UC-NRLF 
 
 SB 13 252 
 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, 
 
 RECEIVED BY EXCHANGE 
 
 Class 
 

 MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 IN HONOR OF 
 
 WILLIAM FREEMAN VILAS 
 
 AT THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 IN HONOR OF 
 
 WILLIAM FREEMAN VILAS 
 
 AT THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 
 
 * / 
 
 ARMORY HALL 
 
 OCTOBER THE TWENTIETH 
 
 NINETEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHT 
 

 61 
 
 
 
WILLIAM FREEMAN VILAS 
 
 Born at Chelsea, Vermont, July 9, 1840 
 Died at Madison, Wisconsin, August 27, 1908 
 
 A. B., University of Wisconsin, 1858 ; LL. B., Albany 
 Law School, 1860; A. M., University of Wisconsin, 
 1861 ; LL. D., University of Wisconsin, 1885. 
 
 Admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of New 
 York and of Wisconsin, 1860; Captain of Company A, 
 Twenty-third Kegiment of the Wisconsin Volunteer In- 
 fantry, August, 1862, Major, February, 1863, Lieuten- 
 ant Colonel, March, 1863, resigned, August, 1863; Pro- 
 fessor of Law in the University of Wisconsin, 1868-1885 ; 
 Reviser of the Statutes of Wisconsin, 1875-1878 ; Trus- 
 tee of the Wisconsin Soldiers' Orphans' Home, 1874- 
 1893 ; Regent of the University of Wisconsin, 1881-1885 ; 
 Permanent Chairman of the Democratic National Con- 
 vention, 1884; Member of the Assembly of the Legisla- 
 ture of Wisconsin, 1885; Postmaster General of the 
 United States, 1885-1888; Secretary of the Interior, 
 1888-1889; United States Senator, 1891-1897; Member 
 of the State Historical Library Building Commission, 
 1896-1906 ; Regent of the University of Wisconsin, 1898- 
 1905; Vice-President of the State Historical Society, 
 1898-1908; Member of the Wisconsin Capitol Commis- 
 sion, 1906-1908; Author of "A View of the Vicksburg 
 Campaign," published by the Wisconsin History Com- 
 mission, October, 1908. 
 
 183204 
 
PROGRAM 
 
 Invocation 
 
 By THE KEVEREND ADDISON A. EWING 
 
 Vocal Solo Morning Hymn Henschel 
 By MRS. MARIE WHITE LONGMAN 
 
 Address on behalf of the Regents 
 
 By PRESIDENT WILLIAM DEMPSTER HOARD 
 
 Address on behalf of the Commonwealth 
 By CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN BRADLEY WINSLOW 
 
 Vocal Solo Like as the Hart Allitsen 
 By MRS. MARIE WHITE LONGMAN 
 
 Address on behalf of the College of Law 
 By PROFESSOR BURR W. JONES 
 
 Address on behalf of the University 
 
 By PRESIDENT CHARLES RICHARD VAN HISE 
 
 Benediction 
 
INVOCATION 
 
 OUR FATHER, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy 
 Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, 
 As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. 
 And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who 
 trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; 
 But deliver us from evil ; For thine is the kingdom, and 
 the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 O ALMIGHTY and everliving God, the source of all 
 power and might, in knowledge of whom standeth our 
 eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom, we, thine 
 unworthy servants, do laud and magnify thy holy name. 
 Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the 
 glory and the victory and the majesty; for all that is in 
 the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the king- 
 dom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. 
 We yield unto thee most high praise and hearty thanks 
 for the wonderful virtue of those who have been the 
 lights of the world in their several generations. And 
 especially we thank thee for him whose life and services 
 we commemorate this day; for his illustrious example 
 and inspiring force, for his love of country and love of 
 learning. Grant, we beseech thee, that at the day of 
 judgment his soul and all the souls of thy children who 
 have feared thee and loved righteousness, may with us 
 and we with them fully receive thy promises and be 
 made perfect altogether; through the glorious resurrec- 
 tion of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 [5] 
 
COLONEL VILAS AS A REGENT 
 
 WILLIAM D. HOARD, PRESIDENT OF THE REGENTS 
 
 The pages of human history disclose the upward 
 struggle of man towards a more perfect ideal of indi- 
 vidual and community life. Slowly but surely is society 
 crystalizing in the direction of the Golden Rule; more 
 and more is this principle accepted among men as the 
 gauge of measurement for all latter day civilization. 
 That utterance of the great Teacher, "He who would 
 lose his life shall save it," epitomizes this great univer- 
 sity and all it has inspired in the hearts of men. Incon- 
 sistent as the statement may appear to some, the great 
 heart of humanity has but little respect for the power or 
 wealth that men may heap up for themselves; but for 
 the spirit of sacrifice it has an abiding memory. Sacri- 
 fice is the essence of patriotism, of religion, of citizen- 
 ship, of parenthood, of education, of all that distin- 
 guishes man from the brute creation. It is the inspir- 
 ing voice of all great enterprises. Public sentiment re- 
 volts today, as it never did before, at selfishness, and 
 honors, as it never did before, the giving of life, fortune 
 and great effort to the nourishment of the souls of men. 
 The man whose memory we honor today has done great 
 things for his state. Although distinguished as a law- 
 yer, soldier, publicist and legislator, in none did he lay 
 deeper and broader foundations for public esteem than 
 in his relations with this university. Through it all 
 from the day of his studentship to the crowning act of 
 
 [6] 
 
his life, every effort was marked by the spirit of glad 
 sacrifice in its behalf and for its honor. 
 
 He was first recording secretary of the University 
 Alumni association, organized June 26, 1861. As mem- 
 ber of the assembly in 1885-86, it Avas through his influ- 
 ence that the appropriation was made for the construc- 
 tion of science hall. He was regent from 1881 to 1885, 
 and from 1898 to 1905. His was the inspiring mind that 
 led to the. erection of the state historical library. It 
 was a noble conception, one that has not yet ceased to 
 grow in the comprehension and appreciation of the peo- 
 ple of the state and nation. 
 
 As a regent, he was strong and masterful in his grasp 
 of the full meaning of the university in all its many- 
 sided aspects. He was a tower of strength to the con- 
 scientious teacher and investigator; an adviser of rare 
 insight to the student; a vigilant guardian of its finan- 
 cial resources; a profound believer in its future and a 
 staunch supporter of its logical development in the halls 
 of legislation. As I contemplate the relation that 
 Colonel Vilas bore to the university, I am deeply im- 
 pressed with the retroactive effect which grew out of 
 that relation. Both came together in their youth ; both 
 fostered and nourished each other; both became great 
 in human estimation and usefulness, a great school and 
 a great man welded in affectionate regard for each oth- 
 er, to the final glory and advancement of a great com- 
 monwealth. There is much in this contemplation to in- 
 spire ambition, patriotism and honorable effort on the 
 part of the noble youth of our state. 
 
 [7] 
 
COLONEL VILAS AND THE STATE 
 CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN B. WINSLOW 
 
 It is eminently fitting that for a few brief hours the 
 work of the classroom and study, of laboratory and shop 
 in this great university should be suspended; that the 
 busy pen should be dropped and the text book remain 
 unopened, in order that teacher and student may join in 
 paying loving tribute to the memory of William Free- 
 man Vilas. 
 
 The University of Wisconsin has sent forth many 
 great sons, but it has sent forth none who more com- 
 pletely filled the measure of true greatness than he 
 whom we commemorate today. Great in learning, great 
 in the power of his intellect, great in his grasp of affairs, 
 great in his life work, but greatest of all in that last 
 act by which he dedicated the bountiful fruits of a busy 
 and successful life to the cause of learning and human 
 advancement for all time to come. 
 
 Nearly thirty-five years ago, upon a memorable occa- 
 sion, Colonel Vilas paid an eloquent and affectionate 
 tribute to a great chief justice of Wisconsin who had 
 just passed to his eternal rest. One brief sentence from 
 that tribute in which he most happily expressed his esti- 
 mate of the ability of the distinguished dead, so truly 
 describes the speaker himself in language which I can 
 not hope to equal, that I can not forbear quoting it now 
 and applying it without reserve to him we mourn. He 
 said : "That profound and abundant wealth of learning, 
 that eloquent tongue, that massive brain, which like an 
 
 [8] 
 
exhaustless mine yielded richer stores, the deeper it was 
 tried, while its every product sparkled with the gleam 
 of priceless value, are gone from men, lost to us and the 
 state forever.' 7 
 
 Ah ! that is the worst of it. Not merely that we who 
 remain have lost a valued friend, but that the univer- 
 sity, the community, the state, and the nation have lost 
 forever the powers of that masterful personality and 
 commanding intellect which were ever ready to respond 
 to the call of public duty. In comparison with this the 
 private loss, great though it may be, sinks into insignifi- 
 cance. We may all make new and perhaps dearer 
 friends, but we shall not readily find men endowed with 
 talents like his who are ready and willing to devote them 
 to the public service. 
 
 Colonel Vilas served his country in many capacities ; 
 as a soldier on midnight march and bloodstained field, 
 as a counsellor in the national cabinet and in legislative 
 halls, and as an executive officer on administrative 
 boards of various kinds, both state and national, he 
 freely gave his splendid abilities to the service of the 
 people with single-hearted and patriotic devotion. It is 
 of these public services that I would briefly speak. 
 
 He came to manhood at a momentous time in the na- 
 tion's history. The very air was charged with political 
 excitement. The great conflict between freedom and 
 slavery was swiftly approaching, though none knew 
 when the clash of arms would come; the hosts were be- 
 ing marshalled, and the tramp of the opposing legions, 
 which were to fight out the question of human bondage, 
 could almost be heard upon the distant hills. Young 
 Vilas had taken his degree of A. B. from this university 
 
 [9] 
 
in 1858 at the age of eighteen, and had finished his 
 study of law at the Albany Law School in 1860. He im- 
 mediately commenced the practice in Madison. Force- 
 ful, able and industrious, he chained success to his wheel 
 from the very start. He had chosen the law, not for the 
 mere purpose of gaining a livelihood, but because he 
 loved it; and to such the law gives her richest rewards. 
 The storm of war broke within a year, but still he stayed 
 at his desk, for the law was mistress of his heart. But 
 he was young and strong ; in his veins flowed no pale and 
 anemic stream, but a full tide of generous and virile 
 blood. A year of war passed, and as the contest became 
 more bloody and doubtful, and loyal spirits drooped, he 
 yielded to the patriotic promptings of his heart> and in 
 August, 1862, closed his office door, raised a company, 
 and went forth as captain of Company A of the twenty- 
 third regiment. That he made a good soldier goes with- 
 out saying, he could not do otherwise ; halfway work was 
 foreign to his nature. His regiment was assigned to the 
 Army of the West, whose objective point soon became 
 the reduction of Vicksburg. In February, 1863, he was 
 promoted to the office of major, and in March he became 
 lieutenant colonel. Grant's Vicksburg campaign was 
 then on, and during it all, and for some months after the 
 fall of the city, he was in command of his regiment. In 
 this marvelous campaign, whose result practically deter- 
 mined the final result of the war, he took an active and 
 by no means unimportant part. More than forty years 
 later I had the good fortune to hear him relate in 
 graphic detail the story of this great campaign, which 
 probably eclipsed in boldness and strategy any cam- 
 paign of the Civil War. It was a story of daring gen- 
 eralship on the part of the great leader, and heroic devo- 
 
 [10] 
 
tion on the part of the rank and file, which held its hear- 
 ers spellbound. 
 
 In the fall of 1863 duty called him homeward, and he 
 resigned his commission and returned to Madison. Here 
 he resumed the practice, and for more than twenty years 
 he bent his energies unremittingly to his profession, con- 
 quering a place at the very forefront among the greatest 
 lawyers of the state. During this time he took his part 
 as a citizen in political affairs, but did not allow himself 
 to be diverted from his great purpose. The great na- 
 tional contest in 1884, however, appealed strongly to 
 him, and he took an active part in the campaign. Short- 
 ly before this he had attracted national attention to him- 
 self by his eloquent speech of welcome to his old and be- 
 loved leader, General Grant, upon the latter's return 
 from his trip around the world. He was chosen chair- 
 man of the great convention which nominated Grover 
 Cleveland for the presidency, and performed his duties 
 with marked ability. Later he acted as chairman of the 
 committee of notification, and on this occasion first met 
 Mr. Cleveland. So impressed was Mr. Cleveland by the 
 apparent strength of the man on this occasion, that he 
 said to an intimate friend at the close of the exercises, 
 "If I am elected I am going to have that man in my cabi- 
 net." The campaign went on, Mr. Cleveland was elect- 
 ed, and when he announced his cabinet March 5, 1885, he 
 named Colonel Vilas as postmaster general. Colonel 
 Vilas was then a member of the assembly of the state 
 from the city of Madison, and was doing yeoman service 
 for the state and the university in that body. The appoint- 
 ment came to him unsought; he had made no effort for 
 preferment; he had pulled no wires and made no com- 
 binations ; the devious ways of the mere politician were 
 
 [ill 
 
distasteful to him ; he wanted no office which his merits 
 did not command ; and thus, solely by reason of his abil- 
 ity and fitness, at the age of forty-five, he was called to a 
 place at the council board of one of our greatest presi- 
 dents. He immediately resigned his position in the as- 
 sembly, went to Washington, and entered upon four 
 years of arduous and exacting toil, a toil which demand- 
 ed the use of all his strength, both physical and mental, 
 and which left its heavy mark upon him ever afterward. 
 
 It is but the simple truth to say that Colonel Vilas 
 became one of President Cleveland's closest friends and 
 advisers, if not indeed the very closest. While markedly 
 different in many ways, they absolutely agreed in view- 
 ing public office as a sacred trust from the people, whose 
 duties were to be performed with a single eye to the pub- 
 lic good. There were great questions before that coun- 
 cil board, and there were great men there to meet them, 
 but among all the president's advisers there were none 
 endowed with higher abilities or greater grasp of mind 
 than Colonel Vilas. Perhaps no man in that cabinet can 
 be said to have had a dominating influence, for the presi- 
 dent himself was ever dominant, but certain it is that no 
 question was there debated which was not illuminated 
 by his clear, logical, and eloquent discussion of it, and 
 upon very many questions his opinion was accepted as 
 decisive. 
 
