Now, we will get at the amount of legislative expenses, or corruption fund if you will, by ascertaining the difference of the cost of the bid and the sums voted or to be voted: .$100,000 There was voted at the October election... Total voted and to be voted... Cost of bid as above.... Total corruption fund . . . $230,000 200,200 $ 29,800 There old man Turner, put that in your pipe and smoke it; and you, fellows at Bloomington and Lincoln, learn from this how you are to deal with radical legislatures in future. Some say the corruption fund comes nearer to $50,000 than $30,000; and that "the ring" intends to wring this out of the voters of Champaign county one of these days. Such a statement is a slander. ARGUMENTS TO BE USED IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. But some outsiders, perhaps, will ask, Will the people of Champaign county vote this $130,000? Of course they will, for we have "a dead-fall" on them, which they can't avoid; and I will tell you how-Tom B. Macauley says, somewhere, "That never was a work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic church." I think if Tom knew of the Champaign county "ring" organization, he would "go back" on that statement. In order to carry the scheme through, we have got ready the following arguments, and they are to be used there, in town and country, according as they will touch the tender spots of voters: The "sell out" argument; The "advance-in-real-estate" argument; The "great-demand-for-labor" argument; The "no-sale-of-liquor-within-a-mile-of-the-college" argument; The argument that the college act is no force as against the city charter, called for short, the "poppycock" argument; The "evangelical" argument; The "dead-open-and-shut" argument. The above are to be used within the limits of the town of Urbana and West Urbana, and explain themselves with the exception, perhaps, of the "dead-open-and-shut" argument. This is used with the silly few who persist in denouncing the whole thing as infamous; and consists in bullying, denunciations and threats. I am happy to report to you that no minister of the gospel, or member of the church, requires the use of the "deadopen-and-shut" argument. As a member of that prayerful sect, the Hard Shell Baptists, I am rejoiced at the circumstance. For the country, "the ring" have got up the following argu ments: The "poultry" argument,-subdivided in the "cock-andhen," the "duck-and-gosling," the "hen-turkey," and the "50cents-a-dozen-for-eggs," arguments; The "stock" argument,-subdivided into the "bull-calf," the "breeding-sow," and the "high-price-of-mutton" arguments; The "dairy" arguments,-subdivided into the "butter-andcheese" argument, the "sweet-cream" argument, the "sourmilk" argument, and for the Dutch, the "smere-case" argument; The "vegetable" argument,-subdivided into the "applepie Root" argument, the "early-potato" argument, and, for the Germans, (and a strong card it is,) the "sour-krout" argument. They use a great many others; but these are the arguments on which "the ring" rely, and which will carry them through. HOW THE RING GOT SCOOPED. But I must tell you how we were scooped here at Springfield when we got together to organize. We had-and when I say we, I mean "the ring"-allotted the offices out pretty much as follows: A radical senator, whom the boys rather irreverently called "Old Pinkeye", was our man for regent. The persistency and steadiness with which the round of "rings," together with "other good and reliable considerations," pointed him out as the man for the head of the institution. Griggs was to have the treasureship, "with a low bond"; Dunlap the corresponding secretaryship; and Dunlap, Cunningham, and whomsoever the governor should appoint (and we and Scroggs in view) were to be the finance and executive committees. (I may as well confess here that I had my eye on the professorship of moral philosophy and had already got some notes together for a course of lectures on the theory and practice of early piety.) But our plans were knocked endways by the election of Bro. Gregory as regent, the fixing of the bond at $300,000 instead of $30,000, and the choice of Bunnover Griggs. And, worst of all, not a d- d solitary man of the Champaign trustees got on the finance or faculty committees, except Judge Joe Cunningham; and he will never set Boneyard brook afire, you may be sure. That's the way they snubbed us and be d- d to them! Do you wonder one of "the ring" turns state's evidence? THE DISPUTED TRUSTEESHIP. Before I end I must tell you about the disputed trusteeship, alluded to by an Urbana correspondent of yours, some days ago. Col. Coles made his threat good that Busey should not be appointed. The governor, (and a better man does not live, nor exemplary, if he has like myself a few Hard-Shell characteristics,) on receiving letters, from Harmon and Somers, both democrats, appointed Scroggs. As soon as this was known in Urbana, a committee of half the town came down here a-howling.-After a great deal of labor Dr. Scroggs consented to send in his resignation; and the governor half promised in case he could, under a just construction of the organic act, that he would, after the first of April, (a good day for such a job,) accept Scroggs' resignation and appoint Busey in his place. Any one with half an eye can see that this half-promise of Richard's is only "a blind", and that Scroggs, who is always in luck, and a roaring radical, is sure to hold on to the trusteeship-unless he gets a better thing. But the ever-ready "ring" folks get out of this business two strong arguments,-one for use on the anti-Scroggs men, and the other to rake in the anti-Busey men. To one party they say, "See how the governor has scooped Busey"; to the other, "Don't you see what a dead-fall we have got on Scroggs?" Gov. Richard played the thing sharp, bless his innocent heart and rosy face! A LUCKY MAN. By the way, this Dr. Scroggs is one of the luckiest men alive. He is the first man who nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency; he was postmaster at Urbana for a long time, and has the same office within his grasp at this moment; he beat the democrats and radicals both for the treasureship; he out-manoeuvered the committee who came to Springfield to compel him to resign; he is now setting his pins to succeed Bromwell, and with good chances of success. Will C. W. take the hint, and this time get in ahead by nominating Dr. Scroggs for the Presidency? There, there's the whole story, and isn't the whole business as straight as a string, say? (Signed) Rev. H. S. P. B. DOCUMENT NUMBER 21 An interview of Allan Nevins with Clark Robinson Griggs reported in 1915 to the President of the University. It is essentialy the same as a communication written by Mr. Griggs, himself, to President Edmund J. James under date of June 8, 1904. The interview is a little fuller in details in regard to some events. Clark Robinson Griggs and the Location of the University The Morrill Land Grant Act was signed by Lincoln July 2, 1862; and though Illinois delayed her acceptance of its benefits, all attempts to secure a dissipation of the funds made available fell through, and after the adjournment of the Legislature of 1865 it was apparent that the next session would witness the location of a single land-grant institution. Mr. Griggs remembers several mass-meetings held at different points in 1865 and 1866 by communities ambitious to secure the new college, and himself attended one at Bloomington. The State agricultural and horticultural societies, and various educational workers, were deeply interested in seeing laid the foundations of a sturdy center for the teaching of the practical arts. By midsummer of 1866 it was evident that Champaign, Morgan, McLean, Logan, and Cook Counties would be prominent in the contest. Interested persons in all these communities were trying to impress upon their fellow-citizens the importance of the matter. Nowhere did feeling become more lively than in Champaign County. The eastern portion of the State, it was felt, had been neglected in the allotment of the State institutions; it had a keener and more exclusive interest in agriculture than most others; and Messrs, Stoughton and Babcock, with the aid of other citizens of the County, had vindicated the region's zeal in education by the founding of the Urbana and Champaign University. Many people, moreover, had been stimulated by the movement for a railway from Danville through Urbana and Bloomington to Pekin to take thought for the future of the Twin Cities. During the summer a committee of citizens in Urbana was formed by the efforts of Judge Cunningham, Col. Sheldon and Henry Miller, |