The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-24
n0MMKNOKMKNT DAY.

C(DHMHN NVEMHLfl OdIs
The University of Pennsylvania holds its an
nual commencement to-day, and in all parts of
the country the various colleges and univer-
sities are celebrating with appropriate oere-
monies the event which will send out into
the world new body of trained and educated
men to enter into the battle of life, and TO
carry on the work of civilization and pro-
gress. The increased activity that is being
displayed by the old colleges, and the estab-
ishment of new institutions, indicate that the
public mind is awakening to the importance
of the higher grades of education. Our pub
lie schools have field of usefulness Of their
own, and their great value is fully appre-
ciated, but in addition to them we need ool-
leges that, in the comprehensiveness of their
course of studies and in the thoroughness of
their systems of training, will compare with
the best foreign institutions For many
years we have had a few colleges in the United
States that will rank with the first in the
world, but with the growth of our empire
has come the necessity for greater educational
facilities of this kind, and the requirements
of modern, and particularly of American life,
are such that important notifications in the
time-honored routine have become essential.
Our population contains no class with whom
culture is placed before utility; but as our
young men have to fight their own way in the
world and earn their own living, it is neces-
sary that they should not only obtain the
mental discipline of a thorough college course
but also that practical knowledge which will
enable them to take up the actual work of life.
Most if not all of our colleges have recognized
the necessities of the times, and they have
endeavored to meet them. The classics have
not been ignored, and it is to be hoped that
they never will be, but the scientific branches
have received greater attention, and young
men are able to take the highest degrees who
prefer to devote their attention entirely to
those subjects that will be of immediate prac-
tical use to them.
The University of Pennsylvania is an insti-
tuition that is well worthy of the regard of the
citizens of Philadelphia. Our Central High
School fills an important position, but its
work and that of the University are not iden-
tical That the University has not hitherto
taken its proper position among the great col
leges of the country is, in great measure it's
own fault; but its deficiencies, whatever they
are, cannot be laid upon the shoulders of its
present managers, who are exerting them
selves to make it credit to the city and State.
The success of the University in the future
will depend in great measure, on the inte-
rest which the public at large feel in it; and
the intelligent citizens of Philadelphia should
show that they do feel an interest in it.
The difficulty which arose in Councils about
selling the University portion of the Aims
house tract was doubtless, due in great
measure to the fact that the necessities If the
institution and its importance were not fully
understood. In Europe the colleges and uni
versities are almost all of them subsidized by
government independently of their private
endowments, and in this country the least
that can be done is for the public to deal lbe-
rally with them. The rejection by Select
Council of the ordinance to sell portion of
the Almshouse grounds for moderate sum
to the University of Pennsylvania was the
occasion of universal regret among the
friends of education in this city, and it is to
be hoped that a further consideration of the
subject will induce the members to take
more liberal view of it,