 But he had other and more onerous duties than those 
 of an adviser, important as those might be. He was 
 placed at the head of the post office department, which 
 is, in fact, an enormous business enterprise carried on by 
 the government. The choice was happily made. Besides 
 being a great lawyer in the truest sense, Colonel Vilas 
 was a great business man. He was naturally endowed 
 
 [12] 
 
with a remarkable business ability, a capacity to grasp 
 and understand great transactions, to correlate com- 
 plicated details, to decide quickly and wisely questions 
 involving many and conflicting details, to systematize 
 the work and utilize to the utmost the services of sub- 
 ordinates. 
 
 In the post office department he found abundant op- 
 portunity for the use of all his business ability. As a 
 matter of fact the business of the department had grown 
 to amazing proportions, with no corresponding growth 
 or improvement in business management. The methods 
 were many of them antiquated and extravagant, the or- 
 ganization inefficient, and the results entirely dispro- 
 portionate to the energy and labor expended. The task 
 of systematizing, and placing on a scientific business 
 basis, the work of the department was well calculated 
 to dismay any man under ordinary conditions, but espe- 
 cially so when there had just been a change in the poli- 
 tical control of the country for the first time in twenty- 
 four years, and victorious partisans were clamoring on 
 every hand for distribution of the spoils of victory. 
 Colonel Vilas undertook this great task with that reso- 
 lute determination and tireless industry which marked 
 his whole life. Day after day, and week after week, he 
 was at his desk consuming not only the ordinary busi- 
 ness hours, but stealing from slumber the long and 
 weary hours of the night. Two years of this exacting 
 labor found the department re-organized on a scientific 
 basis, system in place of confusion, and business meth- 
 ods in place of disjointed effort, 
 
 Nor was this all. When Secretary Lamar was ap- 
 pointed to the supreme bench, Colonel Vilas was placed 
 at the head of the interior department, and here a task 
 
 [13] 
 
of the same nature but of greater intricacy and volume 
 awaited him. The interior department covers greater 
 and more diverse interests than any other of the depart- 
 ments of the government. The pension office, with its 
 immense payroll, the patent office, the public land office, 
 the Indian bureau, and many lesser governmental agen- 
 cies which have found lodgment nowhere else, are in- 
 cluded under the supervision of the secretary of the in- 
 terior. Secretary Lamar was a great and lovable man, 
 but not endowed with the highest administrative ability. 
 Here, too, Colonel Vilas found methods antiquated, la- 
 bor illy organized and misdirected, results unsatisfac- 
 tory and business far behind. It is not possible to go 
 into details, but it is sufficient to say that with infinite 
 labor he brought up the arrears, greatly expedited busi- 
 ness, established system, and brought order out of con- 
 fusion. He had also prepared a scheme for the complete 
 legislative re-organization of the department, but on ac- 
 count of the unexpected defeat of President Cleveland 
 in 1888 he necessarily went out of office and the subject 
 was dropped. 
 
 Not only had his cabinet labors made inroads on his 
 health and strength, but it is also a fact, not indeed gen- 
 erally known, that the necessary expenses of his posi- 
 tion, and his enforced neglect of his own business affairs 
 for four years, had seriously reduced his private re- 
 sources. Returning to Madison, he again resumed the 
 practice and turned his energies to the rebuilding of his 
 impaired fortune. 
 
 He enjoyed but a brief respite, however, from the 
 cares and duties of public office. The political revolu- 
 tion which occurred in Wisconsin in 1890, resulted in 
 his election as senator in January, 1891, and sent him 
 
 [14] 
 
back to Washington to represent his state in the higher 
 house of the federal congress. His labors in the senate 
 are comparatively recent, and hardly need to be recount- 
 ed. In the unfortunate contest which arose between 
 President Cleveland and the democratic leaders over the 
 silver question, he stood loyally by the president and 
 thus in a measure alienated many of his former party 
 friends. This was pain and grief to him but it moved 
 him not. He went steadily on in the path he had mark- 
 ed out ; he was no time server, he knew no course but to 
 follow his convictions, whatever the result might be. 
 His senatorial career was marked by the same industry, 
 the same fidelity to principle, the same earnest desire to 
 do his whole duty and utilize all his ability for the pro- 
 motion of the public welfare, which were the keynotes 
 of his work as a cabinet officer. Though at serious vari- 
 ance with the majority of his party when his term closed, 
 he lived, as President Cleveland did, to receive the gen- 
 erous plaudits of all parties whether composed of poli- 
 tical friends or foes. Perhaps he had higher ambitions, 
 indeed I am quite sure that he had them, but the prac- 
 tical shipwreck of his party on the silver question ren- 
 dered their fulfillment impossible; and in 1897 he re- 
 tired to his beautiful home hoping to enjoy a period of 
 dignified and well earned release from public sendee. 
 
 Upon this second retirement from high office he did 
 not again resume the general practice, but devoted his 
 talents to the upbuilding of his extensive and varied bus- 
 iness interests. For this effort the times were ripe ; val- 
 ues of all kinds were advancing with rapidity, and dur- 
 ing the ensuing years prior to his death, by his untiring 
 industry and business sagacity, he accumulated the 
 greater part of that fortune which he finally devoted to 
 
 [15] 
 
the advancement of education and the good of his fellow- 
 man. 
 
 Again, however, his state called upon him to serve 
 her, first as regent of the university, and later as a mem- 
 ber of the commission for building the new capitol. 
 
 It is not within my province to speak of his labors 
 as regent, and all are familiar with his great work upon 
 the capitol commission. In this work he rejoiced, and 
 he brought to it all his executive and business ability, 
 supplemented by his valuable experience in Washington 
 in the formulation of the plans for the congressional 
 library building. It was his fond hope to see the new 
 capitol completed, and this hope he expressed to me but 
 a few days before his last illness began. At that time it 
 seemed not unlikely that his hope would be fulfilled. 
 His eye was bright, his step firm, his voice clear, and 
 much of his old time enthusiasm showed in his counten- 
 ance. But this wish was denied him. A lifetime of ar- 
 duous labor had seriously undermined a naturally 
 strong constitution. Though he was not old in years, 
 yet in point of labor and achievement he had lived a 
 longer life than many who reach the age of four score. 
 Suddenly, and without warning, the active brain was 
 stilled, the busy hand lay motionless, and the scholar, 
 the statesman, the ever loyal son of the university laid 
 aside all his tasks at his Maker's bidding, and passed to 
 that unknown country, "where beyond these voices there 
 is peace.' 7 
 
 [16] 
 
COLONEL VILAS AND THE LAW SCHOOL 
 PROFESSOR BURR W. JONES 
 
 At the opening of the college year in 1868 there were 
 nine members of the regular senior class and less than 
 seventy in the college classes of the state university. 
 
 Most of the manifold courses and departments of 
 study which now open their doors to thousands of young 
 men and women, had then existed only in the imagina- 
 tion of the wise and farseeing men who had conceived 
 and helped to develop the ambitious plans on which this 
 university was founded. 
 
 Whatever may have been the dreams of those men up 
 to that time, the university had been for the most part 
 one of the old time colleges of that day, a training school 
 for lawyers, doctors and ministers. 
 
 There was, indeed, a so-called scientific course, look- 
 ed on by many as a dangerous innovation upon the ortho- 
 dox traditions of college life. 
 
 When President Paul A. Chadbourne came to this 
 university, he was resolute in the view that there must 
 be a department of law. When the first announcement 
 was made there seemed almost insuperable difficulties; 
 there was no building, not even a vacant room in which 
 to house the hoped-for law-school; there was no money 
 with which to pay the professors. But President Chad- 
 bourne looked about to find men who could form his 
 faculty. To call law professors from Harvard or Yale 
 was not to be thought of ; that would require money. At 
 that time William F. Vilas was a young lawyer in this 
 city; he had attended for two years the Albany Law 
 
 [17] 
 
School, and I believe was the only man in this city who 
 had had the training of a law school. In those days law 
 schools were regarded by many of the profession as the 
 nursing place of mere theorists and visionaries, and I 
 doubt if there were then a dozen graduates of law schools 
 in the state of Wisconsin. Mr. Vilas was then only 
 twenty-eight years of age, but he was already one of the 
 best known and attractive figures of the Wisconsin bar, 
 and, in the popular estimation, he was able to cope with 
 any antagonist. He had graduated from college at the 
 age of eighteen; had commenced practice at twenty; 
 served under Grant and Sherman in the great campaign 
 in which Vicksburg surrendered, and in which the back- 
 bone of the rebellion was broken. Young, virile, hand- 
 some, he was the people's lawyer in the community in 
 which he lived. He was trying their cases against 
 the corporations, and had for the masses of men that 
 peculiar charm which they always find in the brilliant 
 advocate who can ably espouse their cause, and who 
 fears no antagonist. 
 
 President Chadbourne chose as the dean of the new 
 law school Judge J. H. Carpenter, then in the prime of 
 life, a trained and thorough lawyer of the true judicial 
 temperament, who still lives among us, honored in his 
 retirement. 
 
 He and Colonel Vilas were selected as the real fa- 
 culty of the projected law school. It is true that the 
 names of the three judges of the supreme court were 
 placed upon the catalogue, but so far as I am informed 
 the influence of their names was all that was ever ex- 
 pected. 
 
 In the year 1868 this announcement was made by the 
 board of regents : 
 
 US] 
 
"ill. PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER COLLEGES. 
 
 The Law Department. 
 
 This important department has been organized since 
 the last annual report of the Kegents and will probably 
 soon present one of the most attractive and successful 
 branches of the University. J. H. Carpenter, Esq., has 
 been appointed Dean of the Faculty, and Wm. F. Vilas, 
 LL. B., another of its professors, while the Judges of the 
 Supreme Court have kindly consented to accept pro- 
 fessorships in this department and to lecture therein 
 gratuitously when their other duties will permit," 
 
 The law schools of those days were hospitable and 
 they welcomed their students with open arms. In our 
 university the requisites for entry were very simple, and 
 in these words : 
 
 "Students will be admitted at any time; but those 
 who are not Collegiate graduates must be 20 years of 
 age to enter this department. 
 
 "No examination for admission is required. 
 
 "Credentials of good moral character must be fur- 
 nished." 
 
 A little later Judge Harlow S. Orton became dean of 
 the law faculty. His report to the board of regents for 
 the year 1870 shows the situation, and his sanguine 
 hopes. He said the law department entered upon its 
 present and third year under circumstances of great 
 prosperity and promise with a class of fourteen stu- 
 dents. "The class is composed of young men of most 
 excellent abilities, qualifications and character for the 
 bar, and they are most attentive and diligent students." 
 He added, "the department is already deemed a great 
 success." 
 
 In the report for 1871 he again commended the ex- 
 cellent abilities and attainments of the class, and re- 
 
 [19] 
 
ported that they were all of good habits and high moral 
 character; that Governor Fairchild had kindly furnish- 
 ed a classroom in the capital, but it was recommended 
 that during the legislative session a room somewhere in 
 some block around the park should be furnished for the 
 purpose. He reported that the students were poor, and 
 said "to those who for the time are unable to pay for 
 their tuition, the full benefits of the course have been 
 liberally extended, trusting them to pay when able to do 
 so," and that none who could pay for their board and 
 support had been turned away. 
 
 These incidents illustrate the humble beginning of 
 the law school in which for many years Mr. Vilas work- 
 ed with inspiring enthusiasm. Crowded as he was w r ith 
 his professional engagements, there was, of course, no 
 inducement to such service in the hope of mere financial 
 reward, but the appeal came to him as one of loyalty to 
 his alma mater ; there were memories of his old comrades 
 and his instructors of university days. In that little 
 group of half a dozen professors there had been Lathrop, 
 Butler, Sterling and Read, men who would have hon- 
 ored any university, young or old, and of every one of 
 them to the last hours of his life, he always spoke with 
 love and gratitude. 
 
 Of course such a man appealed to the young law stu- 
 dents who came under his magnetic spell. He was their 
 embodiment of what a lawyer should be. 
 
 In those days the law course was completed in a 
 single year. 
 
 It was his custom to give two hours each week to the 
 duties of the law school. Often those two hours would 
 be extended to three or four as he became interested in 
 his subject. One of his subjects was that of common 
 
 [20] 
 
law pleading. The old common law lawyers had built 
 up a system of procedure full of mystery and technicali- 
 ties, but Colonel Vilas was able to show us the outlines 
 of the incongruous structure and the foundation on 
 which it rested. 
 
 In dealing with the code of procedure and the rules 
 of evidence, his instruction was filled with illustrations 
 from his own varied and extensive practice, and his 
 students had thus deeply fixed in their minds the prin- 
 ciples of law he expounded. He gave us not only the 
 principles, but their mode of application as they arose 
 in the comedies and tragedies of human life. 
 
 In his work in the classroom he adhered to no rigid 
 mode of instruction. He required the reading of text 
 books and decisions, he tested our work with questions, 
 he confused us by no deluge of decisions, but insisted 
 that we should know the fundamental rules. He excited 
 our admiration for the great judges and lawyers who 
 had reared the structure of the common law. We could 
 not but feel his scorn and contempt for the tricksters 
 and shysters who sometimes wore the livery of a great 
 profession in which to serve their own avarice. He 
 found time for anecdote, classic and historic allusions, 
 and now and then, as we sat around the table, his own 
 eloquence would stir our blood. He had the true con- 
 ception of the office of the great teacher. 
 
 As we all know, the facts and formulas of the class- 
 room are easily forgotten. But the impress which a 
 strong and learned man, filled with enthusiasm for his 
 work, can make upon eager and ambitious young men is 
 as lasting as life itself. Here was the great service of 
 Colonel Vilas to our law school, and indeed to the whole 
 
 [21] 
 
student body, because such an influence far overflows 
 the classroom. 
 
 The hopes, the ambitions, the ideals, which are being 
 formed in the minds of the thousands of young men in 
 this university to-day, will endure long after the prob- 
 lems of examination papers over which they now toil are 
 forgotten. Much of this they can afford to forget. But 
 the habits and the ideals here inspired are vital. 
 Whether right or wrong, they will last through life and 
 will light the way to success or failure, happiness or 
 woe. Colonel Vilas had the way of letting us know that 
 he expected our success, and would be personally hurt 
 and disappointed by our failure. Years afterward as 
 this or that promotion came to a graduate he would say 
 with a delight not to be mistaken, "he is one of our 
 boys." 
 
 Of course this feeling was reciprocated. When he 
 won his triumphs in the forum or on the platform, he 
 found in his former students a band of admirers. When 
 he won national fame as an orator in that memorable 
 address of welcome to his old commander, General 
 Grant, his boys were pleased, but not surprised. 
 
