NEW HAMPSHIRE REDUCES APPROPRIATION TO COLLEGE

The New Hampshire legislature for 1915 adhered to the policy, followed by previous legislatures, of voting state aid to Dartmouth College, thereby recognizing the long existing relations between the college and state. The amount of the appropriation was reduced, however, from $20,000, which amount the college had received for a number of years, to $10,000 annually.

There has been much speculation among alumni as to the real cause of this reduction. Those who have closely watched the work of the legislature, and others who are in a position to know the facts in the case, explain that the reduction in the appropriation was prompted by the necessity of piacticing economy in appropriations, and for such reason only.

State appropriations have been mounting for years, and prior to the last state campaign they had reached such a figure that economy became one of the chief issues in the election. The successful candidates were elected upon economy platforms, and one of the first acts of the recent legislature was to reduce the state tax from $800,000 annaully to $750,000. This in itself meant a reduction in revenue of at least $50,000, compared with the total for the year just preceding. This reduction in revenue, coming at a time when the demands for special appropriations were greater than ever before, meant either a reduction on various appropriations regularly authorized, or the entire abandonment of new worthy legislation.

The legislature adopted the policy of reduction in appropriations, and Dartmouth took her reduction with the rest.

The appropriation bill, as originally drawn, carried $20,000, and the bill as thus drawn passed the House committee on Education without opposition. Under the rules of the house the bill then went to the committee upon appropriations, which committee reported the bill back to' the house with the unanimous report that the bill ought to pass, but with an amendment carrying $10,000 annually instead of $20,000. When this committee report was read in the house one member moved that consideration of the bill be deferred and that the bill be made a special order for the following week. This incident was at first interpreted as evidence of hostility to the bill, but when the special order was reached it was very evident that Dartmouth had many friends in this year's legislature. One member did speak against voting any appropriation to the college this year, but he was followed by Wm. J. Ahern of Concord, Horace F. Hoyt of Hanover, Bell of Exeter, and Prof. Charles F. Emerson of Hanover, all speaking in support of the bill. When the bill came to a vote the affirmative on the question "shall the bill pass ?" was overwhelming. In fact the negative vote was almost negligible.

There are those who declare that the original $20,000 could have been retained had the friends of the College desired to make a contest for such retention, but those interested in the bill preferred to keep the College in the position of a recipient of whatever the state wished to give as a matter of policy, and not to assume the attitude of asking for a specific amount and then making a fight for the same.