The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-08-11

disappearing people tnat government Is mol
to interfere except in the last extremity
The link that should connect the two parts
of his argument is consequently mfssiog.
Assuming the present system to be fail
ure, President White lays down certain
reasons for the control of educational affairs
by government. He takes it for granted
of course, that where taxes are the
source of endowment, there would be no
lack of means among the colleges. And,
having plenty of money and all virtue and
wisdom in control of educational interests
at Washington, il is fair to assume that
great and fiourishing universities would
soon be established at different points,
complete in every equipment of libraries,
laboratories, cabinets and faculties. He
traces cut in detail the good results when
would ensue from the graduation of stu
dents from such institutions to take charge
of fhe legislative and business interests of
the country. The right of the nation to tax
the people in this way for the benefit of a
select few, he deduces from the same prin-
ciple thai justifies the common school sys-
tem-the duty of society to itseli-sssum-
a "A
cessity to the community after hav-
ing assumed that such class
cannot exist save through government
patronage. The great difficulties that
present themselves as fatal to Professor
Whites system of government colleges he
dismlsses with little consideration. The
main one, namely, the fact that there are
loS
control the education of the men who
are to assume the places of
leaders and teachers among them, is
cast aside with the remark that if colleges
ought not to be unsectarian, certainly
primary schools ought not to be so. And
in support of that position he quotes Bishop
McQuaid. the pioneer of the great Catholic
movement for sectarian schools. That
is merely lodging the question The
practical difficulties in the way, such as the
clashing between different systems of phil
osophy and the degradation of the professors
chair into party rostrum and the fraud and
mismanagement which wonld be sure to
follow the transfer of the great educational
interest OF the country into the hands of the
administration, the speaker passed lightly
overland depended upon the example of
Germany as an illustration answering all
possible objections. President White be-
longs to that class of men who al
ways adopt the prevailing intellectual fash
ion. They dress their minds, just as they
bodies, in the style. The cant of
the present day is an overweening admlra-
ton for everything German, even German
faults, and a leader among our educa-
tors actually SO far forgets himself as to
stand up and advocate that close and pater-
nal system of government which in Prussia
takes cognizance of the babe the moment he
is born, watches over him through bis boy
military service, tells him when he may get
married, regulates his down-sitting and his
uprising through middle life, and hardly
gives him liberty in his old age to draw
his last breath without official permits
sion. President White knows well
enough that German scholarship is
not due to this system. 1t preceded and
will survive the present government. The
speaker also knew that the supervision of
the German government over education was
: something to which the German people are
not inclined to submit, and to which the
American people would be less likely to pay
respect. A system of education that would
have to support itself by sending prelates of
any denomination to prison would hardly
uttered stuff like the following, he should
have remembered that he was not talking
to an audience of United States marines:
'In the halls of the University Of Berlin,
within q stones throw of the palace of the
rigidly orthodox Frederick William W.,
might be heard during his entire reign, the
free utterances of men opposed to every re-
Iigious or political doctrine which the king
thought essential From the palacs. window,
where the Emperor William III. loves TO
stand, can be seen the University lecture
rooms on the opposite side OF
the street, professors putting forth
ideas fatal to absolute monarchy"
An empire which allowed its subordinate
teachers to inculeate republicanism, would
be like republic which paid men to preach
Such course would be simply
suicidal, and it is 70 prevent any such wild
work that the government Of Germany has
grasped her educational system with such a
firm grip.
The fact ofthe matter is, thas the Presi-
dent of Cornell University represents on
the educational question one of the two
great tendencies of the times: The tendency
toward individual freedom and the tendency
toward centralization-or the dedication OF
the state. This latter tendency has its root in
the noblest philanthropy, but IL can never
reach realization until the race attains per-
The scheme of having government
control education for the good of the state
is one development of this philosopy.
The scheme for having government control
all avenues of transportation for their more
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