 When he stood among the first of his party in na- 
 tional conventions, when he was called to the cabinet of 
 President Cleveland, and when later he was a leader in 
 the senate of the United States those who had loved and 
 admired him in the law school still delighted in his suc- 
 cess. Of course when he took up the responsibilities of 
 public life the law school could no longer claim his 
 service. 
 
 Nearly seventeen years before he and Judge Carpen- 
 ter had undertaken the responsibility of establishing a 
 law school ; they had commenced without a building or a 
 
 [22] 
 
room, without the certainty of a student, or the promise 
 of a dollar of reward. When he left in 1885 to become 
 a cabinet minister, the law school was no longer a step- 
 child of the state. The college of law had sent forth 
 hundreds of alumni, who in many a time of stress had 
 fought the battles of the university, and many of whom 
 had become leaders in the courts, on the bench and in 
 the councils of the state. If any department in this in- 
 stitution of learning can have a founder he was one of 
 the founders of the college of law. His fidelity to the 
 law school was only one instance of his love for the uni- 
 versity with which, except for a few short interruptions, 
 he was identified from boyhood until death. 
 
 In this university he formed with his fellows the 
 friendships of college days. Here four of his brothers 
 had their college years. Here he commenced his in- 
 timacy with the great and good writers of the past, ail 
 intimacy which he cherished with increasing delight 
 with the passing years. 
 
 Over this institution as a regent, he watched with 
 tender care for many years. It is not strange that he 
 had learned to love this university which for so many 
 years, in so many ways, he had helped to upbuild. To 
 those who had long known his thoughts it was no sur- 
 prise that his last will made that love immortal. The 
 college of law and its alumni, and all the army of alumni 
 of this university, recognize their debt of gratitude to 
 the best friend and the greatest benefactor this univer- 
 sity has ever known. 
 
 It is by the work and sacrifices of such men as he 
 that great universities are made. Massive buildings and 
 great laboratories have their place and do their work, 
 but after all the chief glory of a university is that she 
 
 [23] 
 
has produced great men. No university has reached its 
 goal until its alumni are willing to attest their love by 
 toil and sacrifice. We are honoring a man to-day be- 
 cause, during all his remarkable career and during all 
 his busy life, he found time to befriend and work for his 
 university. It will be enriched by a fortune which repre- 
 sents untold energy and toil. 
 
 It is enriched still more by the object lesson of such a 
 life. It is part of that lesson that men who acquire 
 great wealth, hold it, in a moral sense, incumbered with 
 a trust. 
 
 It was his view, often expressed, that the holders of 
 great fortunes owe a corresponding duty to the state. 
 
 He felt it almost a crime that such men, acquiring 
 their fortunes under favorable laws and opportunities, 
 should recognize no debt of gratitude to the state. It 
 would be well if more of the rich men of America recog- 
 nized their trust. And if they more keenly appreciated 
 the thought, that 
 
 "All you can hold in your cold dead hand 
 Is what you have given away." 
 
 He certainly gave his toil and his fortune with gen- 
 erous hand; and generations hence, when the names of 
 many a politician and statesman now on every tongue, 
 will be well-nigh forgotten, his name will be revered and 
 his memory will be sacred. 
 
 [24] 
 
COLONEL VILAS AND THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 PRESIDENT CHARLES RICHARD VAN HISE 
 
 William Freeman Vilas entered the preparatory de- 
 partment of the university in the autumn of 1852, the 
 collegiate department in 1854, and received the degree 
 of bachelor of arts in 1858. After obtaining his first de- 
 gree he did further work in the university, and was 
 made master of arts in 1861. As already indicated, by 
 a previous speaker, after returning from the Albany 
 Law School, he and Professor Carpenter, in 1868, were 
 instrumental in founding the school of law of the uni- 
 versity, now the college of law. Colonel Vilas was a 
 professor in this school from 1868 to 1885, seventeen 
 years. When he retired from this professorship to ac- 
 cept the position of postmaster general of the United 
 States, his great service to the law school was recog- 
 nized by the degree of doctor of laws. 
 
 Colonel Vilas's services to the United States as post- 
 master general, secretary of the interior, and United 
 States senator, continued until 1897. At the end of his 
 term in the senate he immediately reentered the law 
 school where he remained as lecturer until 1899. 
 
 Colonel Vilas was a regent of the university, as well 
 as professor of law, from 1881 to 1885, four years, and 
 again was regent from 1898 to 1905, seven years. His 
 retirement from the regency in 1905 was due to ill 
 health, but it did not lesson his interest in the univer- 
 
 [25] 
 
sity. It still remained my privilege to consult him upon 
 important matters of university policy, and he con- 
 tinued to give public support to the advancement of its 
 interests. 
 
 While a professor of law and a regent in 1885, he was 
 also a member of the assembly, and it was through his 
 persuasive and powerful advocacy that the legislature 
 first recognized in a large way the influence of the uni- 
 versity in the upbuilding of the state. Appropriations 
 were made which authorized the construction of the 
 present science building, the machine shops, and the old 
 chemical laboratory. Colonel Vilas's speech upon the 
 university bill in the assembly, has been properly re- 
 garded as one of the great pleas for the support of high- 
 er education in this state. 
 
 During the last period of Colonel Vilas's services to 
 the university as a regent, I had an opportunity to be- 
 come intimately acquainted with his characteristics. 
 One of the traits that early impressed me was his com- 
 prehensive grasp of the financial affairs of the univer- 
 sity. His memory was almost infallible, not only with 
 reference to the existing financial condition, but con- 
 cerning actions which had been taken by the board. In- 
 deed his grip upon financial details was such that the 
 regents came to rely upon him to an extraordinary de- 
 gree. Probably we may expect that only rarely shall we 
 have a regent who in this particular will be the equal of 
 Colonel Vilas. 
 
 But perhaps Colonel Vilas's most important char- 
 acteristic as a regent was his quick grasp of any large 
 plan for the development of the university. If an idea 
 appealed to his judgment it at once had his powerful 
 support. It is not too much to say that during the time 
 
 [26] 
 
Colonel Vilas was regent he was a potent influence in 
 each of the important advances made by the university. 
 When he saw a thing should be done his quickness of ac- 
 tion was remarkable. Thus, when it was pointed out 
 that the most advantageous site for the new central 
 heating plant was south of University avenue, off the 
 campus proper and adjacent to a railroad, he instantly 
 accepted the suggestion and at once began to secure op- 
 tions on the necessary land. 
 
 Another prominent characteristic of Colonel Vilas 
 as a regent was his independence. He believed the re- 
 gents were placed in the positions they occupied to ad- 
 minister the trust imposed upon them to the best of their 
 judgment and ability. Therefore, whenever a subject 
 was up for consideration, were it great or small, the sole 
 consideration with him was, is this for the best interest 
 of the university, and for higher education in the state? 
 If his conclusion was in the affirmative, it had his sup 
 port. What members of the legislature might say, what 
 individuals of the state might think, it did not even oc- 
 cur to him to ask or to care. These outside opinions 
 based upon imperfect knowledge of the facts were to 
 him as if non-existent. He believed if he decided cor- 
 rectly, the results would justify him in his conclusion 
 and the legislature and the people would support his ac- 
 tion, and such was the invariable outcome. Colonel 
 Vilas's course clearly proved that courage, when com- 
 bined with judgment, is wisdom. 
 
 We have seen that when Colonel Vilas was not en- 
 gaged in the nation's service, he was almost continuous- 
 ly connected with the university in one capacity or an- 
 other, from the time he entered as a preparatory student 
 in 1852 until his death fifty-six years later. Thus for 
 
 [27] 
 
more than fifty years, the University of Wisconsin was 
 in his thoughts. It is certain that next to his family he 
 loved this institution. Upon this matter those who were 
 closest to him have never had any doubts, but what was 
 known to them became known to the world when his will 
 was published. The income of his estate, in part, or in 
 whole if need be, goes to his wife and daughter during 
 their lives. Legacies provide for remoter claims. This 
 recognition given to kindred, the estate then passes to 
 the university, but under certain conditions, and for spe- 
 cified purposes. In providing for these purposes the 
 will becomes not merely a gift but a document contain- 
 ing the wisest conclusions of one of the most able men 
 of the state as to the proper lines of development of the 
 university, and this by one who dearly loved the institu- 
 tion, and who had its welfare in his mind for more than 
 half a century. 
 
 When the Vilas estate passes to the trustees for the 
 university, there is provision, first, for a theater, a 
 memorial to the beloved son, Henry Vilas, who was 
 graduated at the university in 1894, but who died at an 
 early age. 
 
 After providing for this memorial, a half of the in- 
 come of the estate goes, first, for scholarships and fellow- 
 ships, some of which may be traveling fellowships, sec- 
 ond, for the support of art and music, and third, for the 
 maintenance of ten research professorships with ade- 
 quate salaries and assistants. 
 
 In reference to the professorships Colonel Vilas said : 
 "These professorships are designed to promote advance- 
 ment of knowledge rather than to give instruction, and 
 it shall forever be a limitation on the power to require 
 service of any incumbent thereof, that not more than 
 
 [28] 
 
three hours in one week, nor more than one hour in one 
 day, shall be exacted of him for teaching, lecturing, or 
 other instruction to students, or otherwise." However, 
 the professor is left free to render teaching service be- 
 yond this amount if he so desires. 
 
 "Any branch of human learning may be selected as 
 the subject of special study" by the Vilas professors. 
 Note the limitless vision of this fundamental clause. 
 The purpose of the study may be material, intellectual, 
 or spiritual. Its purposes may be to increase the pro- 
 ductivity of the soil, or to create a poem, or a symphony, 
 or a painting. It may be to eliminate human disease, or 
 to see deeper into the order of nature with no thought 
 of any human advantage other than the widening of our 
 understanding of the amazing mysteries of the universe. 
 The study may be upon the most wonderful of all the 
 things of which we have direct knowledge, the human 
 mind, that thing which has asked the meaning of the 
 nebulae, which has dared to interfere with and direct 
 to well defined ends matter and force and life, which be- 
 fore mind interfered were the subject of blind and grop- 
 ing evolution, the most extravagant of all processes, 
 yielding a thousand failures to each success. I do not 
 hesitate to predict that in the not distant future the 
 Vilas bequest will have been devoted to all the above 
 ends and to many others, some of which cannot now be 
 named because unknown. There can be no broader 
 statement of endowment for research than that of the 
 Vilas will. 
 
 Colonel Vilas recognized that a professor whose 
 work is the advancement of knowledge must be ade- 
 quately supplied with books, apparatus, specimens, and 
 assistance, including clerical services, and the will pro- 
 
 [29] 
 
vides that all of these accessories for research shall be 
 furnished. According to the will these auxiliaries to the 
 professor "ought to be so liberally supplied, within 
 reasonable bounds, that no hindrance or interruption of 
 his work will become necessary, and the increase of 
 knowledge may have the best favoring hope possible in 
 the circumstances." This provision will be deeply ap- 
 preciated by the capable man who feels himself cur- 
 tailed in his productive power because of inadequate 
 apparatus, books, and assistants, in consequence of 
 which he is obliged to work under grave disadvantages, 
 not only with reference to materials, but is compelled to 
 do a large amount of routine work which could be more 
 easily and economically performed by an assistant in an 
 earlier stage of development. 
 
 While a limited amount of instruction only is re- 
 quired of a professor, and according to the will he is 
 "free to pursue his fixed lines of research in his own way, 
 still it may be expected that, in fact, each professor will 
 gather about him as fellow workers and assistants, so 
 far as may be, students who will both gain learning and 
 inspiration to promote it, from their participation in his 
 pursuits and the opportunities of such association, 
 which he will both desire and best know how to incul- 
 cate in them." 
 
 Here; again we have the wonderful insight into edu 
 cational theory, which appreciated that the best results 
 can only be obtained by a proper combination of in- 
 vestigation and instruction. The man who is an in- 
 vestigator only is likely to become one-sided, because 
 lacking the stimulus which comes from contact with 
 eager and broadly inquiring youth. It is equally cer- 
 tain, that the instructor who only passes on to the stu- 
 
 [30] 
 
dents what others have collected, sooner or later be- 
 comes dulled. The purpose of these professorships is to 
 advance knowledge, and this can only continue indefi- 
 nitely by the creation of new scholars. From the time 
 of the ancient philosophers it has been plain that the 
 most efficient method of producing scholars is for the 
 man having high inspirational power to gather about 
 him a group of disciples who shall share in his work, 
 and some of whom may go further than their master, 
 even as Plato went beyond Socrates. The ideal univer- 
 sity is one in which each of its professors is both a teach- 
 er and a creator of things to be taught. 
 
 These research professorships, while not placed 
 first in order, are placed "first in importance among the 
 purposes of the trust." The above provisions for their 
 support, including liberal salaries, assistants, materials, 
 a limited amount of instructional work, and close per 
 sonal relations with students, are an epitome of the 
 situation in the best German universities, which are ad- 
 mitted to stand first among the institutions of the world 
 in the advancement of knowledge. The accumulated 
 university wisdom of the past centuries, Colonel Vilas 
 has concentrated in his great state document for the ad- 
 vancement of knowledge. 
 
 When the ten research professorships shall have been 
 established fifty additional undergraduate scholarships 
 and fifty more fellowships are to be founded, not less 
 than one-fifth of which shall go to "qualified candidates 
 of negro blood if such present themselves. 77 
 
 Then, if the funds permit, additional professorships, 
 assistant professorships, and instructorships are to be 
 established, if these seem the greatest necessities to the 
 university authorities. But this clause is modified by 
 
 [31] 
 
the statement : "Though provision for chairs of instruc- 
 tion is left discretionary, it ought ever to be remembered 
 that, aside from scholarships and fellowships to aid de- 
 serving students, the university may be best raised to 
 the highest excellence as a seat of learning and educa- 
 tion, through extraneous aid, by abundant support in 
 pushing the confines of knowledge: the especial object 
 of this trust." The will continues "the state may be con- 
 fidentally expected to furnish sufficient instruction to 
 its youth, and other sources of contribution and revenue 
 will supply any lack." 
 
 Finally, additional buildings may be constructed 
 from a portion of the income, provided the trustees 
 or regents find this advisable. But a part of the income 
 is to increase the principal of the estate until it reaches 
 twenty and finally thirty millions of dollars. 
 
