d growth of the College Department. In
1876 for example, the roster of the department shows thirty-five
students and four graduates. In 1907, forty years later, the
corresponding figures were, seventy-five and eight, a gain of about
one hundred per cent in forty years or two and a half per cent a year.
In 1911 these figures had grown to two hundred and forty-three, and
thirty-one respectively, a gain during the period of six years covered
by this administration, of about two hundred and forty per cent in
students and nearly three hundred per cent in graduates. This is
approximately a gain per year of forty per cent in enrollment and
forty-eight per cent in graduates. While much of this remarkable
growth is due to the general awakening of the University, yet no small
part of the credit belongs to the inspiration of Professor Kelly
Miller who became Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1907
near the beginning of the period under consideration. Through his
efforts and reputation as a writer the claims of the University and
the College of Arts and Sciences were brought to the attention of
aspiring youth throughout the country.[527] Upon the resignation of
Dr. Thirkield to become Bishop of the Methodist Church in 1912, the
Reverend Doctor Stephen M. Newman was chosen as the head of the
university. He has served in that position for five years.[528]

Serviceable as have been many of the educators connected with Howard
University it has had and still has many problems. Its chief
difficulty, however, is a financial one. Although it is impossible to
figure out how the University could have succeeded without the aid of
the United States Government, this connection of the institution has
been in some respects a handicap. National aid seems to have
permanently excluded the institution from the circle of the
beneficiaries of those great philanthropic agencies which have played
such a prominent part in the support of education during the last half
century. With the exception of the Theological Department, which
receives no part whatever of the Congressional appropriation, the
income to the institution from benevolent sources has played but a
minor part in its development. On the other hand, the United States
Government has never appropriated sufficient funds to maintain the
University as a first class institution. The present appropriation of
$100,000 a year falls far short of what the school needs to function
properly. It se