The Ripley advertiser. [volume] (Ripley, Miss.) 1843-1897, 1882-08-12
From the Jackson Comet.
THE STATE UNIVERSITY.

~ 1AEN
Wiley z. Harris to the Clarion, in.
relation to our State University, has
suggested to ms tha, if may not
vie with him (as who indeed can2)
in that grace OF style which adorns
all that he touches, I may at least
be able to lay before your readers
some suggestions OF value on the
same subject. What l shall say
shall at least be said with frankness
and candor,
The poverty of our people makes
the item Of cost n Of primary i'm
portance, and, in cheapness, the
University is unriyaled. know of
no other literary institution of SIM
liar grade and equal pretensions
which furnishes so full q curriculum
absolutely free, with the exception
Of a paltry tax-fes Of ten dollars
per annum.
The personal expenses of the
young men is a thing to be regulat.
ed exclusively by them aud their
parents, and amounts to nrettv
much what they choose to make it.
In actual practice it varies from
$3.50 to $500 per anuum; the small
er figure representing those who
are struggling IN the midst of pow
erty for the benefits of a higher
culture, and the larger figure the
expenses Of the sons of Weather
parents. All above the larger
amount is needless extravaganza.
Cheapness however is a poor
substitute for excellence, and if the
one has been obtained at the ex
pense Of the other, it is poor ocono,
my.
What is the literary standing and
merits OF the insutQtion2 This is the
important question. Frankly taon,
1t does not stand in the front rank
OF American colleges, and no sober
friend of the institution will pre-
tend that it is.the rival of Harvard
or Yale or Princeton or Columbia
or the University Of Virginia. 1t
cannot hope for years to come to
be the peer of those institutions.
Its limited income forbids it, nor is
1T perhaps desirable in. the present
condition OF our population and
the absence OF schools which a
act as feeders to it that it should do
so. 1t would DO above the wants of
our people and out Of all proportion
to the educational system Of the
State But our University does
stand high III the rank OF second
class American colleges, inferior
only to those above named, and
such others as arc worthy to be
classed with them. The most sat
islactory proof of this is found in
the fact that for a series of years
these higher educational lnsLitu.
lions have from time to time been
recruiting their own faculties from
the ranks Of our professors. Thus
BIedsoe, and Barnard, and Boynton,
and WhitehOrne, and Hillgard, and
Waddell, and Garland have been
drawn from us TO shed from more
lucrative positions iinp5ri6hablo
IuSire upon American letters; and
this drain seems likely to continue,
since it is whispered eyenn now that
other institutions have tneir eyes
upon some OF our proiessors.-
Should more tempting positions in
duce them 70 leave US, We must in
the future, ash the past, fll their
places with those who are their
equals in all save reputatiop.--
While such a state Of things is to be
deplored, there could be no more
striking illustration OF the charac-
ter of the University in literary
circles than that lis faculty should
DO a nursery for supplying the
foremost institutions of the coun.
try with their chief ornaments.
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