 As many of this audience well know, I have steadily 
 maintained that a state university under a democracy 
 may be of as high a grade as a state university under a 
 monarchy, that the advancement of knowledge is a func- 
 tion of the state university as well as instruction. In- 
 struction and investigation must both be strong within 
 the university, for without this each will fail of the high- 
 est effectiveness. Further the gospel of knowledge must 
 be carried to the people through every possible medium. 
 The scope of the university must become commensurate 
 with humanity. Hence, I have continuously maintained 
 that the work of the university should extend from ap- 
 plied science to the fine arts. 
 
 These positions are sustained by the deliberate judg- 
 ment of one who has studied the university and the edu- 
 cation of the state for half a century. Colonel Vilas so 
 firmly believed the principle that research and creative 
 
 [32] 
 
X*t ^V 
 
 ' O THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY J 
 
 OF 
 
 scholarship are profoundly important functions of a 
 state university, that he dedicated the accumulations of 
 a lifetime to their furtherance. 
 
 The provision of the will by which a part of the in- 
 come of the estate is set aside to increase the principal 
 until it finally becomes thirty millions of dollars, is ad- 
 ditional evidence of the far-sightedness of Colonel Vilas. 
 He wished not only to provide funds for the advance- 
 ment of knowledge, but he was determined that finally 
 there should be adequate funds for these purposes, even 
 if at the outset the amount available was deficient. 
 
 However, it is my profound belief that the conviction 
 of Colonel Vilas, that at the university the field of crea- 
 tive scholarship is the one most likely to be neglected, 
 will go far to counteract any current lack of funds for 
 this purpose. 
 
 Thus, the benefits of Colonel Vilas's will are likely to 
 influence the development of the university long before 
 financial advantages are received. Those who have been 
 striving for the construction of the university along the 
 highest, as well as the broadest lines, now have the pow- 
 erful moral support of one of the ablest and most dis- 
 tinguished citizens that has lived in this state, and the 
 man who, by long study of educational problems in the 
 university, has the best right to speak as to its future. 
 
 The will of Colonel Vilas is not merely a deed of gift 
 of his property to the university ; it is a gift of his high- 
 est thought, matured through years of consideration of 
 the educational problems of the state. It is, indeed, 
 possible that this gift of his mind may be even greater 
 in its influence upon the development of the university 
 than the gift of his property. Thus Colonel Vilas's will 
 is not merely a financial bequest, but it is a profound 
 
 [33] 
 
state paper which is certain to perpetually influence the 
 development of higher education in this commonwealth. 
 It is impossible for me to express adequately my per- 
 sonal feeling in this matter. Throughout my adminis- 
 trative w r ork for the university, I relied upon Colonel 
 Vilas as my most influential supporter. No plan for the 
 advancement of the university, and through the univer- 
 sity, the state, was too large to be understood by him. 
 Nor did he ever lack faith that the highest ideals for the 
 university would be ultimately realized. In the death 
 of Colonel Vilas I should indeed have lost my most in- 
 fluential co-worker had it not been that by his will he has 
 left a potent support for the same ideals. In the future 
 as in the past, I shall feel myself working side by side 
 with the spirit of Colonel Vilas for the advancement of 
 this beloved institution. 
 
 L34] 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 OF 
 WILLIAM FREEMAN VILAS 
 
 I, William F. Vilas, of the city of Madison, in the state of Wis- 
 consin, contemplating the end of life and earnestly hoping that 
 after they to whom with our lost loved ones, I owe my chiefest hap- 
 piness in life, shall have enjoyed all the reasonable use and benefit 
 possible to them from my means I may be able so to direct the ac- 
 cumulations of my labors as most to contribute to the welfare of my 
 fellow-men in time to be, Do Make, Publish and Declare this my 
 Last Will and Testament, in manner following, that is to say: 
 
 The expenses of my funeral, which I desire to be simple and un- 
 ostentatious, all costs of administration, and all debts which I may 
 be owing at the time of my death, and which shall then be due and 
 payable, I desire to be paid promptly, and that my estate may be 
 settled and closed by due final decree and all properties passed into 
 the hands of my trustees, as such, to execute the trust hereinafter 
 created, as soon as all legal notices may be duly given, and the same 
 may be conveniently done. My dearly beloved wife has full knowl- 
 edge of this will, participates all the desires and purposes of it, 
 equally with myself, and accepts as entirely satisfactory the pro- 
 visions made for her. Were her desires different, the provisions 
 herein made would have met them; for, as we have lived in affection, 
 our last wishes are in concord. 
 
 To my dearly beloved wife, Anna Matilda Vilas, I first bequeath 
 all wearing apparel, personal ornaments, household furniture, pic- 
 tures, ornamental articles, provisions and stores, all the books which 
 she may desire to retain from sale, and all other movable articles in 
 our home, together with the horses, carriages, harnesses, robes and 
 all like apparel and other things in the barn, all my boats and in- 
 
 [35] 
 
terest in boats in the boat house, and in short, all movables in use 
 with or appertaining to that part of block 94 in the city of Madison 
 which has constituted our homestead for now over twenty-four years. 
 And, except as required for payment of expenses and debts and 
 as above bequeathed, all my estate, properties and interests, real, 
 personal and mixed, of whatsoever description and wheresoever 
 situated, of which I may be seized or possessed or to which I may 
 be in any manner entitled at the time of my death, I give, devise 
 and bequeath to the four trustees hereinafter provided for, in fee 
 simple and absolute ownership, To Have and to Hold to them, their 
 survivors and successors, their heirs and assigns forever. 
 
 And I authorize and empower my said trustees to conduct and 
 carry on any business, business operation or transaction, in which 
 I may be engaged at the time of my death, with all the powers of 
 ownership or which I myself might in life enjoy and exercise; to 
 hold any stock in any corporation which I may be possessed of or 
 they may acquire, to vote the same at all corporate meetings, to col- 
 lect and receive dividends thereon, to sell and dispose thereof and 
 duly to assign the same. And I also authorize and empower my said 
 trustees to sell and dispose of, grant, bargain and convey, with all 
 proper covenants for title if they think such needful, all or any part 
 of the property herein devised and bequeathed to them, without ex- 
 ception, and also any which they may acquire in the execution of 
 this trust, from time to time, in their discretion, at public or pri- 
 vate sale, for such prices and upon such terms of payment and of 
 credit as to them may seem most advantageous to my estate; to 
 execute, acknowledge and deliver any and all convenient or neces- 
 sary deeds, contracts, conveyances, bills of sale, or other instru- 
 ments, which any such transaction may seem to them to require; to 
 take to themselves any notes, bonds, obligations, mortgages, pledges, 
 or other securities for money to be paid, whether upon any such sale 
 or upon any loan or investment; to collect and receive payment of 
 any such, or of any sum in any wise due to my estate, and give all 
 proper acquittances, releases, satisfactions, and discharges thereof; 
 to invest and reinvest, as often as need be, from time to time, by 
 loan or purchase, in their discretion, any and all money or property 
 coming to their hands; to compound and compromise at any time 
 any debt or obligation to, or claimed by, my said estate or them- 
 selves; to borrow, at any time, or from time to time, any sum or 
 sums of money requisite, in their discretion, to carry on any business 
 which I may leave in operation and they may decide to carry on, if 
 any such there be, or which may be at any time convenient or de- 
 sirable in order to make any good investment in anticipation of in- 
 come to be later derived to the estate from any sources; and also, 
 generally, to deal with, manage and carry on any business, affairs 
 
 [36] 
 
or dealings in connection with my estate, in their discretion, with 
 all the powers of absolute ownership. 
 
 But, while not hereby limiting any of the powers so given them, 
 I commend to my said trustees as the objects of attainment, first, 
 to conduct to the most satisfactory conclusion at the earliest reason- 
 able period, any business operations in which I may happen to be 
 personally engaged at the time of my death; and, secondly, to place 
 the properties of my estate in the most advantageous form to yield a 
 certain annual income, or increment of value, for that purpose hold- 
 ing and retaining all productive property, such as rentable or im- 
 proving real estate, bank-stocks, Nekoosa Paper company or other 
 good corporate stocks, loans, mortgages, or the like, and buying more 
 as opportunity offers, and disposing of unproductive and unpromis- 
 ing property, while retaining such, however, as shall promise in the 
 future, though somewhat distant, the probability of large increment; 
 having here in view, the public destination of the estate hereinafter 
 provided for; and I purpose, if time be given me, to conduct my 
 affairs henceforth with a view to leave my estate in such form as 
 shall impose the least possible burden on iny trustees in these par- 
 ticulars : 
 
 But all in trust, nevertheless, subject to the directions and for 
 the purposes hereinafter expressed, as follows, to-wit: 
 
 First. To pay all debts which I may be owing at the time of 
 my death but which shall not then be payable, if any, and all which 
 my trustees may contract in the conduct of their trust; and I pur- 
 pose to leave no debts of any substantial amount unpaid, now ow- 
 ing none such. 
 
 Second. To manage and conduct my estate, by the wise exer- 
 cise of the powers herein abundantly given them, so as to place the 
 entire capital so nearly as may be well done in view of the proper 
 principles of management of which suggestion has been given in 
 safe and productive form to yield the best annual income in money; 
 but the safety of the principal should always overrule all risks that 
 may be incurred in striving for a greater income and the purchase 
 of all mining stocks, and the like, is entirely forbidden. They shall 
 pay all taxes, charges, assessments and public dues which may be 
 lawfully demanded from time to time; all reasonable and proper ex- 
 penses for management of the estate, including counsel fees when 
 they think it necessary to employ counsel. 
 
 And I especially direct that out of the income of the estate they 
 shall pay all taxes and assessments levied annually or otherwise, so 
 long as my wife shall live, upon our homestead (and all her furni- 
 ture therein) consisting of two hundred feet of frontage on Oilman 
 street in Madison in block 94 according to the city plat and extend- 
 ing thence to Lake Mendota which is the property of my wife, in- 
 
 [37] 
 
eluding both houses thereon, and shall also make all repairs neces- 
 sary to the full enjoyment thereof by her and my darling daughter. 
 Mary Esther, and any improvements and alterations they may think 
 desirable, charging all such expenditures to the Income Account. 
 
 Separate and independent books of account of the estate shall 
 be opened and carefully kept by my trustees, in which shall be first 
 entered under proper headings of account a complete inventory of 
 all properties of the estate; and thereafter all items and transac- 
 tions shall be entered according to the double-entry system. They 
 shall fix some day in the year as the clearance day and beginning of 
 the fiscal year, at which time an inventory shall be annually taken, 
 all accounts closed and balances brought to new account and an ex- 
 act statement shown by proper transfer to income account of the net 
 annual income of the estate realized in the year then past; but in 
 making such inventory, so far as the same shall be carried to new 
 accounts, no property shall be inventoried with any increment of 
 value by estimation but all losses shall be charged off, if any; so 
 that the net income shall be stated according to the actual money 
 gains realized during the preceding year. And on such day all net 
 income realized which shall not be required by and appropriated to 
 my wife as hereinafter provided, shall be covered in and added to 
 the principal of the estate. 
 
 Third. My said trustees shall pay over to my dearly beloved 
 wife so long as she shall survive so much of the net annual income 
 of my estate as she shall desire to use, meaning all of it if she so 
 desire, in such sums from time to time during the year as she shall 
 require it, to be by her expended, employed or given away, as she 
 in her good pleasure may wish to do, without other limitation than 
 her wishes fix. 
 
 To her I leave it entirely to give therefrom to our darling daugh- 
 ter, Mary Esther V. Hanks, so much as she may think wise; and 
 also to make such allowances to our beloved daughter, Jessie Ford 
 Vilas; suggesting that it be from fifty dollars per month to one hun- 
 dred dollars per month, according to her needs and the amount of 
 available income to my wife, and to her judgment and wisdom, so 
 long as Jessie may remain unmarried, and also to make any 
 other gifts she may feel inclined, out of such income, of which we 
 have conversed together. But I intend hereby to impose no obliga- 
 tion, nor any sense of obligation upon my wife, nor any claim upon 
 her or upon my estate; purposing only suggestion of such consid- 
 eration to others as the income will warrant without detriment to 
 her enjoyment of all the pleasures of life that may remain to her and 
 as her wisdom may approve. So also I leave to her the care of the 
 cemetery where lie our lost ones, and the making of any special pro- 
 vision she may think fit. 
 
 [38] 
 
It is my expectation that the net cash income of the estate will 
 be sufficient for all her needs and leave to spare more than she will 
 require for other purposes. And I know that if this prove correct, 
 she will find satisfaction in the increase of the fund designed for the 
 advancement of knowledge and education, as an object of mutual de- 
 sire by both of us. 
 
 But in case at any time, or at divers times, there shall hap- 
 pen any deficiency of income for any reason, so that what is avail 
 able to my wife is insufficient for her needs and reasonable wishes, 
 then I authorize my trustees in their discretion to pay over to her 
 for sole use according to her pleasure any further sums out of the 
 principal which they shall think fit, without other limit than their 
 considerate judgment. And though hoping no misfortune will re- 
 quire it, yet, in any such case, I enjoin on my trustees a generous 
 liberality in so providing for her, to the end that my dearly beloved 
 wife may never be in want or distressed for any lack of money to 
 use according to her reasonable desires. 
 
 Fourth. From and after the decease of my wife or after mine, 
 if she shall not survive me I direct that my said trustees shall pay 
 over to our darling daughter, Mary Esther Vilas Hanks, twenty 
 thousand dollars ($20,000) in each and every year out of the net 
 annual income of my estate in quarter yearly installments of five 
 thousand dollars each in advance. If the net annual income, after 
 paying all other charges and outlays required therefrom, including 
 the allowance to Jessie Ford Vilas hereinafter provided for, shall 
 be in any year insufficient to pay all said twenty thousand dollars, 
 the payment in such year, save as hereinafter provided, shall be 
 limited to the net income, but the remainder unpaid shall be paid 
 out of the income of the next succeeding year or years when there 
 shall be excess until all arrearages shall be fully paid. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing, if the title to our homestead before 
 mentioned, now held by my wife, shall become vested in me before 
 my death, I hereby give and devise the sole, exclusive and full use 
 and occupancy thereof to our said daughter, Mary Esther, during 
 her natural life to hold and enjoy according to her pleasure includ- 
 ing as part of such homestead property the house now occupied by 
 her husband and herself and all other buildings and appurtenances 
 on or appertaining to such homestead property as hereinbefore des- 
 cribed. And in such case, and also in the event that such title shall 
 not come to me before death but that my wife shall provide for the 
 use of the same by our said daughter, I direct my said trustees to 
 pay out of the income of my estate all taxes and assessments leved 
 upon the said homestead property, or any part of it, by public au- 
 thority, and the entire cost of all repairs, and of all reasonable alter- 
 ations and improvements they may deem it proper to make on the 
 
 [39] 
 
said property; hereby giving them full power and discretion in the 
 matter; so long as our said daughter Mary Esther shall live. 
 
