The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-01-28
Tha ETn,ve;rstty OF Virginia.

| ard PETER GARTER OILY futtuS III VIC nSSa
tive.1 Adjourned at $40 z. d.
/ The University OF Virginia.
| Editors of The Richmond Dispatch:
1 Although it has maintained its pre- emf
neuce among the literary institutions of the
South. and, to say the least, "a equality with
any In our country, the University of Vir'
pinia has not escaped her share of the Gnan.
cial perplexites which embarrass our State
and her southern sisters. The serious nature
OF the difficulties which encompass and the
dangers which threaten the University, long
known to many of its friends, has at length
been made public by the reported resignation
of one Of its most emineat professors to ac-
cept similar situation in the Hopkins Uni.
versity. of MARYLAND. The friends Of the in-
stitutior, from delicate regard for the fnan.
ciaI endorsements our State, have hitherto
refraiped from any urgent presentation OF It's
necessities to the Legislature, waiting hope.
fully, if not wisely, for "sometbing to turn
uD.D In the resignation of Professor Glider.
sleeve something has at last turned up, and
something not at all to our liking.
This event and the similar ones which 1t
forebodes compel us to look the issue fairly
in the face, and to decide whether we snail
sustain our University in its proud preemi-
nence or allow it to succumb to the rivals
which are rising around it. Ii Its professors
are to be so inadequately supported as 10 De
at the call of such competitors as the hop
kips University, of Maryland, and the Vaa.
derbilt, of Tennessee, it must needs soon
sink into place subordinate to those instr
buttons. We desire briefly to indicate some
of the consequences of such loss of pres.
| nd RI SI1nRaat pphat
pears to as the true and easy remedy for the
present undesirable state OF affairs. Nay, we
even think that we shall be able to show that
our University can be placed upon better
footing than eyer before without one cents
additional burden upon cur depleted trea-
surv, and to the entire satisfaction of the tax
payers of our State.
And lust here we would most earnestly
bat the erroneous idea of some that the
University is the rich mans institution,
teaching the more expensive, II not less use
full, branches of knowledge, and hence Of no
value to the masses Of our people. On the
contrary, there is not village or neighbor-
hood school which is not better for the exist
ence of the University. BY furnishing more
competent instructors it has baashed to q
great degree, and is still Danishing, lncompe.
tency from the village tripod. 1t stamps and
brands the false and counterfeit in education
as false and counterfeit when it comes to its
doors, and sends into every community edu-
Gated men-eXperts-to brand itthere. The
whole educational system of our State
depends from its University. A glance at
the catalogues of our institutions of learning,
whether they be called universities, colleges,
institutes, academies, or what not, will show
that they are largely under the control OF
graduates of the University. These, Of
course, teach more or less as they were
taught, exact in their degree what was ex-
acted Of them, and maintain for their instl-
tutions stapd ard leading to or approximate
ing that Of the University. AS it has en-
arged its course and raised its standard,
these subsidiary institutions have added to
their curriculum and requirements until the
standard of education in our State has been
80 advanced that students from them now
often enter the University with more kuowl.
edge and better training than was required
of it's graduates few years back. As the
University prospers every school in the
State will be made better, SO that even those
who do not enjoy its direct advantages reap
largely the fruits of its prosperity. Its sup.
port is therefore question in which all Vir-
ginians have an important and substantial
| interest. ... .s
More than one gubernatorial message, we
believe, has congratulated the people upon
the eminence which our State has attained as
an educating community, and yet we are not
certain that any one has gone sufficiently into
| the matter to show the source and the value
of that position. The fact that our institu-
tons of learning are differed so predomi-
nantly. by alumni of the University, and
| that they seek to make that fact public as q
means of attracting confidence aud patron
age, shows that to it this prominence is
due. So long as the University shall main.
tain It's position as head of the educational
institutions OF tue South, so long will the
colleges and schools of Virginia, subsidiary
and preparatory, be considered superior TO
others, and be filed with students from the
southern States. a.-
The benefits arising from this position are
| too extensive to be detailed here. Is not the
position of prominence and honor which is
universally and lovingly accorded to Vir-
ginia by her southern sisters due in large
measure 10 the fact that she has educated
their leading men2 In her universities, her
colleges, and her boarding-schoolS many of
their most influential men have spent the
most impressible years Of their lives, ard
many destined soon to Influence are now
| There. Oo lUil9 rs ' IL Stnia auis SS luc youuS
of the South she will never lack for honor
and influence among its people.
But the direct pecuniary value of our
educational position is by no means insight.
| fcant. We have not sufficient materials at
hand for an accurate calculation, but after
| figuring at the data before us we think we
do not oyerstate the matter when we place
the amount annually brought into our State,
or kept in 1t because Of the superiority of
our educational institutions, at 81, 900 600.
| We mean that this sum is annually spent in
our State at neutrality-suspicious., colleges, and
universities, by citizehs of other States, or
of our own, who would send their sons Oft
for an education il our own schools had not
their present prestige. 1t does not. we
think, admit of doubt, that. If the Wander
bilt University, of Tennessee, or the Hop.
kins, OF Maryland, be allowed to take away
the position which the University Of Vir-
ginia to-day holds, the colleges aud schools of
Tennessee and Maryland subsidiary to those
institutions will take from our Virginia in.
stitutions much of this patronage, and Vir-
ginia herself will lose no little Of her inflT.
ence and importance in the South.
To these evils we must add the still greater