The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-11
SELECT COUNCIL AND THE UNI
o1NA1AD0 VERSITY.

v,s--rpDAy the ordinance providing for the
oolo Of a section Of the Almshouse property to
tbo University of Pennsylvania came up in
SoIeot Council, and after an animated debate,
in which some of the participants displayed
moro vieor of style in their oratory than
soundness of logic or knowledge of the actual
requirements of the case, the whole matter
was indefinitely postponed. This is to be re-
oretted for more reasons than one. The
Almshouse tract was almost the only place
within the limits of the city proper suited to
the purposes of the University, and if that
institution is to make the extensions necessary
TO meet the requirements of the age, it will
either be obliged to buy land at an exorbitant
rate, or else remove to locality that will be
so far removed from the business centres that
its usefulness will be materially impaired. In
the opinion of disinterested judges, the price
offered by the University for the land which
they proposed to purchase from the city was
fair valuation and the very fact of such an
offer having been made instantly put up the
value of the whole Almshouse tract-a fact of
which the city should not seek to take advan-
tape in dealing with an institution of learning.
It has been a just cause of complaint against
Philadelphia that there is little or no public
interest felt in our institutions of science and
learning. The University of Pennsylvania
has been complained of time and again as
being behind the age; but one great reason
for its backwardness has been that nobody
outside of a very small circle cared anything
about it, or did anything to make it prosper
or give it proper standing among the great
colleges of the country. A strenuous effort
is now being made to place it upon proper
foundation, and the gentlemen who have the
matter Immediately in charge are entitled to
the cordial and efficient cooperation of the
public The New England colleges have
worldwide celebrity, they attract students
from all quarters of the globe, and they turn
out scholars that are a credit to the institu-
tions themselves, and who represent the scien-
tifc and literary culture of the country. The
great reason for this superior position of the
New England colleges is that all classes take
pride in them, and public assistance is never
withheld when assistance is required; and the
same spirit must be manifested here if our
schools and colleges are to take rank with
those of other cities and States.
If the University had asked for donation
of land, Councils might with propriety have
hesitated; but when fair valuation is offered,
a reasonable display of iberality was what the
institution had right to expect. To haggle
with the University about the price of the
land, upon a vague calculation that if the
Almshouse property were divided into build
ing lots it might, under certain remote con-
tingencies, sell for more money than was
offered, is neither just nor generous
The cause of the Univerity in this
controversy has, we believe, been
sustained by every newspaper in
Philadelphia, and there is no doubt thta
the papers have accurately represented public
opinion. The University has made so little
stir of late years that it is not altogether sur
prising that some persons are not aware either
of it's necessities or its just claims on the re-
CARDS of the public. Now that it is being
carried on in an energetic manner with a re-
solute determination on the part of its mana
gers to make it credit to the city, it ought to
receive a reasonable amount of support from
the public; and the least that the city can do
is to sell it the land required for price that
will approximate to an actual rather than a
fancy valuation based upon certain future
contingencies We hope that this matter
will yet receive the consideration it deserves
from the members of Council, and that they
will be induced to look at it in proper light.