 The income of my estate may reasonably be expected to exceed 
 all the charges imposed upon it by this will, with a remainder to be 
 annually carried to principal. But, in further provision for our 
 daughter, Mary Esther, if it shall happen from any cause that the 
 net income available for her under the foregoing provision shall fall 
 below twelve, or even below fifteen thousand dollars in any year, I 
 authorize and direct my said trustees, but in their discretion only, 
 to give so much of the principal from time to time, or at any time, as 
 they shall think fit and proper, to our said daughter, Mary Esther, 
 not exceeding, with the income paid her, twenty thousand dollars a 
 year; to the end that, if necessity arise she may be comfortably and 
 suitably provided for according to her station and habits of life. 
 
 No gift of money or other thing by myself or wife while living 
 to our said daughter shall be reckoned as an advancement or in any 
 wise to diminish the foregoing provisions for her. 
 
 Fifth. From and after the decease of my wife or after mine if 
 she shall not survive me I direct my said trustees to pay to our be- 
 loved daughter-in-law, Jessie Ford Vilas, if she shall not have re- 
 married, the sum of one hundred dollars per month in advance, so 
 long as she shall remain unmarried. And as this is intended as the 
 continuance of an allowance which has been made since the loss of 
 our dearly beloved Henry, as a contribution merely, in addition to 
 her inheritance from him, to her comfort while living with her own 
 parents, and it is impossible to foresee her future necessities, I also 
 authorize my said trustees, but entirely in their discretion, to in- 
 crease at any time for so long as they think best, the said monthly 
 allowance to any sum not exceeding three hundred dollars per month, 
 having reference to the income of the estate and other charges upon 
 it; or to make her occasional special allowances for special needs. 
 Payments under this paragraph to be all made from the net annual 
 income. 
 
 Sixth. If the title thereto shall vest in me before my death 
 and if my son-in-law and daughter shall reside in our dwelling upon 
 our homestead before mentioned after my wife's decease until the 
 termination of the life of our daughter, Mary Esther, his wife, I give 
 and devise to my good son-in-law, Louis M. Hanks, if he shall sur- 
 vive my daughter, the like use and occupancy of our said homestead 
 property during his natural life; and I also bequeath him in the 
 same contingency ten thousand dollars per year during his life to be 
 paid by my trustees from the net income of the estate in four equal 
 quarterly installments in advance, from and after the decease of our 
 daughter, his wife, or so much thereof in any year as the said net 
 income shall be sufficient to pay; my said trustees also to pay the 
 
 [40] 
 
taxes on said homestead while he shall occupy the same by virtue 
 of this devise or of any like provision made by my wife. And the 
 like sum of ten thousand dollars per year I also bequeath him, to be 
 paid as aforesaid, in case he shall not derive it by the foregoing pro- 
 vision but shall become entitled to such use and occupation after 
 the death of our daughter by virtue only of any provision made by 
 my wife. This that he may not be disturbed in his residence in the 
 contingency mentioned. 
 
 Seventh. To each and every child born to my daughter, Mary 
 Esther, who may survive her, I give and bequeath fifty thousand dol- 
 lars, to be paid so soon after her death as my said trustees may 
 conveniently provide, not exceeding one year, but without interest. 
 
 Eighth. I direct my said trustees to pay any and all inheritance 
 or succession taxes, imposts or excises which may be levied pursuant 
 to any law of the United States or of the state of Wisconsin on my 
 estate, or on or because of any gift, devise or bequest hereinbefore 
 made, so that each of said devisees and legatees shall receive, so far 
 as possible, the provision made intact, save only that such payment 
 shall be charged to the income account if sufficient without impair- 
 ment of the legacies made therefrom ; but neither my wife nor daugh- 
 ter shall be deprived of any sum either may be entitled otherwise to 
 have and may require from the income, by reason hereof; but, if need 
 be for the requirements of either, payments shall be made from the 
 principal. All ordinary and current taxes and assessments on my 
 estate and its properties, and as well all others, though extraordinary, 
 which may be levied by public authority, shall be paid out of the 
 income of my estate. 
 
 Ninth. After the decease of our daughter, Mary Esther, if she 
 shall survive my wife, and if my wife shall survive my daughter 
 then after her decease, I desire and direct my said trustees to pre- 
 pare, before the next session of the legislature of Wisconsin, a com- 
 plete inventory of the property of my estate, as it shall then be (the 
 last item of which shall be of any and everything, right or interest, 
 real or personal, belonging to it, though not specifically mentioned) 
 to which they shall affix the value, or their 'estimate of the value, 
 of each item of property therein included, and shall add a statement 
 of any charges remaining still imposed upon it by this will, or by 
 law, unsatisfied or undischarged. And within thirty days after the 
 legislature shall have first convened subsequently to the event afore- 
 said, my said trustees shall cause to be laid before the legislature, a 
 communication in the following terms, signed by them, with a copy 
 of such inventory affixed thereto, to-wit: 
 
 To the Legislature of Wisconsin: 
 
 The undersigned, trustees of the estate of William F. Vilas, late 
 of the city of Madison, by authority and pursuant to the instruction 
 
 [41] 
 
of his last will and testament, respectfully submit to your honorable 
 body the following proposed instrument of conveyance, by which in 
 case you shall authorize its acceptance by the passage of the neces- 
 sary act, we are empowered to grant, upon the terms and conditions 
 therein expressed, to trustees, to aid the University of Wisconsin in 
 the advancement of learning, all the property which is described in 
 the annexed inventory, (but subject to the temporary charges therein 
 stated (if any) ), that is to say: 
 
 DEED OF GIFT AND CONVEYANCE. 
 
 The undersigned, trustees of the estate of William F. Vilas, late 
 of the city of Madison, in the state of Wisconsin, thereto duly em- 
 powered by his last will and testament, and by virtue and in consid- 
 eration of an act of the legislature of Wisconsin, entitled "An Act 
 to validate and accept the gift for the use of the University of Wis- 
 consin of the late William F. Vilas," approved 
 
 190. . ., by which our proposal of this grant was agreed to, 
 
 Do hereby give, grant, bargain, sell and convey in fee simple 
 absolute to the five trustees hereinafter named, and to their several 
 and respective successors as such trustees forever, the following real 
 and personal property, to-wit: 
 
 (Here to be properly described for legal conveyance all the 
 property in the said inventory mentioned, together with general 
 words to cover all interests of every kind, subject only to any charges 
 thereon yet remaining unsatisfied.) 
 
 To have and to hold to them and their said successors forever, 
 with all the rights, privileges and appurtenances thereunto belong- 
 ing or in any wise appertaining. And the said trustees and their said 
 successors are invested forever .with the full and perfect power of 
 absolute ownership to grant, bargain, sell, convey, assign, and transfer 
 the said property, or any part thereof, and likewise also any proper- 
 ty, real, personal or mixed, which may ever result therefrom, or in 
 any form or manner come to their hands as such trustees at any 
 time and from time to time forever; also to make any disposition 
 or use of the same whatever, to give any covenants or make any 
 agreements not in violation of law, relating thereto, which to them 
 may seem proper; also to take any measures for the safety and care 
 thereof, including insurance, which they shall think fit; also to in- 
 vest the same and all the proceeds thereof, and all that may in any 
 manner ever result therefrom, in any real estate or personal prop- 
 erty of whatsoever character, whether by purchase or by loan, with 
 a view to the production of income therefrom, and so to re-invest 
 from time to time forever all, or any part, of the property or moneys 
 of the trust estate hereby created; also to collect and receive pay- 
 ment of any moneys due said trust estate, including rents, interest, 
 
 [42] 
 
dividends, gains and profits in any form, to discharge any mortgages 
 or other securities, to represent and vote upon any stock or interest 
 in any corporation or association, to compound, compromise and set- 
 tle any and all claims, debts, demands or obligations, arising to or 
 from them, the said trustees, or the trust estate; and, in fine, to do 
 any act or exercise any power or privilege over or concerning such 
 trust estate, or any interest or property appertaining thereto which 
 absolute ownership authorizes them to do or exercise at any time 
 and at all times forever, subject only to the limitations of the law 
 and this deed of gift: 
 
 But in trust, nevertheless, to observe the directions and execute 
 the purposes hereinafter expressed and set forth, as follows, to-wit: 
 
 First. They shall keep in proper bound volumes a complete rec- 
 ord of all their meetings, proceedings and orders, the first volume of 
 which shall contain in the beginning a transcription of this deed of 
 gift and of the act of the legislature validating and accepting the 
 same; and thereafter of any further acts of the legislature relating 
 to the execution of the trust. And at the end of each fifty years 
 from its beginning they shall compile and record in such book a 
 succinct history of the trust estate, showing the method of its ad- 
 ministration, its course of progress or increase, the objects accom- 
 plished and expenditures made, properly classified, and the condi- 
 tion of the estate, its properties and their productiveness, at the end 
 of such period, with any other facts of importance; and shall cause 
 the same to be published, for the information of all interested, in 
 proper printed form. 
 
 They shall keep books of account, by the double-entry system, 
 showing the condition of the estate and all their pecuniary transac- 
 tions, which shall be opened with a detailed inventory of all prop- 
 erties at first received by them; and they shall by regulation or by- 
 law fix some day as the beginning of the fiscal year of the estate, 
 and on such day annually enter an inventory of all the possessions 
 and interests of the estate as then existing, and thereupon close all 
 accounts and carry to the capital account the net gains, (or losses, 
 if so be), save only such share of the net income as they shall be 
 authorized by this deed to expend or to hold as a surplus to insure 
 against failure to maintain and establish scale of expenditure; and 
 any and all other gains or increase existing at the end of any fiscal 
 year shall thereafter forever remain parcel of the principal of the 
 estate and never be paid out or expended, save only in the special 
 cases in this deed hereinafter provided for. 
 
 In making such inventory no property of the estate shall ever 
 be entered at more than its cost, or originally inventoried value, to 
 the end that no gains shall be reckoned but such as shall have been 
 realized; but depreciations shall be charged off according to the 
 
 [43] 
 
judgment of the trustees. Within thirty days after the beginning 
 of each fiscal year, the trustees shall report in writing to the regents 
 of the University of Wisconsin (and by the term, the regents, is 
 intended throughout this deed the governing body of the university, 
 however known or constituted) the inventory then newly taken, 
 showing also a comparison thereof with the next preceding, and an 
 account of the income of the estate and of their transactions during 
 the year last passed; and a duplicate thereof they shall file with the 
 secretary of state of Wisconsin. 
 
 The trustees may employ a secretary who may be also a trustee 
 and pay him an annual salary, which shall never be increased to 
 more than five thousand dollars unless a greater sum be allowed by 
 act of the legislature and paid by the state. They shall require of 
 him a good and sufficient bond to be yearly renewed, or so often 
 as entire security may require for the faithful discharge of his 
 duties and, as lawfully required, the payment over of all money and 
 delivery of all property, securities, books, papers or whatsoever 
 things of the estate that may come to his hands at any time or by 
 any means. 
 
 They may appoint a treasurer, or may designate some respon- 
 sible bank to act as treasurer, requiring such bond as they think fit; 
 but no salary or compensation shall be paid a treasurer unless the 
 legislature shall by act allow and fix it. 
 
 They may employ attorneys or counsel when demanded by the 
 interests of the estate; all needful clerical assistance in their office; 
 agents and servitors for the care of real estate or other property: 
 but except for the construction of buildings, no expenditure for other 
 personal service ought to be made. 
 
 The trustees themselves shall receive such salary only as shall 
 be allowed by act of the legislature; and it may be expected that, in 
 view of the ends to which the estate is devoted, there will ever be 
 trustees whose requirements will at least be no more than the mini- 
 mum of reasonable compensation for services bestowed. 
 
 The trustees may provide an office for the transaction of their 
 business and the safe keeping of the records and papers of the estate, 
 either by renting apartments or the construction of a fire proof 
 building therefor, or of some part of a building bought or built for 
 investment, or of the theatre, if built as hereinafter provided. 
 
 All of the expenses of the trustees, all expenses of the manage- 
 ment of the estate herein provided for, and all in any manner prop- 
 erly incurred in the administration of the estate, shall be paid from 
 gains and charged to the annual income account. 
 
 This deed, the books of record and of account, and all papers 
 and documents touching the history of the estate, shall never be pur- 
 posely destroyed, but all shall be carefully preserved so long as the 
 chances of time may allow. 
 
 [44] 
 
Second. They shall conduct, manage, invest and re-invest the 
 properties and moneys of the estate and in all respects administer its 
 affairs so as to obtain the largest net annual income to be derived 
 with due regard to the safety of the principal, and to that end shall 
 have power to make whatever investments will yield, in their opin- 
 ion, the best and surest gains, whether through rents, interest, 
 dividends, increment of value, or otherwise; but never shall they in- 
 vest more than one-tenth of the entire capital of the estate in any 
 single enterprise, corporation, tract of real estate, including build- 
 ings thereon, loan, class of securities by the same debtor, or other 
 form, or so as to expose a greater share in any risk; and the legis- 
 lature may forbid any particular method of investment. 
 
 One-half of the net annual income of the estate shall be accumu- 
 lated and annually added to the principal or capital of the estate, 
 and such further portion of such net income as the trustees shall at 
 any time think fit, until the entire principal or capital shall amount 
 to twenty million dollars, and thereafter one-quarter of such net in- 
 come shall be so accumulated and added to capital until such capital 
 shall amount to thirty million dollars, at which sum accumulation 
 of capital shall cease, unless the legislature shall authorize its fur- 
 ther increase. 
 
 But a surplus of income may be carried, out of the annual in- 
 come available for expenditure, in order to assure against a failure 
 to maintain at any time the scale of annual expenditure established 
 for the benefit of the university as hereinafter provided for. 
 
