The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 2, 1916, Page 5

J. H. Worst, for 20 years president s of the State Agricultural col ege, was | removed this week by the state board of regents, the new governing body of the state educational institutions. The board then named Dr. E. F. Ladd, food commissioner and dean . of the 9, de artment of chemistry, as president. ; eadmg up to this came a series o of sensational developments in regard to the college which kept the college : ¢ and newspapers in an excited state | for a week. Things started when @ i President Worst delivered an ultima- tum to the board of regents, putting N it up to them to restore the institu- - tion to the form of organization ex- isting before the Better Farming as- sociation was absorbed by the college {i © two years ago. { .. Authority Divided President Worst charged that the o Better Farming association had been 4 /[P an organization ' of business men % formed for the purpose of getting control of the college and that it had suceeded. In 1913 the college took il over the association and combined its 1 work with the college work in the ex- periment and extension department. Thomas P. Cooper, director of the Better Farming association, at that P time was made director of the ex- 4 periment and extension work of the college, a position he still holds. This branch of the work was taken out from under the management of Presi- dent Worst when the consolidation il : took place and since then Director q Cooper had coordinate power I with President Worst, responsible & Y onllly to the board in charge of the college. . . President Worst declared this sit- ; uation was undermining the efficiency §\ of the school, dividing it against it- self under the two-headed manage- ment, and he demanded he be restored Vi to full power. He also made it plain z ¢ - that after the reorganization of the ¢ollege under this plan he expected, due to his 20 years’ service, to be re- ected president, with full, restored f powers, for a year, when he expected Dk to.resign for good. He said he want- P ed to leave the school in the state of - g organization and efficiency from which i it had been dragged . down by the domination of the Better Farming ‘movement. He said he believed it due him, who had been shorn of his; au- thority .and - humijliated two_ years RS - Jear,- as & wvindication;: © "7 retired to private life. £ Offer Emeritus Job The board’s reply to this ultimatum was to tender President Worst the position of president - emeritus, an B . .-advisory..and honorary position:with: :- no authority in the active manage- %' 3 ment of the college. At the same 3 time the board announced that Presi- n dent Worst’s ideas on the reorganiza- . A tion were just and had been accepted, % 1 and that the new president to be i elected would given complete It control of all departments of the col- lege, with Director Coo%z- . subor- dinate to him, thus abolishing the two-headed management. President Worst promptly refused to accept the position of president emeritus, claiming it an insult to him in view of what he had demand- ed, and he made public documents tending to prove that he was being removed as the first step in a plan to put the institution completely in the hands of Big Business men, or under their influence. He cites the fact that at the time of the organ- ization of the Better Farming asso- ciation and previously public state- ments of Professor H. L. Bolley, plant pathologist at the school, regardi plant diseases in North Dakota, h aroused the ire of real estate agents dealing in North Dakota lands and had thrown a “scare” into money lenders outside and inside the state, who held mortgages on lands in the state and did not want to see ‘the Steen Tells Facts - Special Hearing and Their - Taxes Lowered. e . State Treasurer John Steen, who " seryes on the state board of equaliz- ation by virtue of the fact he is treas- s ations~-were allowed to. rem , to be again given full control for * ago, | again gr 1 Befope e mortgaging. business hurt through - On Railroad Deal Explains How Garriers Given - urer,.in-an interview with the Leader " vepresentative recently disclosed the . faets regarding the meeting of the . board last fall, when railroad valu- i ' 2. the - . THE NONPARTISAN LEADER | Worst Is Ousted--Fate of College Sill In Doubt Board of Regents Make Ladd President--Agricultural Col- lege Head Says Big Biz Responsible for Action Against Him---Regents Not Ready to Assure Farmers Specifi- cally that Their College Will Not Be Belittled. disquieting reports about plant dis- eases. . . Make Serious Charge President Worst charges it was the plan of the Big Business men back of the Better Farming association to get_control of the extension and ex- periment department of the college to suppress these reports.. The as- fate of the school itself. trade school. seeking higher education. to the farming classes. - farmers stands. 7 same in proportion to the total valu- “ations in the state, despite the fact that a great proportionate increase was placed on farm lands. Mr. Steen contends he was the only *member of the board who stood out against the majority policy in regard ‘to; railroad valuations, which werc left ‘ ridiculeusly ‘low in’ the light cf the expert report of E. Dana Durand, em- ployed by the state tax commission - to_find values for taxation for the railroads. He also tells of the unpre- cedented rehearing given the railroads - and of how their valuations were sub- stantially reduced at this rehearing. e Thought Values Low “I was convinced from the start that the railroad valuations were too low and cont d.for-a Taise of $1000 fi'" mile on the Great Northern and orthern Pacific:valuations?,-said Mr. . Fate bf College Still at Stake The recent sensational developments at the State Agricul- tural college, while they brought to a head the matter of the two-headed management and resulted in assurances that this would be rectified, have not cleared the fog surrounding the President Lewis F. Crawford of the state board of Tegents, while stating with other members of the board that “the board intends to continue the college as the largest and predominating educational institution of the state, and will work to make it the equal or superior of any similar institu- - tion in the United States, frankly refuses to make any spe- cific promises regarding the uncertainty existing as to what courses, if any, are to be removed to the state university, or whether the school is to be reduced to merely a farm and As reported by the Leader before, the board is having conducted a survey of the state educational institutions -with the view of readjusting courses between the schools and “eliminating wasteful duplication.” The board declares that until this survey is completed it does not knew specifically ‘what it will do at the agricultural college. - The agricultural college at present is a great institution of higher learning for the industrial and farming classes. 