66 and the completion of Caroiina Haii during Chavis' administration prob» abiy accounted for the higher value of reai estate in i9i0, $60,000.000106

The college continued to receive Financiai support from friendsfl contributions, the North Carolina Conference, and the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Education Society,107 part of whose funds came from stuw dent fees. In 1912 a Fee of $72.00, paid on the day of entering School,

108 Conference minu

covered the basic nineumonth expenses of a boarder. utes indicate that both the Society and the Conference were giving weak support, the accusation being made by the Presiding Eider of the Greensw boro District that the oidutime enthusiasm of the Conference Fathers

for Bennett needed to be revived in the present members.i09

The coiiege was in debt when Peeier assumed the presidency“HO

The way in which he handied this critical probiem was probabiy his most important contribution as a president. In i908 it was reported that he was paying off the indebtedness as fast as the cirtumstances aiiowedtiii

Just three years iater, 39]], the coilege was not only out of debt, but

.mWM.__‘.—__

106I. S. Thomas, ed., Methodism and the Negro (New York: Eaton and Mains, 1910), p. 323.

IO7Bennett Coiiege, flnflual‘gatalogue, 1912, p. 7.

‘08lgig., p. 18.

109N. C. Conference, yinutes, i909, pp“ 26w27; i912, po 35. iio;93g,, 1911, p. 34.

iiiigig., 1908, p. 25.