om early years has been borrowed
by the State which until 1896 paid the original interest rate of seven
percent. The Auditor-General then decided that the legal rate of six
percent should be enforced. The matter was laid before the Supreme
Court, however, and the old rate was restored. In 1900 it was definitely
ruled by the Attorney-General that "the Auditor-General has no authority
to refuse to audit and pay vouchers for real estate purchased by the
Board of Regents," and subsequently in 1911, the Supreme Court
maintained that the "judgment of the Regents as to the legality and
expediency of expenditures for the use and maintenance of the
institution" could not be considered "subordinate to that of the
Auditor-General."

The powers of the Regents have also been strengthened by other rulings
of the Attorney-Generals of the State. Thus in 1900 the power of the
Regents to determine student fees was declared not subject to
legislative control, while in 1911 the same freedom in the matter of the
determination of entrance requirements was conceded. The Board was also
declared in 1908 free from the application of an act of the previous
year providing for the approval and regulation of salaries in the
various state institutions.

The University has thus been as fortunate in the development of its
relations with the State as it has been in its internal growth. Though
there have been many critical times, the movement has always been
forward. The Regents have been careful and conservative in their
relations with the Legislature, but they have insisted upon the
independence of the University and have been sustained in this position
with increasing firmness by the Supreme Court. The Legislature has shown
an ever-increasing friendliness toward the University and has never
refused to come to the aid of the institution, whatever its views as to
the constitutional questions involved in the establishment of the
University. This was shown as never before by the 1919 Legislature,
which not only granted to the University appropriations amounting to
$2,200,000, but gave it by the unanimous vote of both houses, a thing
which had never happened before. The Legislature even included one item
for which the officers of the University had hardly dared hope to have
favorable action at that session.

With its constitutional status so well established; with the Legislature
so ready to co-operate in furthering the best interests of the
University