 In case the principal, or capital, of the estate shall at any time, 
 or at divers times, after the attainment of the sum or sums above 
 respectively limited, be reduced by losses, or by expenditures auth- 
 orized hereinafter to be made therefrom, then, and as often as shall 
 be necessary, accumulation shall be resumed of the one-half or one- 
 quarter of the net annual income, as above respectively directed, and 
 maintained until the limit of accumulation be again attained, as 
 above provided. 
 
 In the valuation of the estate with reference to such limits, no 
 property shall be reckoned above cost, nor any securities above the 
 par value thereof. 
 
 The trustees shall, as an ordinary item of expense of the estate, 
 to be paid out of the gross income small, unless accident befall 
 keep forever in decent order the monument, marking stones and 
 ground of the Vilas burial lot in the Forest Hill cemetery near the 
 city of Madison where lie the remains of said William P. Vilas, his 
 father, and their families, and others of kindred and, in case of in- 
 jury or destruction, shall restore the same to as good condition as 
 the same were in at the time of the death of said William P. Vilas. 
 
 Third. If, when this deed shall be delivered, no such theatre as 
 
 [45] 
 
is mentioned in this article shall have been provided for the univer- 
 sity, and the total valuation of the estate hereby conveyed shall not 
 then be thirteen hundred thousand dollars, at least, all the net an- 
 nual income shall be accumulated and added to the capital until it 
 shall have fully attained to said sum, and as much more as the trus- 
 tees shall think requisite for the due execution of this article. They 
 shall then, or without awaiting accumulation if the capital be al- 
 ready thirteen hundred thousand dollars, set apart at least two hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand dollars of such capital, and so much more 
 as they shall think required provided that the capital of the estate 
 shall not be thereby diminished to less than one million dollars to 
 be applied, together with further accruing income, as necessary, so 
 soon as the regents shall provide a suitable site therefor, acceptable 
 to the trustees, to the construction of a theatre, or commodious 
 and fitting structure for the assemblage of the university body and 
 the public when desired, with all convenient and useful appointments 
 and offices in connection therewith, suitable for all university uses 
 desired, including musical and dramatic exhibition, and whatever 
 other university purposes may be subserved. 
 
 The plans for such theatre shall be provided by the regents and 
 approved by the trustees, and the regents shall construct the same, 
 the trustees paying over the moneys required therefor in convenient 
 installments from time to time. And in like manner the theatre 
 shall be well and adequately equipped for its intended uses. 
 
 Such structure shall be of size and architectural character to 
 cost at least two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the trus- 
 tees may, in their discretion, employ for it, including its equipment, 
 not more than five hundred thousand dollars, first having accumu- 
 lated the requisite funds, if such accumulation shall be necessary. 
 It is designed, and the trustees are enjoined, in the exercise of their 
 wise discretion, to provide an adequate, dignified and enduring struc- 
 ture, all conditions at the time when they shall act being justly con- 
 sidered. Should a suitable theatre be otherwise provided for the 
 university before the trustees shall be able to execute this article, 
 the trustees shall add the moneys especially provided therefor, if 
 any, to the capital of the estate; and if at any time thereafter, occa- 
 sion arise for such a theatre, the money necessary, within the limits 
 above defined, shall be provided by the trustees from the capital 
 above one million dollars, or by like accumulation of income therefor. 
 
 And wherever a theatre shall be constructed under this article 
 there shall be placed upon its front over the principal entrance a 
 tablet of stone or metal, of appropriate size and design, inscribed 
 "The Vilas Theatre," and within the principal entrance or hall there- 
 of another such suitable tablet inscribed "In Memory of Henry Vilas, 
 A. B. 1894. Born May 28th, 1872, Died July 2nd, 1899." 
 
 [46] 
 
Both tablets shall be maintained in good condition so long as 
 such theatre shall stand. The trustees shall provide for its adequate 
 insurance out of the income of the estate if the regents do not; and 
 in the event of its destruction shall provide anew for its reconstruc- 
 tion from the insurance moneys realized, with aid, if necessary, from 
 the estate in like manner. 
 
 Fourth. Subject to the foregoing provisions the trustees may 
 set apart one-half the net annual income of the estate, until its tocal 
 invested capital shall be twenty million dollars, and thereafter, so 
 long as that total shall be maintained, three-fourths of said net in- 
 come, and, after the total invested capital shall have become thirty 
 million dollars, then, so long as it shall be maintained at that 
 amount, all the net income, for expenditure for the ends and objects 
 next hereinafter set forth; but no establishment of any such fixed an- 
 nual expenditure ought to be provided until it be prudently fore- 
 seen that it can be thenceforward continued without interruption. 
 And no more than the above limited shares of the net annual income 
 shall be at any time expended by the trustees for any object in this 
 article provided for; and in case, after the establishment of scholar- 
 ships, fellowships, professorships, and other like endowments, the 
 above limited provision of the net annual income shall at any time 
 fail in sufficiency therefor for a time, preference, until the capital 
 and income be regained, shall be given in expenditure to the classes 
 of endowments in the order hereinafter provided for their establish- 
 ment, and in the several classes in the order of their actual estab- 
 lishment. To guard against such failure, the trustees may, in their 
 discretion, always maintain in hand a surplus of such net income as 
 is so available for expenditure under the provisions of this deed in 
 order to supplement at needful times annual receipts and supply de 
 ficiencies unexpectedly happening therein; but this shall not auth- 
 orize any withholding from the increase of the capital of any part 
 of the one-half of the income annually until it shall reach twenty 
 million dollars, as aforesaid, nor of any part of the one-quarter of 
 the net annual income thereafter until the capital shall reach thirty 
 million dollars, as before provided. 
 
 The trustees may, from time to time, in their discretion, proffer 
 in writing to the regents provision for the maintenance of the 
 scholarships, fellowships, professorships, with their respective auxil- 
 liary allowances as hereinafter provided, and other like endowments 
 hereinafter authorized, in the order hereinafter mentioned; one or 
 more at a time, as may be prudently done; and, upon advice of the 
 appointment of incumbents therefor respectively, shall pay to such 
 incumbents, upon the certificate or warrant of the regents or their 
 proper officer, showing the right thereto, the amount of annual allow- 
 ance provided for each such incumbent respectively in convenient 
 
 [47] 
 
periodical installments as required by the regents in each case; or 
 otherwise disburse such annual or special provision according to the 
 method fixed by the regents for its application to the purposes to 
 which assigned; always preferring, when conveniently practicable, 
 direct payment by the trustees to the respective incumbents entitled 
 thereto in suitable installments. 
 
 The right of appointment, subject to the preferences therefor 
 hereinafter provided, and the right of removal, shall belong entirely 
 to the regents, without interference by the trustees, direct or in- 
 direct. 
 
 All such establishments shall be distinguished from other uni- 
 versity positions by the name Vilas prefixed, as the Vilas scholarship, 
 fellowship, professorship, or the like, with addition of the college, 
 or of the school, &c., in the University of Wisconsin, correctly desig- 
 nating the same when the same shall be attached to any college, 
 school or department, or otherwise as the case may require. In the 
 establishment of such endowments, it is to be expected that the trus- 
 tees, though possessed of the power of an owner and giver, will con- 
 sult with, and unless for reasons not to be foreseen now, will pur- 
 sue the advice of the regents, as to their character, objects, assign- 
 ment to colleges, schools, &c., or their creation independently of 
 either, entire harmony and thorough co-operation being essential to 
 good results. It is for the trustees especially to determine the suffi- 
 ciency of the permanent income to warrant establishment, and see 
 to its application; and that the order and purposes of this deed are 
 observed in the endowments. 
 
 A. Provision shall first be made for ten undergraduate scholar- 
 ships each incumbent whereof shall receive four hundred dollars 
 per year, and for ten fellowships each incumbent whereof shall re- 
 ceive six hundred dollars per year. In appointment to such scholar- 
 ships and fellowships the regents shall prefer among worthy and 
 qualified candidates those of lineal or collateral kindred to said Will- 
 iam F. Vilas, and among such kindred those of his surname. 
 
 The regents may prescribe standards of qualification for such 
 scholars and fellows, which shall be alike for all applicants for either 
 respectively; they may fix the duration of enjoyment by any one per- 
 son; they may require from any fellow such instructional service as 
 they shall think reasonable; and may impose any other appropriate 
 conditions upon the enjoyment of such scholarships or fellowships 
 respectively, of uniform character; it being the purpose that such 
 scholarships and fellowships shall be in essential similar to like posi- 
 tions at the present time in American universities. 
 
 The regents may at any time when they shall desire to give 
 leave to any fellow for travel and study in other states or foreign 
 countries award to one person the salary of two fellowships, for a 
 
 [48] 
 
limited period; or what is much preferable if the income available 
 will warrant the trustees may on their request assign for a limited 
 period a salary not to exceed fifteen hundred dollars per year to one 
 or more, not exceeding five, of such fellowships, to constitute travel- 
 ing fellowships, and enable the incumbent under direction of the re- 
 gents to pursue studies abroad as they shall authorize; such pro- 
 vision being left to the trustees to make whenever and for such 
 periods as the regents shall deem desirable in aid of specially prom- 
 ising or specially deserving fellows. 
 
 B. In their discretion, the trustees may employ out of the avail- 
 able net income not to exceed one-tenth of one percentum of the 
 capital of the estate, as shown by the last preceding inventory, in 
 amount in any one year such sum as may seem desirable for the 
 encouragement of merit and talent, or to promote appreciation of 
 and taste for, the art of music, in connection with university instruc- 
 tion therein. This may be by the proffer of prizes, by assistance of 
 meritorious and promising students to pursue study at home or 
 abroad, by contribution to musical festivals or exhibitions, or in such 
 form "whatever as the trustees shall deem most serviceable. No ob- 
 ligation is imposed on the trustees, the purpose being that expendi- 
 ture shall only be made in exceptional instances, not to provide in- 
 struction. The promotion of popular taste by the aid of periodical 
 musical festivals is commended to their consideration. 
 
 C. Next in order, but first in importance among the purposes 
 of this trust, provision shall be made for the maintenance and suit- 
 able equipment, one after another as means shall afford until ten 
 such be established, of professorships of a special class to promote 
 the advancement of knowledge. 
 
 Each professor of this class shall receive not less than five thou- 
 sand dollars, nor more than ten thousand dollars, in yearly salary, as 
 the trustees shall provide; and they may fix the salary of each irre- 
 spectively of the others, and may, when less than the maximum shall 
 have been originally fixed as will no doubt be the rule increase the 
 salary of any such professor, on the recommendation of the regents, 
 at any time, or from time to time, until said limit shall be reached; 
 but no salary, when fixed at any sum originally or by increase, shall 
 be reduced while the same person holds the professorship, except 
 upon his retirement. In case any such professor shall retire with 
 consent of, or be retired by the regents, after fifteen years' service in 
 his professorship, the trustees shall pay him, during the residue of 
 his natural life, two thousand five hundred dollars per year in equal 
 monthly installments in advance. Upon retirement of any such pro- 
 fessor another may be appointed in his stead, so that ten active pro- 
 fessors of this class be in service continually, after the full number 
 shall have been established, or so many less as shall then have been. 
 
 [49] 
 
At the time of establishing each one of such professorships the 
 trustees shall also provide, in addition to the professor's salary, a 
 further annual sum of allowance, to be expended under his direction, 
 to furnish proper auxiliaries to enable his due accomplishment of 
 the ends proposed to him, which shall include personal assistants, 
 such as clerks, stenographers, computers, mechanicians, laboratory 
 employes, and whatever others, when requisite, and supplies of ap- 
 propriate materials, implements, books, apparatus, specimens, and 
 the like. In fixing such sum the trustees will look to the advice of 
 the regents and consider the objects or nature of the line of in- 
 vestigation which such professor is assigned to pursue; but he ought 
 to be so liberally supplied, within reasonable bounds, that no hind- 
 rance or interruption of his work will become necessary, and the 
 increase of knowledge may have the best favoring hope possible in 
 the circumstances. And the trustees may increase, or may diminish 
 the sum of allowance so provided, whenever and as often as it is 
 deemed best, upon the request of the regents; or may, on like request, 
 make special and limited appropriation from the available net in- 
 come to aid any particular research or investigation, or to provide 
 for the cost of any expedition or journey by any such professor, or 
 any assistant, with all needful auxiliaries of persons and things. 
 
 Appointments may, if the regents so desire, be made provision 
 ally on probation for one, two or three years, or for successive years 
 or periods not more than five years in all in probation, but after 
 five years' continuous service, if satisfactory, any such professor 
 shall have final appointment, or otherwise be dismissed from such 
 professorship. And whenever a final appointment shall be given, 
 whether after five years', or less, probationary service, or with none, 
 the professor so appointed shall not thereafter be removed, or be de- 
 prived of his right to pay after retirement hereinbefore given, except 
 for good and sufficient cause duly proven at a fair hearing by the 
 regents, or with the aid of a committee specially raised therefor, 
 after due notice and opportunity to defend. 
 
 These professorships are designed to promote advancement of 
 knowledge rather than to give instruction, and it shall forever be a 
 limitation on the power to require service of any incumbent thereof 
 that not more than three hours in one week, nor more than one hour 
 in one day, shall be exacted of him for teaching, lecturing or other 
 instruction to students, or otherwise, against either his objection or 
 that of the trustees; any such service with assent of both being open. 
 But the regents may determine the reasonable requirement of time 
 to be employed in investigation, prescribe the subjects thereof, and 
 the general line or course to be pursued ; and the professorships shall 
 be respectively designated, in summary phrase, accordingly; and 
 they may be assigned to any college, school or department in the 
 
 [50] 
 
university, or stand independently, as the regents shall determine. 
 Any branch of human learning may be selected as the subject of spe- 
 cial study; but when the subject and general course of inquiry of 
 any such professorship shall have been once determined and entered 
 upon, they shall not be changed during the active service of the exist- 
 ing incumbent without his assent. Upon the termination of the 
 active service of any professor by retirement, or otherwise, the re- 
 gents, when appointing a successor may prescribe any subjects or 
 line of investigation anew; and the trustees may fix upon any sum 
 of annual allowance, or a different salary within the prescribed 
 limits; so that whatever shall then appear most desirable shall be 
 available as upon an original establishment. 
 
