Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-09-05

1t has already been stated that General
Francis A. Walker, President OF the Insti>
tute of Technology at Boston, is now upon
this coast at the invitation of Senator
Stanford, for the purpose of conference as
to the best method of carrying out the
plans for a State institution of learning,
which the Senator, soon after his return
from Europe last winter, decided to estab-
lish
General Walker is one of the very fore
most educational men in the United States.
He is a son of Amasa Walker, the noted
writer and statistician of Massachusetts,.
He was educated at Yale College, and soon
after graduation accepted position upon
the Springfield Republican, where he was a
co-worker with Sam Bowles and John G.
Holland. He was pronounced by Mr..
Bowles TO be one of the ablesu and most
versatile writers that he knew. He left
the Republican at the breaking out of the
! rebellion, and, enlisting as private soldier,
won his way 10 the rank of Lieutenant
Colonel, and receivedi the brevetship of
| Brigadier- General, together with highest
mention, for bravery and efficiency upon
the field.
AT the close of the war he returned TO his
| place upon the Republican, but his writing
| soon attracted marked attention, and he
was called to Washington and accepted an
official position in the Interior Department.
| His capacity and ability there in the line
| in which his father was distinguished, led
TO his being selected to superintend the
taking of the United States census of 1870.
In this position he entirely reorganized the
| Census Bureau, broadened It's field and
made the report of the census taken that
| year the wonder of the statisticians of Eu-
rope and the most complete of any in the
world. It's tables maps, charts, ETC. are
perfect store-houses of information con-
| corning population, wealth, productions,
manufactures, trade and commerce.
At the conclusion of this work, he was
selected by General Grant then President,
TO take charge of the Bureau of Indian At
fairs, which he also reorganized and
cleansed. He remained in this position
until preparations were being made for
| taking the census of 1850, when he was
again selected to superintend the work of
that Bureau, which he had so admirably
conducted ten years previous. He directed
the entire work of collecting and publish
ing the data of this census also. Had Gen
eral Walker done nothing else during his
lifetime, the reports of the ninth and tenth
censuses would be most complete and en-
during monuments to his capacity and
successful ability.
He left the service of the Government
soon after, to accept the professorship of
political economy and social science in
Yale College. Having filled this chair one
or two years with equally marked ability
in the new field, he was elected President
of the Boston Mass. School of Technology.
Since occupying this position he has ac-
quired to this scientific institution a repu-
taton second to none in this country or in
Europe.
General Walker is still in the very prime
OF life, and as a writer and educator is the
peer of any to be found. It was, of course,
from a knowledge of such ability and
successful experiences that he was invited
to confer concerning the great institution
Of learning which is to be added to Califor-
MAS educational triumphs, and which
Senator Stanford intends TO leave as the
great work of his life and as his deepest
and most enduring footprint upon the
sands Of time.