entire income available when the principal should exceed $3,000,000.*
Since Dr. Dodge alone seems to have understood the intricacies of University-Education Society relations, the need for their clarification became urgent following his death. Because of their ambiguity not only had presidential candidates declined appointment but the Education Society Trustees had become concerned since, under the circumstances, it was uncertain what benefits the Seminary would derive from the Dodge Fund. The old Compacts of 1847 and 1853 had been particularly vague about responsibility for the maintenance and improvement of real estate. The two Boards ratified a new Compact in 1893 which re-defined their relations. It provided that the University should take over the Society’s real estate and the income of its endowments’ support and maintain the Seminary. Provision was made also for joint action in the appointment and removal of: Seminary professors, for annual inspection of their classes, and for changes in the theological curriculum. The Baptist Education Society Board of Trustees was to have continuous representation on the University Board of not less than five of its own members.
The interval during which the University had no president ended in 1895 when the Trustees, somewhat desperate at being unable to fill the vacancy, ratified the appointment of George William Smith who was said to have been James B. Colgate’s personal selection. This was a surprise and Smith, himself, admitted later that he never knew why he had been chosen. He had joined the faculty three years before as the successor to Professor Terry who had gone to the University of Chicago. A graduate of Colby College in 1883 and of Albany Law School in 1887, he practiced at the bar for three years before entering Johns Hopkins University; here he took advanced work in history, English literature and philosophy and served as an instructor. He was a popular professor and as an eligible bachelor in his early ’30’s was welcomed in village society where he paid special attention to one or two of the reigning belles. The future of the University under his guidance was felt to be full of promise but in June, 1897, less than two years after his inauguration, he had to resign for reasons of health. His inexperience as an administrator, the work of the Dean which he took over since. Professor Andrews had retired from the office, and his
*New York, Laws (1900), ch. 24. See also subsequent legislation on the Dodge Fund, Laws (1933), ch. 521; (1937), ch. 71; (1945), ch. 177; (1949), ch. 275.
