Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-04-21
GRAND MEMORIAL.
THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR
UNIVERSITY.
Sketch of this WorId-Surnass;np
Educational Institution and it's
Distinguished Founders.

been issued and distributed among the
leading educators of the United States. pre-
hminary to the great national assembly of
teachers to be held at San Francisco in July,
contains, among the illusions to the educa-
tionsl advantages offered by California, the
following concerning the Leland Stanford
Jr. University and the views and objects of
its distinguished founders
The Hon. Leland Stanford was one of
the early pioneers of the State of Califor-
mia, was its Governor during the period of
the rebellion, and is at present a United
States Senator in Congress from this State
Through enterprises conducted mainly by
his foresight and intellectual energy aided
by that superior executive ability for which
he has ever been distinguished, he has
amassed a very large fortune. In early
life, Senator Stanford married in the State
of New York, where both were born, Jane
Lathrop. union which was blessed by the
birth OF a son, Leland Stanford, Jr. No
other child was born of the marriage
hence upon this only son were centered the
fondest hopes of his parents. As he grew
in years he manifested in marked degree
a development of those high intellectual
qualities for which his parents have been
distinguished; but, unfortunately for the
future, in March, 1884, he died, having
attained but II years of life.
THE GENESIS OF THE UNIVERSITY.
The Leland Stanford Jr University, as a
splendid beneficence to posterity, and at
the same time a monument to the memory
of the beloved dead whose name it will
bear. was the suggestion of bereaved affec-
ton. BY its memorial character it will
receive an endowment measured by the
heirship of the sou, 10 whom it has become
successor. The site chosen for the Uniyer-
sity is upon Palo Alto farm, thirty-one
miles south OF the city of San Francisco,
and the University buildings are now in a
forward state of completion. In the foun-
dation and endowment of this memorial
institution Of learning, Hon. Leland STAN
ford and Jane Lathrop Stanford, his wife,
have an equal and common interest.
Concerning the objects of the institution
itself, toward the effective accomplishment
OF which its articles of foundation are
directed. the Educational Bulletin has
sought information, and the result of the
inquiry is herewith presented; not, how
ever, under the claim that it presents all
the information requisite to complete ex-
position of the founders plans and views
Moreover, since this is written for those who
are themselves practical educators and
familiar with the issues presented by con-
tending theories of education, we feel alb
solved from any extended presentation of
the polytechnic features which the curricu-
lum Of the proposed University will en-
brace.
THE DIRECTING MIND.
Senator Stanford is gentleman of the
broadcast possible experience in business
life. His observations have been enriched
by the advantages of navel. He received
hir1cplf a olIauia fe odupatiOp l1,e;
ness activity has been in lines which re-
quire the accomplishment of results
through other men, and his success has
been attained chiefly through his judgment
of the character and the capacities of men.
Senator StanfoId's observations of men.
therefore, have been of that character
which naturally connects itself with con-
siderations ofsystems of education to which
a successful career is attributable; or, to
state this fact in a different form, he has
required in the prosecution of the great
business OF which he has been the respon-
slble head and director, the assistance of
fifteen thousand men. Here is vast in
dustrial army Immediately under the OBJ
servation of single controlling mind.
Such an observation brings into view a
variety of successes and failures. Educa-
tional qualifications, combined with ele-
ments of character, present here the
cre. Apparently equal natural capac-
itS not infrequently presents the
strongest contrasts of distinguished
capabilities and lamentable incompetence
In Senator Stanford we have man who
mas had the most practical reason to make
a profound study of those influences, do
mestic, moral, religious and educational,
which form the characters of successful and
unsuccessful men. Added to this Senator
Stanford has haer, Stu5snf of
mental systems and of the science of polit-
ical economy, and thus in the founder of
the Leland Stanford Junior University we
see the statesman of broad observation and
experience, the economist of deepest in
sight; the inancier of the largest expert
ence, the constructor of instrumentalities
of material development upon the highest
executive plane, the methodical student of
the science of government, and the thought
full and practical observer of the formative
influences which mold and modify the
characters of men; and in this presenta.
ton of the intellectual attributes of the
man we find the genesis of the University
he proposes to found.
EXTRACT FROM AN INTERVIEW.
In recent, but hitherto unpublished in
terview, from which we have been per-
mitted to make an extract, Senator Stan
ford himself said
The earth upon which we live is the
inexhaustible source of supply for all the
necessities OF man. Whatever contributes
to his physical, moral, or spiritual needs is
primarily derived from the earth. The
primitive problem of life is the support of
mere physical existence. That being
solved, mau may enter upon the gratifica-
lion of his intellectual wants. then atten-
ton may be given to his moral nature, and
finally to the higher spiritual wants. The
earth presenting an inexhaustible supply of
things necessary and useful to men, man.
kind in the aggregate are equal to the task
of deriving from it complete supply of
all their necessities. The disparity of con-
dition which exists among men is refera-
bic not so much to governmental institu-
tons favoring the successful and suppress
ing the unsuccessful as il is to the innate
differences of purpose, desire, and capacity.
Where scholastic attainment is found, not
associated with practical ability, the system
of education which has conferred the
scholastic attainment has been at fault
That system of instruction which, while
comforting a knowledge of the fine arts
and familiarizing the mind with higher
scholastic standing, and which, at the same
time enfeebes the practical and executive
mental attributes, fails of its most worthy
object. That definition of scholar as
being one who knows how to do everything
except make living, has had some meas
ure of justification. The earth being the
inexhaustible source of supply of all the
needs of life, each individual under free
and fair system of government will event
ually accumulate that wealth which sup
plies these necessities, in proportion to his
capacity for such acquisition. The best
governmental system is that which offers
the least obstruction to the attainments of
higher intellectual and spiritual wants, and
ENLARGEs THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE COM
MON LIFE
Beyond the solution of merely print
tive problems of sustaining existence. 1t
follows that these arts which confer upon
men the knowledge necessary to supply
wants at the least expenditure of time and
thought, are the arts which contribute most
directly 10 the evolutions of a hieh civil
ization, comforting intellectual growth and
spiritual qualification. The disparity of
condition being largely referable to dis
parity of practical capacities, and high ca
pacity being dependent upon the right APP
plicstion of acquired knowledge, the equal
ization of knowledge and practical capacity
-. a.