 The qualifications for such professorships being left to the wis- 
 dom of the regents, with opportunity for probationary service before 
 a final appointment, and the power of retirement remaining in the 
 regents, it is right and expedient to secure to incumbents with cer- 
 tainty beyond the risk of interruption the means of life in assured 
 comfort, fixing upon their character and liberty the hope of beneficial 
 achievement in the increase of knowledge, with no greater exaction of 
 service in imparting it to others than may serve to aid, rather than 
 retard, the clarification and definition of results attained. Yet al- 
 though so untrammelled by obligation to teach which in proper in- 
 stances the regents may not require at all, or only at convenient 
 periods and free to pursue his fixed lines of research in his own 
 way, still it may be expected that, in fact, each such professor will 
 gather about him as fellow workers and assistants, so far as may 
 be, students who will both gain learning, and inspiration to promote 
 it, from their participation in his pursuits and the opportunities of 
 such association, which he will both desire and best know how to 
 inculcate in them. 
 
 Due provision must be made for publication of the results of in- 
 vestigation by all such professors, either by the regents or the state; 
 or, if found necessary and desirable, the trustees may provide there- 
 for from the available net annual income. 
 
 Suitable quarters or buildings for the work of such professors 
 should be furnished by the regents; but, in necessity, the trustees 
 possess needful authority, under a later article of this deed. 
 
 D. The ten professorships aforesaid having been established 
 and supplied, the trustees shall next provide for fifty more under- 
 graduate scholarships, with a salary of from three to four hundred 
 dollars each, as they shall deem best, and then for fifty more fellow- 
 ships with a salary of from five hundred to six hundred dollars 
 each, to which graduates of the University of Wisconsin shall be 
 appointed; such scholarships and fellowships to be of like character 
 with those first hereinbefore provided for; or, they may, in their 
 
 [51] 
 
discretion, provide for both fellowships and scholarships, but at least 
 as many of the latter as of fellowships. 
 
 For at least one-fifth of these scholarships and fellowships the 
 regents shall prefer in appointment among worthy and qualified 
 candidates those of negro blood, if such present themselves. Other- 
 wise than as aforesaid, they shall be governed by the regents in like 
 manner as those first above provided for. 
 
 E. After sufficient provision for the continued maintenance of 
 the foregoing, the trustees may provide from time to time, as in- 
 crease of available net income shall warrant, for such professorships 
 either in addition to the ten aforesaid for advancement of knowl- 
 edge, or simply for instructional service such associate or assistant 
 professorships, such instructorships, additional scholarships or fel- 
 lowships, or such other chairs for instruction or for research as to 
 them and the regents shall seem most to promote knowledge and 
 education and benefit the university. 
 
 But though provision for chairs of instruction is left discretion- 
 ary, it ought ever to be remembered that, aside from scholarships 
 and fellowships to aid deserving students, the university may be 
 best raised to the highest excellence as a seat of learning and edu- 
 cation, through extraneous aid, by abundant support in pushing the 
 confines of knowledge; the especial object of this trust. The state 
 may be confidently expected to furnish sufficient instruction to its 
 youth, and other sources of contribution and revenue will supply any 
 lack. 
 
 But if, and after, any chair of instruction shall have been by 
 them created and an incumbent installed, the trustees shall never 
 withdraw, without the consent of the regents, the provision made 
 therefor during the tenancy of such incumbent, save only if the net 
 annual income available to expenditure hereunder shall fail to supply 
 all the like appointed charges thereon, and then only to the extent 
 actually necessary and in the order required by the rule of prefer- 
 ance in such case hereinbefore prescribed. And, subject only to the 
 limitations in this deed contained, the government of all appointees 
 shall remain wholly with the regents, with all the powers given by 
 law, that their relations and services may be most harmoniously 
 and effectively co-ordinated with the other agencies under the regents 
 to the highest benefit of the university and its beneficiaries. 
 
 Fifth. At any time after the estate shall have come to exceed 
 five million dollars of capital, the trustees may, in their discretion, 
 upon request of the regents, suspend the addition of the one-half net 
 income to the capital, and for a time accumulate all the available in- 
 come not appropriated to endowments in a special fund for the 
 construction of any building desired for the university, and when a 
 sufficient sum shall have been so gained, and the regents shall have 
 
 [52] 
 
provided a site and plans therefor to the satisfaction of the trustees, 
 may apply such special fund to the construction of such building. 
 
 Upon the front of every such building, over the principal en- 
 trance thereto, shall be placed an appropriate stone or metal tablet 
 suitably inscribed to mark it as a structure built by the estate here- 
 by created, and such tablet shall be preserved in good condition, by 
 renewal when needful, so long as such building shall stand. 
 
 This power may be exercised so often as the regents and trus- 
 tees shall, in their wisdom, concur in determining desirable; but, if 
 entered upon, so soon as any such special fund shall have been ac- 
 cumulated to the sum pre-determined to be necessary, then the one- 
 half of the net income (or one-fourth after the invested capital be 
 twenty million dollars) shall again be applied to the increase of the 
 capital as hereinbefore provided. The primary object of this pro- 
 vision is to afford the means, in need, for such buildings as investi- 
 gation or the progress of knowledge may peculiarly require. All 
 such buildings, indeed, as all others desirable to the university, may 
 be expected from the enlightened care of the state. Yet an unre- 
 strained discretion to so build any is left to the trustees, lest condi- 
 tions arise when the widest exercise of such authority may become 
 of sufficient importance to the needs of the university. 
 
 Sixth. This gift and conveyance are made upon the condition 
 that all the several requirements and limitations respecting its ac- 
 cumulation, administration and use, shall be forever faithfully ob- 
 served, and to ensure that end the right of visitation and suit is giv- 
 en in the next succeeding article. 
 
 But it is further explicitly made an unalterable condition of the 
 right of the trustees to hold the estate hereby granted and any and 
 all property which they may ever receive or have under this deed, 
 that if the provisions in this deed contained requiring the accumula- 
 tion of the capital thereof by the addition to it of one-half of the an- 
 nual income until the invested capital be twenty million dollars, and 
 of one-quarter of such income thereafter until such capital be thirty 
 million dollars, or of the before prescribed share of such income to 
 restore the capital in case of any loss thereof at any time or at 
 divers times, shall not be faithfully executed; or if expenditure of 
 the same, or of the income, or of any part of either, shall be at any 
 time made for other and different objects than those hereinbefore 
 prescribed; or if the prescribed order of preference of such objects 
 shall be violated; then all the estate and properties of every kind 
 held by such trustees at the time, and all resulting therefrom, and 
 the complete and perfect ownership thereof and title thereto, shall 
 at once vest in the then existing heir or heirs of said William P. 
 Vilas in however remote degree; and any such heir or heirs may re- 
 cover the same without entry for condition broken, or any precedent 
 
 [53] 
 
step or act of any kind by him or them, and any such heir may so 
 separately recover his share thereof, in any action or actions, suit 
 or suits, at law or in equity, and no limitation of time shall defeat 
 such action less than twenty years after the full personal discovery 
 and knowledge by such heir or heirs entitled thereto of the default 
 or breach of condition which shall so vest such estate or properties, 
 or the share thereof to which any such heir may be entitled. 
 
 Seventh. Full and complete power of visitation is given to the 
 governor of Wisconsin; to the attorney-general of Wisconsin; to the 
 legislature of Wisconsin, or any committee appointed by it therefor; 
 to the regents, or any committee appointed by them therefor; to each 
 and every scholar, fellow, professor, or other incumbent of any posi- 
 tion which may be established by virtue hereof as aforesaid; and to 
 any person who may at any time be heir, to any extent, or in any 
 degree of lineal or collateral relationship, of the said William F. 
 Vilas; and any of said official bodies, officials or persons in this ar- 
 ticle named, shall possess full power of examination, at all reason- 
 able times, of all the properties, affairs and accounts of the trustees 
 and the trust estate, and may at any time institute and prosecute to 
 effect any necessary or proper action at law or suit in equity or other 
 fit remedy of any kind, to invoke the powers of any court or tribunal 
 having jurisdiction to correct and redress any error or failure in ad- 
 ministration of this trust, or any departure from the provisions of 
 this deed for its management or the use of its income; all the costs 
 of which, although the proceeding fail of affirmative result, shall be 
 borne by the estate if the court shall find there were reasonable 
 grounds to warrant its institution; and otherwise, by the parties or 
 the trustees personally, as the court shall adjudge. 
 
 But this provision shall in no wise diminish, qualify or affect, 
 the condition and limitation in the next preceding article providing 
 for the devolution of the estate and its properties to the heirs of the 
 said William F. Vilas in case of violation of any of the requirements 
 therein mentioned as essential to the continuance of the trust. 
 
 Eighth. of ; of ; of ; 
 
 of ; and of having consented thereunto, 
 
 are hereby made the first trustees, to whom, and to their successors, 
 this conveyance is made, and are invested with all the properties 
 hereinbefore described or mentioned and all the powers herein given 
 as aforesaid. 
 
 By the term "the trustees" wherever used in this deed is in- 
 tended the said persons and their successors in this trust, for the 
 time being forever, as herein provided for. The number of such 
 trustees shall never be less than five. When a vacancy shall occur 
 in such number, the trustees remaining shall as quickly as possible 
 convene and choose a successor and procure his acceptance and en- 
 
 [54] 
 
try on the duties of his office. If within sixty days from its happen- 
 ing any such vacancy shall not be so filled, the regents, the president 
 of the university, or any citizen of the state, may apply to the court 
 having jurisdiction to appoint a trustee to fill the same, on five days' 
 notice to the remaining trustees, at their office. 
 
 The trustees may at any time, by recorded vote, increase the 
 number of trustees to seven, and elect the additional trustees so pro- 
 vided for; and thereafter the foregoing provisions shall apply to such 
 increased number. 
 
 No bond shall be required of any trustee, unless the legislature 
 shall by law require it. 
 
 It is recommended as good policy that every trustee shall be a 
 graduate of the university; that at least one be a judge of the su- 
 preme court of Wisconsin; and, when time arrives, that one or more 
 be chosen from among the first ten professors of the class of in- 
 vestigators to be provided for as hereinbefore set forth. But no lim- 
 itation on the power of choice is hereby in any wise imposed; inas- 
 much as it is impossible safely to foresee what circumstances may 
 require or how important it may be to repose choice in particular 
 cases on character and ability unaccompanied by the special quali- 
 fications indicated. 
 
 In witness whereof, the undersigned, being the trustees now in 
 execution of the last will and testament of William P. Vilas, have, 
 pursuant to the obligations on them imposed and the authority in 
 them vested hereunto set their names and affixed their seals, re- 
 spectively this day of in the year of our Lord, 
 
 Trustees as- last aforesaid. 
 
 And the undersigned trustees of the estate of said William F. 
 Vilas further respectfully inform your honorable body that, accord- 
 ing to the instruction and power given to us in his last will and 
 testament, we may execute and deliver the deed of gift and convey- 
 ance aforesaid if, and only upon condition that, within two years 
 from the receipt of this communication, your honorable body shall 
 enact by law, (to be entitled as in said proposed deed is for con- 
 venience suggested). 
 
 (1) That the legislature of Wisconsin accepts for the benefit of 
 the University of Wisconsin the grant proposed to be made by the 
 aforesaid proposed deed of conveyance upon the terms and condi- 
 tions therein expressed, authorizes such conveyance to be made ac- 
 cordingly, and declares that the same when so made shall be valid 
 and binding forever upon all parties thereto and all persons inter- 
 
 [55] 
 
ested therein or in any wise affected thereby, and that the terms, 
 conditions, and provisions, in the said proposed deed of conveyance 
 contained and set forth shall in all particulars constitute unalter- 
 ably the law of such grant and forever unalterably govern the ad- 
 ministration and management of the estate and properties by it con- 
 veyed and all which may in any manner whatever result therefrom 
 by increment, gains, additional gifts, or any increase thereof what- 
 ever; 
 
 (2) In case any charges imposed by the last will and testament 
 of said William F. Vilas upon such property and estate remain at the 
 time of such conveyance unpaid, undischarged or unfulfilled, that all 
 charges by such last will and testament required to be sustained by 
 such property shall be justly and in good faith paid, executed an-i 
 discharged as their nature may require in accordance with the true 
 intent of said last will. 
 
 (But if no such charges remain unpaid, unexecuted or undis- 
 charged, then this clause may be omitted from the communication 
 to the legislature.) 
 
 (3) That the properties of the trust estate so created shall, in 
 all respects, and as well all gains, increment, or other increase there- 
 of, be exempt from all taxation in any form so long as the same shall 
 continue to be held for the uses and purposes of the University of 
 Wisconsin, as therein provided; and 
 
 (4) That the several persons hereinbelow proposed therefor 
 (or others to be proposed if objection be found to these) may be 
 named in said deed as the first five trustees to whom the said grant 
 may be made. 
 
 And they also pray leave of your honorable body, to propose, 
 pursuant to the instruction to them in the said last will and testa- 
 ment, as the first five trustees. , of ; , of ; 
 
 , of ; , of ; and , of , of whom 
 
 the undersigned (or two, or one, of the undersigned, in case one or 
 more of my trustees decline so to serve) are suggested as a part be- 
 cause such is the written desire of the said testator, and they are 
 willing so to act with the approval of your honorable body. 
 
 To which they respectfully add that they stand ready to com- 
 plete the discharge of their trust under said last will and testament 
 by the due execution and delivery of the proposed deed of convej'- 
 ance so soon as your honorable body shall authorize the same by the 
 act desired, and they pray your early consideration thereof. 
 
 Madison, Wis., , 190 . 
 
 Trustees. 
 [56] 
 
Tenth. It is my desire that all of the trustees who shall be then 
 in execution of the trust created by this will, shall be also named as 
 trustees in the deed of conveyance so set forth in the communication 
 to the legislature in the next preceding paragraph of this will con- 
 tained; or so many as will accept that trust; in order that the trus 
 tees under such conveyance may possess from the beginning familiar 
 knowledge of all the properties transferred and thus continue their 
 management to the best advantage. In preparing such communica- 
 tion this desire will, I hope, find execution. And they are also di- 
 rected to select other suitable and competent persons of approved 
 standing and character to complete the full number of five trustees 
 proposed. Should it happen, however, that the legislature shall be 
 unwilling to assent to the designation of any persons so proposed as 
 trustees, my said trustees may, by subsequent communication 
 amendatory of the first, propose others until they nominate five satis- 
 factory to the legislature. 
 
