Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-26

nnu " w;i a. us aiposai the propose
faculty; and its income should be
SO used as to secure the men
who either have taken or may fairly be ex-
pected to take foremost place in their re-
specave neids. Of these, the resident profess
sors win, in the lecture-rooms, laboratories.
libraries, and collections, direct, lead and or
ganlze instruction and research in the highest
sense; the nonresident professors and lectur-
ers Will give stimulus, suggestion, and force to
the work.
As a rule, I would have a reasonable fee
charged, but I would have the experiment
tried OF competitions in various parts of the
United States, the persons passing the best
examinations being entitled to scholarships Civ
ing them free instruction In spite of the present
outcry in England against competitive exam
nations at the universities, they have in this
country succeeded well. They need not be
carried to the pedantic extreme which has dis
gusted so many people with them in the old
world. Practical common sense will easily
obviate the difficulties complained of. Iwould
also have elections to fellowships made upon
the bases OF merit. as is at present done in
various American universities; indeed. would
gladly see grated upon this teaching university
the system of fellowships and scholarships
sketched out in the first of this series of
articles.
One point as regards election to trusteeships,
professorships and fellowships should be care
fully guarded All such elections and APP
pointments should be made by ballot. A pro-
vision for this should form part of the organic
law of the university. In this way alone, as
experience has shown in some of our existing
institutions OF learning, can a firm and lasting
barrier be erected against overweening personal
influence.
l fully believe that within few years such a
university would be one of the most useful and
fourishing in the world, and that it might
fairly expect finally to equal in the numbers
and character of its students, well as in the
attainments and regulations of its faculty, the
university of Berlin-.he highest point which
any university organization has yet reached.
1t is true that objections will be raised; and
first, that such an institution will draw some
what from those now existing. / grant that at
first this may be the case in some slight degree,
but would stake everything on the belief that
within few years every other college or uni
versity in the nation which has any
real vitality will he strengthened by it. 1t will
be one Of the three or four universities in the
country to set high standards of qualification
and attainment; it will send back strong men into
the faculties of the existing universities: it will
be perpetual incentive to the best men in the
existing institutions throughout the country to
do their best in view of possible promotion to
lectureships and professorships at Washington.
1t will also doubtless be said that Washington,
as a great capital, is not the best place for
young men; that there are too many dis
fractions and temptations This is true as
regards what may be properly called col
legiate or intermediate students, but
not true regarding men ready to undertake
university work. This is proved by the fact
that while the ordinary undergraduate work
thrlves best at institutions in small towns, the
advanced and postgraduate work, such as is
undertaken in schools of technology. of min
ing, of mechanical civil and electrical en-
gineering, of architecture and of law, medicine
and theology, is equally well carried on in our
great cities, as is already shown at Boston.
Ph1lalplnhla Pa
and New Orleans.
Again. it may be said that Washington has
disadvantages of climate. To this L answer
that they are no greater than those at very
many other seats Of learning: BY pursuing
the plan of Johns Hopkins university, the ex-
IRENE hot weather can easily be avoided.
There is, indeed. an impression that Washing
ton is hopelessly malarious, but it is certainly
more favorably situated in this respect
than English Cambridge, in its region of
fens; or than at least two of the
most important colleges at Oxford, stu
ated close to the unctious Shiny, reeking banks
of the Isis: or than the university of Berlin, in
an ancient marsh, and in the immediate neigh
borhood of the dark and sluggish Spree.
have observed that the talk about the malarial
character of Washington is periodical, and
comes usually when newspaper correspondents
and subordinates in the public service think it
about time to enjoy leave of absence. As
matter of fact, the statistics of the health de-
partment. which are very carefully kept, and
which present comparisons of the mortality
rates in Washington and other cities,
clearly show our national capital
to be an unusually healthy city
About one-third of the population are
negroes, and among these is generally about
fifty per cent of the mortality. The NOR
tally rate among the white population
is low. There is no need to place the
university buildings in any particularly
nsalubrious spot, or under any especially I'M
sanitary conditions, like those in which we
compel the President of the United States to
live. And even here matters are becoming
better; the Potomac improvement, with the
filling in of the miasmatic region adjacent to
the White House grounds, will give even the
President healthy surroundings.
There is no need to dwell upon all the advan-
tages accruing to the country from such an or
ganization; most of them can be easily seen;
but will touch on one which might, at first
sight, not be thought of. The city of Washing
ton is rapidly becoming great metropolis; it
is developing the atmosphere which is to give
character to the executive, the judicial, and es-
pecially the legislative business of the nation
What shall that atmosphere be? Shall it
be made by luxurious millionaires. anxious
only for new fields in which to display their
wealth? Shall it be an atmosphere of riotous
living, without one thought of better things?
Shall it be redolent merely of political schem-
ing and stock-jobbing by day, and of can
vas-backs and terrapin by night? In such
a future, legislative cynicism and corruption,
and eventually, perhaps, executive and ju-
dicial cynicism and corruption will be
of course: for they will present the only means
by which men can adjust their lungs to the
moral atmosphere. Shall it not rather be a
capital where, with the higher satisfaction and
graces of civilized living, there shall be an
atmosphere of thought upon the highest SUBJ
jects. of work in the most worthy fields, of
devotion to the noblest aims? Such an atmos-
phere great university with the men and
work inolved in it would tend to develop, and
in it demagogism would wither and corruption
lose the main element Of its support. We NAV
well suppose that some considerations of this
kind passed through the mind of him whose
great name our capital bears, and that these
were among the thoughts which prompted him
to urge, again and again, the founding there
of university worthy of the nation.
UATE EnDLIGN NENuc