The University had never been represented at the North by troupes of its students heralding its appeal with the charm of song and oratory. Only to a very limited extent had it ever employed a financial agent. Many intelligent people were wholly ignorant of the name of the institution, and many more, to whom the name was somewhat familiar, had but the faintest conception of the magnitude and significance of its work. And yet there was a prevailing faith that the appeal would be heard and responded to. The Glenn bill of the Georgia Legislature, threatening with the chain-gang all teachers who taught colored and white pupils together, was still fresh in the public mind. So also was the less ferocious but still hostile legislation which took the place, of the Glenn bill and by which Atlanta University was compelled to relinquish its appropriation of $8,000 a year from the state, because it could not agree to exclude white pupils from its privileges. Who that believes in the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man could for a moment doubt that an institution thus persecuted for righteousness' sake would be abundantly provided   for by the liberty-loving people of our land ? And it was. Many former donors doubled, trebled, and quintupled their gifts, and many new donors were added to the roll of our friends. Not only was the full amount asked for supplied, but a generous ten per cent of that amount was given in addition. It was good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Even more gratifying than the response in money, was the moral support given to the University by the names of the donors and others who publicly, endorsed our appeal. We call special attention to the list of last year's donors printed in this number of the Bulletin. Among the names will be found many of the most distinguished and influential men and women of the land, representing all creeds and shades of political opinion. And in connection with these donors we would make grateful mention of the generous and most valued assistance rendered by many of the most prominent newspapers of the country— these likewise representing all the different creeds in politics. We stated frankly last year that our appeal would have to be renewed annually until an endowment could be secured. The endowment is not yet in sight, and the situation is precisely the same this year as last, except that our work continues to grow'and need of funds increases slightly from year to year. Not less than $18,-000 will be needed this year, of which from two to three thousand dollars will be required for student aid and the remainder to pay teachers' salaries and the other current expenses of the institution. The amount asked is but a few hundred dollars more than that which was received last year. Our confidence is strong that the friends of the University will respond with the same liberality as before. ENDOWMENT----WHY? I.    Atlanta University is needed. The Freedman's children must be educated ; teachers must be trained; carpenters, blacksmiths, machinists, farmers, dressmakers, cooks, nurses, and printers must be qualified ; and voters and the mothers of voters must be enlightened. II.    The colored people cannot provide for their own higher or industrial education. The masses are poor and will long remain so; there are no millionaires and but few thousandaires among them. III.   The state has not filled and will not fill this want. Even the annual appropriation of $8,000 is no longer available. Besides, only a few of the United States provide for higher and industrial education, and the policy of the state's so doing is questionable. IV.    Missionary societies cannot be expected to do this work permanently. Their mission is rather to originate work than to perpetuate it. The larger and higher institutions of learning founded by them should be made independent of missionary aid at the earliest possible day. V.   The property and control of Atlanta University are vested under a charter in a board of trustees with the same powers and safeguards as those of other colleges. Nearly all the present members of the board have been long and intimately acquainted with its work. VI.   The ability, of the trustees to manage the affairs of the University has been demonstrated by the fact that during the first twenty years of its history, now nearly completed, they have developed one of the largest and most efficient institutions of learning in the South, have acquired land and buildings worth $250,000, free of debt, and have never closed a single financial year with any outstanding debt for current expenses. Ought not such an institution to be endowed, and cannot its trustees be trusted to receive and manage an endowment ?