The Territory Owns the University. So Why Is Seattle Paying for It?

The appeal of the Regents of the Territorial University for aid in erecting a building to accommodate students from abroad is meeting with a liberal response. The citizens of Seattle, with proverbial public spirit, are subscribing.

The University located in this city is a Territorial institution. Everything belonging to the University is the property of the Territory, and in the joint possession of every citizen of the Territory. It is not so with the Insane Asylum and the Penitentiary, which were provided by the General Government, and whose location was the outcome of a distribution of the public buildings of the Territory among its then prominent towns. It is no more the duty of Seattle to support the University than that of Olympia to support the Capitol, or the citizens of Lewis county to provide for the maintenance of the Penitentiary. Legally they stand precisely on the same footing.

The University occupies property in the city of Seattle which is worth at a low estimate a very large sum. The growth of the city has made it very valuable. It is not taxed. It belongs to the Territory. Yet the University was instituted by a law of the General Government and given to the Territory, and it has thus far been almost entirely maintained by the people of this city as a pay school. The principal attendance has been from hence. The generosity of private citizens has, during the past two years, been its mainstay. The last Legislature adjourned without voting a dollar toward its maintenance, and left property of the people — belonging to the Territory — to the care and support of private charity. During the past two years the Regents have received by private contribution over $4,000, which has been expended in repairs to and care of the building and additions thereto. By means of exhibitions, etc., several hundred dollars additional have been raised and expended in the purchase of a piano and apparatus. A library of over 900 volumes belonging to the city is placed in the University for the use of its students. All the furniture and fixtures in the University, with the exception of the library, belong to the Territory, although largely procured by contributions from this city and vicinity.

The citizens of Seattle do not argue that they have done too much for the University. It is an institution in which they are deeply interested and of which they feel justly proud. So also should be every citizen of Washington Territory. But what we, speaking for the people here, do claim is that the University has not received fair treatment by its owners, the people of the Territory; that it has not been properly considered and maintained by the Legislature, which presumably represents the people; that while our citizens have given liberally and frequently of their means for its support and growth, the Territorial Government has been niggardly and indifferent. This is unjust to the people of this city, and is bad treatment of an institution the maintenance of which should be a matter of special pride.

The time for local jealousies, if such there have been, regarding its location, is past. The Territory grows apace. It is increasing rapidly in wealth and population. Students from every quarter are seeking admission to the University. Its location is conceded to be unsurpassed. It is valuable property, growing more so yearly. It is extending in influence and enlarging in educational facilities. If it has been largely local, it is so no longer. It is a fixed, permanent, creditable public institution. It is, and should receive cordial recognition and generous support. Seattle will ask [aid] of the Legislature, and in the demand should, and we believe will, [join] every public-spirited and progressive citizen in the Territory. An institution such as this should not be made a mendicant; it should not be compelled to beg for food and clothing. It deserves friends inland to demand for it a portion of the public revenues commensurate with its dignity and worth.