The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 45, July 1941 - April, 1942 Page: 52
409 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
I have made no attempt to dominate the selection of
the officers and employes of the college, but I will not
appoint a member of the board of directors for the
next two years who will antagonize my position upon
this question or who will elect a man to a subordinate
position who will antagonize me.
I hardly think I can be more emphatic than I have
been in this letter. My course in the matter is deter-
mined upon and I hope to have the cooperation of the
college rather than to have its enmity and opposi-
tion.189
Colonel Milner was greatly opposed to the bill and fought to
have it defeated. In newspaper articles he cited to the public
a list of those states that had pursued the Texas plan of giving
control to their agricultural and mechanical colleges, pointing
out how successful had been their use of the plan. The move
to take the inspection from the college was defeated, and Colonel
Milner was given credit for its failure to pass.19' In the face
of Governor Colquitt's avowed determination to have the bill
passed and the change made, Colonel Milner now could hardly
expect gubernatorial good will.
In January, 1913, during the time President Milner was
conducting his campaign against the livestock feed inspection
bill, an A. & M. student strike occurred. This unhappy affair,
taking place just at the time that the college was enjoying
increasing favor in the eyes of the public, had as much, per-
haps, to do with Colonel Milner's later resignation as did his
vigorous encounters with the Governor.
For many years the practice of hazing all student newcomers
to the Agricultural and Mechanical College had been condemned by
the public as much as it had been indulged in by the older pupils.
Evidence showed that it had played its part in forcing unwill-
ing students to take part in the strike of 1908 under Dr. Har-
rington."9 When Colonel Milner became president of the insti-
tution, he inaugurated the policy of requiring the cadets to sign
a pledge to refrain from the practice. Now and then, in spite
1s9"Politics Puts Out Col. Milner," Waco Morning News, June 12, 1913.
[W. L. Boyett, the man to whom the letter above quoted was written,
lived on the edge of A. & M. campus for years, (according to the testimony
of Colonel Ike Ashburn, June 12, 1940), running a little store and selling
firewood to the students. Boyett served as Colquitt's informant on mat-
ters relating to the internal conditions and affairs at the college.]
19Olbid.
191Dr. Green L. Davidson to Col. R. T. Milner, February 23, 1909, in
R. T. Milner Portfolio, University of Texas Archives.52
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 45, July 1941 - April, 1942, periodical, 1942; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146053/m1/58/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.