The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1883-08-02
HATK We roo iiAYy ooLLEeEs,

/ :
ly expressed the profound convictions
and aspirations OF the church at large
with reference 10 liberal education 10
alliance with religion and not in an
tagonism with 1t.
The report is SO brim full of striking
facts that We give below an extract per
tlneni To the question whether there arc
too many colleges in the west:
The need is instant and imperative.
Doubtless many think otherwise, and
are ready to say, and DO say, "The west
has too many colleges already" Bat
let Us see Halt the American people
are 10 -day west OF Ohio. The center Of
population is already il Indiana, and
the stride Is steadily westward. We
cannot wait for slow growths as The ear
ly fathers did. States leap out OF HE
ground. Solitudes are hardly broke
BY the pioneer, before the hum Of great
peoples I'LL the air. There are only four
states in all our union ia which the
population exceeds that given Us BY
three SeaIs ot Immigration. Look II
the tides that sweep 10 our Shores; s.&
hundred Thousand IN 81, eIgut nun
dIed thousand ia -; dOgbiiess one
million in 49, The colleges OF New
England grew slowly 10 place, by long /
PROCESSES. And we'll they could, for /
mus New England grew. But we cant |
walt. Colleges west must leap 10 ex-
Istence full equipped, or whcle gen /
erations must go without collegiate edG- |
cation. Dribiets and half centuries tor |
endowment! No! We are done with |
emigrant wagons ami sIage-coaches |
Look at the astounding figures The |
mere growth OF population west oi the |
Mississippi the last decade was H. 3S2 ,0G0. |
This equals New EugIand's total popu- |
lation now. In other words, the country
west OF the Mississippi has gained IN
ten years what il has taken New. Eng
lana two and halt centuries 70 gam.
The growth westward viii be lar more
/ rapid this decade than the last Bur II
only the same rate OF increase be main
L talned, there will be over eighteen mil
| lions west ot the Mississippi IN 1890.
And at the close of the next decade, / e.
| in only seventeen years from to-day, or,
when the boy that is born to-day is ready
| for college, there will be thirty millions
west of the Mississippi; winch equals
/ what the population OF the whole coun-
BY 1900 nearly ali the leading eastern
| colleges were founded. Harvard was
then u century and a half old; Yale
| century; Princeton, Columbia, Brown
| and Dartmouth about half century;
Bowdin, Williams, Rutgers, MiddlcbuTy,
Union, Washington and Jefferson, had
| just borrowed leaYe 10 be; Hamilton,
Lafayette and Amhurst came soon after.
But in that same year, 1880, the poula-
e. .. a
OOO. And the popoulation of the entire
country was only 5,30S, 900. This 5000
900 is matched by Illinois and Missouri
alone to-day. And five times i've mill
| ION are west OF Ohio.
Yet it has been repeatedly said, I'VE
have too many colleges already" And
in taYor Of fewer colleges, Germany is
| cited with her great universities. But II
| must be remembered that Germany has
| twentY-one of these great universities
one for every ten thousand square miles,
| or five for an area equal TO the state OF
New York. Then again II must be
borne in mind that the aver
age American college is more like The
German gymnasium than like the Ger
man university. Aud in in 1879, over
and above her twenty-one universities,
with their 81 ,2O7 students, Germany had
409 schools of the grade OF gymnasia;
while according to the report OF the
commissioner OF education for thai
year, we had only 364 colleges and uni
Versities all told and of every sort, in
GLIDING colleges for Romanists, for
Norweigans, for "rhe Friends" tor
Freedmen, and even for deaf mutes.
Yet in population we exceed Germany
by 100000; and in area three or four
OF our great states would blanket the |
whole German empire.
Take another line of facts 10 show the |
instant and imperative need. Every
| college draws its students chiefly from
its own vicinage. Harvard has J23 un-
| dergraduates. OF these seven-ninths
| (724) are from New England and New
| York. Yale has GIL undergraduates.
Two-thirds (40O) are from New England
and New York. Princeton has Al |
Two-thirds (273) are from New Jersey, |
New York and Pennsylvania. Cornell |
has 3G1. Two-thirds (244) are from
New York alone. Michigan University
has SPA. Three-fifths $500 are from
Michigan alone. From New England |
and New York, Amherst draws four
| flfths OF her students; Williams four
| tifths; Dartmouth six-sevenths; Brown
| eleven-twelfths. From New York alone,
Hamilton draws seven eIghths, and |
| Rochester University seyen.ei ghths.
More than one-fourth Q2S) of Yale's
under graduates are from Connecticut
Yet COnnecticut's whole population
hardly outnumbcrs that OF one county
in Illinois! More than one half (5I2) 81
Harvard's undergraduates are from Mas |
sachusetts. Yet Massachusetts, popula.
ton barely equals that of Iowa More
than one-hali Q37) of Browns under
graduates are from little Rhode Island. f!
Yet il would take eight Rhode Islands
to match Missouri's population to-day.
Illinois is the greatest of the western
commonwealth, with population of
over three millions. Yer, she has only
thirty-nine OF her sons al Yale, twenty ~
| Harvard, twcnty-pne AZ Amherst, seven
ten NJ Cornell, twenty al Williams, ten
at Princeton, and three ut Hamilton
Massachusetts is one of the eastern com
mCnwealths, with scarcely more ;han
halt the population of Illinois, yet she
has $50 of her sons in Harvard, Amherst
aTJl Williams alone, Connecticut, with |
IA population of 100000, not as large by |
half as Kansas, mas l5S of her sons in |
Yale alone, which Is more than Illinois, |
with her population of over three mil. |
lions, has in all the colleges east of In |
diana put together,
These facts speak overwhelmingly in |
proof of four points. First, that first. |
class college creates local atmosphere |
favorable to culture, puts a hunger for |
learning in the young men OF ITS imme- |
date constituency, and pulls scores and |
hundreds of them into and through |
course of study who would 60 without |
any education at all if the college were |
a thousand miles away. Second, that |
even the biggest universities do not draw /
much from beyond their immediate |
vicinage. Third, that the young men of
the west half OF the country are seen 10 |
the institutions of the east half |
only in insignificant numbers Western !
parents are sending their boys east to be
educated. Illinois makes a poor show
ing In this regard, and yet she, of all ]
western states, Is probably the best con
ditioned in intelligence. wealth and fe-
cilities OF communication with the east.
Hence, fourth, that the vast states and ter
ritorIes west of Ohio. that held In 1880 |
twenty five millions of people, and that
In seventeen years from now will hOld |
fiity millions, must have more
colleges, and colleges better endow-
ed and equipped. very soon. or
amongst the young men Of half of our
country there will be an utter dearth of
minds educated and disciplined by /
scholarly culture And we. must be
quick about this business. Ii Is idle 10
talk of old methods and movements,
when great states are increasing their !
population a per cent. (MinnesOia). 92
per cent. (Oregon). 173 per cent. (Kan-
sas). 267 per cent. (Nebraska), 3S7 per
cent. (Colorado), and even S53 per cent
(Dakoia), in a single decade
The argument and conclusions are
irrefutsble.
Consistency does not seem 70 be a /
jewel of much lustre in Judge Hoadly's |
estimation. From rank AbolitIonism 70
rank Bouibonism seems long jump, |