 And, if, at any time within two years from the receipt of such 
 communication set forth in the ninth paragraph of this will, the 
 legislature shall enact a law making the provisions therein which 
 are mentioned in the aforesaid communication and numbered (1), 
 (2), (3) and (4), (if number (2) be included because of charges re- 
 maining on the estate) without material qualification, or reserva- 
 tion of power to alter the same, then my said trustees shall, as soon 
 as possible after the approval of such law, duly execute such deed in 
 such manner as the statutes may require, deliver the same and make 
 over and transfer to the trustees in such deed named the physical 
 possession and control of all the properties of my estate, and also 
 execute any other papers, or do whatever other thing, necessary or 
 convenient to vest in said trustees full and perfect ownership and 
 possession thereof. 
 
 And thereupon my said trustees shall stand discharged of their 
 trust under this will. 
 
 Eleventh. In the foregoing paragraphs numbered ninth and 
 tenth of this will, I have indicated and directed the final disposition 
 of my estate entire, in the manner which now appears to me both 
 useful and entirely in consonance with law. But I desire to ensure, 
 if possible, beyond the risk of legal cavil or technical defect, the 
 proffer to the legislature of all of my estate not otherwise disposed of, 
 as proposed in the ninth paragraph, in the belief that if any ques- 
 tion otherwise can exist, they will by law validate the proposed gift 
 and assure its devotion to the purposes intended. In amendment of 
 the first part of the ninth paragraph, therefore, I now give my said 
 trustees power and authority, in their discretion, at any time after 
 the decease of my wife, to cause to be laid before the legislature the 
 communication, signed by them, in that paragraph contained ; in that 
 
 [57] 
 
case setting forth with special care the charges thereon, which I 
 have hereinbefore made, in the inventory of the estate, to the end 
 that they may be thus surely provided for; by which means early 
 and definite disposition may be had. And in the event that any 
 question be raised of the validity of this my will in respect to the 
 disposition made in the said ninth and tenth paragraphs aforesaid, 
 or in respect to any other material and substantial disposition here- 
 by made of any part of my estate or the income thereof, I absolutely 
 direct my said trustees at the next ensuing session of the legisla- 
 ture to so lay such communication before that body, as in the ninth 
 paragraph directed, and thereupon to dispose of my estate as in the 
 tenth paragraph required; in the event of the acceptance of the gift 
 as proposed only, however. 
 
 Twelfth. In case the legislature of Wisconsin shall not, within 
 the two years limited, pass the act provided for, so as to authorize 
 my trustees to finally dispose of all my estate given them in trust 
 a contingency which I cannot anticipate as probable because the 
 terms of the gift are all within the law as it now exists if my estate 
 shall amount to the sum I suppose then my trustees shall, after 
 having discharged all the gifts, legacies and other dispositions here- 
 inbefore provided for, divide all the residue of my estate into three 
 equal parts, so nearly as it can be done by them; for which purpose 
 they are empowered themselves absolutely to fix values upon each 
 and every piece, parcel or article of property, real, personal and 
 mixed, belonging to the estate in their hands, and assign any and 
 every such piece, parcel or article to such of the three parts so to be 
 apportioned by them as they shall see fit; and thereupon they shall 
 make over, transfer, grant and convey one of such three parts to the 
 children of my daughter, Mary Esther Vilas Hanks, who shall then 
 be surviving, if any; and likewise transfer, grant and convey an- 
 other of such three parts to such of my four nieces, daughters of my 
 deceased brother, Levi M. Vilas, and my nephew, Charles A. Vilas, 
 of Milwaukee, as shall then be surviving, if any of the five, nephew 
 and nieces, shall so remain in life; and likewise transfer, grant and 
 convey, the other and last of said three parts, and also either or 
 both of the previously mentioned two of the three parts if there be 
 no person in being as aforesaid to receive them, or either of them, 
 to the city of Madison, in trust, to employ such portion thereof as- 
 the common council of said city shall think fit to construct and equip 
 a building to contain a library, reading rooms, recreation rooms, 
 lecture rooms, baths, and other convenient appointments of a club 
 house or resort for the use and enjoyment of the mechanics, artisans, 
 laborers and other citizens of Madison; and to hold the residue as 
 an endowment fund, to be invested and the income thereof applied 
 to the support and maintenance of such establishment and its equip- 
 
 [58] 
 
ment in such manner as the common council may provide. It is my 
 desire, in case this gift shall ever become operative, that there shall 
 be provided a place of resort, recreation and improvement, for the 
 benefit, especially and primarily though I would exclude none of 
 the citizens of Madison who obtain their livelihood by daily labor in 
 whatever occupation. I would have it so planned and conducted that 
 no laboring man or woman but should feel perfectly at home in it, 
 not as the beneficiary of an unpleasing discrimination; to the end 
 that mental and moral improvement, pleasing manners in social in- 
 tercourse and all rational recreation and enjoyment might be as en- 
 tirely within the reach of the families of those who may not possess 
 wealth as of those who do, so far as these may be attained by such 
 an establishment. 
 
 In order to this end, so briefly indicated, this contingent gift is 
 made absolutely to the city of Madison without other than general 
 indication of the objects proposed, so as to avoid any question of the 
 legality of the disposition. And the same, also, for the further 
 reason that the contingency upon which it may become operative is 
 not likely to occur, since I feel confident that the reasons which upon 
 the whole have seemed to me to make it wiser to keep together the 
 estate I leave and devote it all to the cause of education and the ad- 
 vancement of knowledge, will approve themselves to the legislature 
 of Wisconsin. In fact, the provisions of this twelfth paragraph are 
 inserted in this will only because the contingency, however improba- 
 ble, must be provided against, for the discharge of my trustees. 
 But were my estate sufficient in amount to set on foot the plan for 
 the aid of the university, hereinbefore provided for, and also to build 
 and endow the club house for mechanics and laborers and their fam- 
 ilies in the city of Madison, I should wish to provide for both; and 
 if I be still given years and good fortune, the possibility of both 
 lies in my hope. 
 
 Thirteenth. I nominate and appoint as executrix and executors 
 of this my last will and testament, my dearly-beloved wife, Anna M. 
 Vilas, my always-faithful brothers, Charles H. Vilas and Edward P. 
 Vilas, and my esteemed friend, Burr W. Jones. And I also appoint 
 and constitute them the trustees first mentioned in this will to whom 
 and to the survivors and successors of them all my estate is as afore- 
 said hereby devised and bequeathed in trust. 
 
 And I desire and request that no bond shall be required of them, 
 or either of them, in either the capacity of executor or trustee. But 
 if any bond shall be necessarily to be given by them, or either of 
 them, or any successor of either, that it may be secured by some 
 responsible surety company and the premium paid from the trust 
 estate, as an ordinary expense thereof. 
 
 [59] 
 
I desire and direct that there shall always be at least three 
 trustees, and that if at any time vacancies shall occur so that 
 but two remain, they shall at once apply to the proper court 
 for the appointment of a third trustee, and shall nominate such 
 third trustee to the court for appointment, and therefor possess the 
 same persuasive authority which is recognized as a testator's priv- 
 ilege. And so on, until the complete and final discharge of their 
 trust, whenever but two trustees shall remain in office they shall 
 nominate and procure the appointment of a third; to the end that 
 three shall be continually in the execution of the trust hereby 
 created. 
 
 And I desire that my said trustees within thirty days after the 
 beginning of each of their fiscal years and the making of the in- 
 ventory in the second paragraph of the trust aforesaid shall trans- 
 mit to the regents of the university a summary statement of the 
 condition of the estate as shown by such inventory. 
 
 Fourteenth. The right of visitation upon the execution of the 
 trust created by this will, with the rights of examination of accounts 
 and properties and of application to the court for any needed redress, 
 is given to my daughter, Mary Esther V. Hanks, to her husband, 
 Louis M. Hanks, to the president of the University of Wisconsin, 
 and to the regents of the University of Wisconsin. 
 
 Fifteenth. I believe I have in no particular exceeded the priv- 
 ileges given by law in testamentary disposition of property, or trans- 
 gressed in any respect any limitation of law on the term for which 
 property may be held in trust, or otherwise. But if in any particular 
 the powers given to my trustees shall ever be adjudged by the su- 
 preme court of Wisconsin to exceed the limits authorized by law, 
 or if in any of the provisions made by this will, there appear to to 
 any illegal excess, then I desire and direct that it be taken as my 
 will that such seeming illegal excess in powers given or in pro- 
 visions made be alone held invalid and that the same may be ex- 
 punged herefrom as no part of my will, but that all which is given 
 or directed within the limits of law be sustained independently as 
 the entire purpose and extent of my disposition hereby. 
 
 In witness whereof, I, William F. Vilas, have set my hand and 
 seal to this, my last will and testament, consisting of sixty-two single 
 sheets or leaves of paper written by my own hand on one side only, 
 in presence of Breese J. Stevens, Henry Kessenich and Etta E. Davis, 
 whom I have called as witneses to its execution, on this twenty- 
 seventh day of August, in the year of Our Lord, one thousand, nine 
 hundred and two. WM. F. VILAS. 
 
 The foregoing instrument consisting (besides fly leaves affixed 
 next hereafter) of sixty-two single sheets or leaves of paper, written 
 on one side only by the testator himself, was now here, on this 27th 
 
 [60] 
 
day of August, A. D. 1902, the day of its date, signed and sealed by 
 the said testator, William. F. Vilas, in the presence of all of us, and 
 was by him then and there published and declared to be his Last 
 Will and Testament. And we, at his request, and in his presence 
 and in the presence of each other, have, in testimony thereof, at the 
 same time and place, signed our names hereto. 
 
 BREESE J. STEVENS, Madison, Wisconsin. 
 
 HENRY KESSENICH, Madison, Wisconsin. 
 
 ETTA E. DAVIS, Madison, Wisconsin. 
 
 I, William F. Vilas, of the city of Madison in the state of Wis- 
 consin, the testator who made and executed the foregoing last will 
 and testament, do now here make, publish and declare this codicil to 
 the said foregoing will and testament, in amendment thereof, in 
 manner and form following, that is to say: 
 
 First. In place of the provision for my daughter made in the 
 first sentence of the fourth paragraph of said will, and of the dis- 
 cretion vested in my trustees in the next-to-the-last sentence in said 
 fourth paragraph, I direct that from and after the decease of my 
 wife or after mine, if she shall not survive me my said trustees 
 shall pay over to our darling daughter, Mary Esther Vilas Hanks, 
 thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) in each and every year out of the 
 net annual income of my estate, in monthly payments of two thou- 
 sand five hundred dollars each, in advance. If the net annual in- 
 come, after paying all other charges and outlays required therefrom, 
 including the allowance to Jessie Ford Vilas provided for in the fifth 
 paragraph, shall be in any year insufficient to pay all said thirty 
 thousand dollars, my said trustees may, in their discretion, reduce 
 the payment in such year to the amount of the net income, provided 
 that they shall in any case pay her at least twenty thousand dollars 
 ($20,000) per year, using therefor so much of the principal of the 
 estate as shall be necessary. And out of the income of the next suc- 
 ceeding year or years where there shall be excess of net income, 
 they shall pay all arrearages of said sum of thirty thousand dollars 
 per year remaining unpaid in any previous year, or so much thereof 
 as such excess of net income will enable them to pay, until all such 
 arrearages in all preceding years shall be fully paid. All said sums 
 my daughter shall receive free of taxes in any form, as elsewhere in 
 my will provided. And except as aforesaid, all the provisions in the 
 said fourth paragraph of my said will shall remain unaffected hereby 
 and as therein written. 
 
 Second. In the twelfth paragraph of my said will I have di- 
 rected a division of my estate into three parts, and the disposition of 
 each, in case the legislature of Wisconsin shall not, within the two 
 years limited, pass the act of acceptance in the manner provided for. 
 
 [61] 
 
That paragraph was written in expectation that it will not be neces- 
 sary for my trustees to proffer to the legislature the deed of gift 
 provided for until after the decease of my daughter, Mary Esther. 
 But if such proffer shall be made before that event as in said will is 
 provided may be done, and if the legislature shall not pass the act 
 of acceptance as therein provided, then I direct that such division 
 of the estate and the disposition to follow thereon, shall not be made 
 until after the decease of my said daughter, Mary Esther, and the 
 payment of all legacies made to her children and due provision to 
 secure to my daughter-in-law, Jessie F. Vilas, the payment of the 
 legacy bequeathed to her, in case she shall survive my daughter, and 
 remain unmarried, for which purpose my said trustees may purchase 
 an annuity or may charge the same upon the estate; so that said 
 division and consequent disposition shall be made only of the net 
 remainder of the estate then in their hands. And I also direct that 
 in the contingency aforesaid of the legislature's refusing to accept 
 such proffered deed of gift by not passing the proper act of accept- 
 ance within the two years limited, my said trustees shall, from the 
 time of the proffer thereof, pay annually to my daughter, Mary 
 Esther, the entire net income of any said estate during the remainder 
 of her life, and that if the same shall not amount to thirty thousand 
 dollars per year they shall pay her that sum annually, taking so 
 much as necessary from the principal of the estate, and leaving for 
 division only what may thus remain. And they shall also pay all 
 taxes thereon as elsewhere provided in my will. 
 
 Third. In case I shall survive my wife, then all the articles of 
 personal property given directly to her in the first part of my said 
 will, I give and bequeath to my daughter, Mary Esther, to the same 
 extent and in like manner. 
 
 In witness whereof, I, William F. Vilas, have set my hand and 
 seal to this codicil to my said last will and testament consisting of 
 four leaves or sheets of paper, additional including this on which 
 this is written, and written by my own hand on one side only, in the 
 presence of Breese J. Stevens, Henry Kessenich and Etta E. Davis, 
 whom I have called as witnesses to its execution, on this second day 
 of June, in the year of Our Lord, One Thousand, Nine Hundred and 
 Three. WM. F. VILAS. 
 
 The foregoing instrument consisting of four leaves or sheets of 
 paper additional to the foregoing will, written on one side only by 
 the testator himself, was now here, on this 2nd day of June, A. D. 
 1903, the day of its date, signed and sealed by the said testator 
 William F. Vilas in the presence of all of us, and was by him then 
 and there published and declared to be a codicil to his Last Will and 
 Testament thereto attached and next preceding. And we, at his 
 
 [62] 
 
request and in his presence and in the presence of each other, have, 
 in testimony thereof at the same time and place signed our names 
 hereto. 
 
 BREESE J. STEVENS, Madison, Wisconsin. 
 
 HENRY KESSENICH, Madison, Wisconsin. 
 
 ETTA E. DAVIS, Madison, Wisconsin. 
 
 [63]