1t is more than a trade and farm school. courses leading to degrees, such as engineering. s> ‘The school draws a class of students which under no con- | - ditions wonld go to the state university, which-stands for pro-§ - fessional and cultural learning as against practical instmction. ) If technical courses are removed to the university it means closing the door of opportunity to thousends of youag- raen - ---and -young women from the farms. - littling and subjugation of the one school dedicated solely to § - the education of the farming and industrial classes. = . In their speeches to the faculty of the college last week four members of the board of regents said they were bank- - ers by profession, and the fifth member is a doctor. These’ business and professional men have the fate ‘of the farmers’ college in their hands. Regardless of what courses they make available at the state university, the agricultural college will continue to draw the great majority of those from the farms Therefore, all courses, technical or otherwise, whether leading degrees or not, if they pertain to agriculture or are of a mechnical or practical nature, as engineering, should re- main at the agricultural college, where they will be available President Wosrst has stood on this ground and it is the ground on which every friend of the college and of the It is unfortunate that the board of regents can not give some assurances along -this line to quiet the rumors and charges which have been going the rounds. sociation was interested solely, he oints out, in increasing the pro- uctivity of farmers, boosting land values thereby and helping the mort- gage business. President Worst’s charges and re- fusal to accept the honorary pesition offered him inflamied the students ‘at the college, who revolted, passed vig- It has technical It would mean = be- - ———————————————— = r Steen. “This would have been a raise of $1200 a mile after the general in- crease of 20 per cent put on all prop- erty in the state by the board had been added. But I was voted down. The roads were increased slightly as a compromise. : ; * “I considered the matter settled and took a few days off to go to my home at Rugby. “While there I got word from State Auditor Carl O. Jorgen- . son, ‘secretary of the equalization: board, that the Great Northern, Soo and Milwaukee- railroads had asked and secured a rehearing before the ° board .on their va that I and was wanted back in Bismarck. . .. “At this rehearing the majority on. . the boamddeeaded w;,redtmg the valu- « - soready: for approval, Aundit -~ Son ot having finished his tabulations o“ :|~and’ make-the thing a success. FIVB orous resolutions in a mass meetin; deng.\uncing the board of regents ang praising “prexy”. The student paper, the Spectrum, carried an editorial declaring the removal of the presi- dent was the first step in a plan of the board to reduce the stan ing of the agricultural college, making it merely a trade and farm school and removing some of the technical courses to the state university at Grand Forks. - Last Saturday the board of regents administered a vigorous reprimand to the student body, delivered personally to the students who called on the board to present their resolutions. The board then called a meeting of the faculty of the school and delivered them a lecture on their alleged in- ability to enforce discipline and con- trol the ‘student body, as evidenced by the resolutions of the student massmeeting and the -editorial in the Spectrum. Feared Worst’s Acts Following these developments the board, after repeated secret sessions, formally removed President Worst and elected Dr. Ladd to his position. Dr. Ladd in accepting the new job does not give up the position of food commissioner or drop his research work, The board of regents states that it did. not feel justified in making Mx. ‘Worst president for another year with’ full, restored- powers, because they feared what he would do. . They claim the factional differences existing at the school, to which Worst was a party, unfiitted him to take over en- tire charge. They claim he virtually threatened to “whack a few heads” and -“torpedo some submarines” on - the campus when restored. While - seeing the force of his argument about reorganizing. the school they claim they would ‘hot trust Worst as president under that yeorganization. - ations formerly fixed by the board, as follows: . Great Northern.......reduction ‘$449,838 b BB LE l ...reduction 362,376 Milwaukee reduction . 123,000 Total reduction $935,214 . “L objected strenuously to this pro- cedure after: the valuations had -once carried, however. “*The ‘board: of equalization has not :adjourned ‘yet:and- the - ot heen standing: gng‘tbnthgh:; :;—ym ;; itor: ‘Jorgen- ete. R i(r; Steen’s :reference to t.he»fué --that the board is'still, theoretically, in- session :and that- the- minutes-have ~-not.been approved is significant. The . board met last August and there is no “provision. in law: for its holding ses- ‘sions into the mext- year, though per- 3 gpfi, the procedure could not 'be term- Despite the fact that: the - minutesare not approved:or the print- .. ed proceedings published; the collec- tion -of taxes has commenced and the ~work .of the board has been certified to all counties. The custom has.been and should be ' for the board to approve the minutes . of its actions before they are made legal and binding, as otherwise it is left to one man, the state auditor, to_handle the whole matter without being checked by the rest of the board. Such information as-has been avail- able on the action of the board has been obtained from the penciled notes * of Auditor Jargenson, there not bei a full, authentic report, althoug most of the work of the ‘board was done months ago. ;i o Bditor Nonpartisan Leader: I am glad that I was one of ‘ the six dollar suckers and know i now that it: was the hest money | I‘ever invested, “although I was told a few days after I joined | by the neighbor who' steered the organizer: around in this neigh- borhood, that the thing was a fake. I suppose some business man told him that, but I am | glad I had the good sense not to stop payment on that check, and he knows jbetter now, too, since the Leader made its appearance. I I wish to say to the-Leader that | you shouild impress the mem- ] | bers more, that it is their duty | to each one work as hard as they camn, to get new members: I | The Leader sure géts at the bot- | ’ It’s” high time | the farmers were-waking up. - | o R | .