The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1891-11-25

the editors who voice the sentiments of
those who would like to see these use
less millions of endowment made more
widely useful.
IT is, however, good thing, some
times, to stir up these college and sta
ton officials a little; for, after calling
the fellow at the other end of the pole
hard names, they will, at least in pri-
vate correspondence, admit much if not
all that is alleged against them. Thus,
some time ago, we wrote of certain
"plat experiments "as q" childish folly,
inasmuch as neither suitable prepare
ton nor proper care was given to the
plats. An dttache of an institution thus
criticised, after asking, What use to
make any reply to writer whose only
delight seems to be newspaper contro.
versy, and who can Gull, misrepresent
and belittle, just to pad newspaper
story?" does admit that there is some
cause for criticism of the plats at -,
and it seems to me that if the proper
work had been done there,
(the attaches predecessors) would not
have turned against their own work.
The drainage is inadequate and irregu
lar, according to no system, but is better
than we found it. The - did drain
and put his garden in good condition
why not the plats which have been, are
and will be, the subject of 80 much dis
cussion? Very often 1 have
been conscious that that fact ha left
open the door for just such remarks as
DR.. H. has INDUCED in. The farm plats
may deserve such criticism" Very
well, then; when it gets what it de-
serves, why abuse the critic? The
writer adds that any attempt to do more
thorough work would have been
"against the whole conservative force
of the station" and he winds up thus:
To repeat it all, should not care TO
raise the standard far above where it
was put, even in the face of DR.. HI. IS
Characterization as hardly on a par
with the work of student in his first
term in elementary physical
READING such statements as that
above quoted from, in which it is evil
dent that the writer is quite willing to
have the criticism which he thinks I'M
fair to himself passed back to his prede-
cessors though our criticism was APP
piled to the institution only, it is plain
to be seen that very little can be ex-
pected from the majority of these we'll
endowed institutions so long as they are
allowed to use and administer the great
sums of money with which they are an
nually supplied by the general govern
ment, unless they are carefully in
spected and thoroughly supervised by a
competent national commission. The
responsibility for puerile, wasteful an !
superficial work will be thrown back
and forth from one to the other, idle
ness will have little check, and the pub
lie still less profit from vast expendi-
ture which the people are taxed for.
Colleges and experiment stations run
on public money, without proper and
frequent inspection, may soon become
the homes of lazy sinecurists. News
paper criticism, though it will attract
some attention to the evil, is utterly in.
sufficient to reform it. These colleges
and stations, we say, must be made fully
responsible for the proper and econom-
icAl use of the money they receive; and
Senator Morrill, could do no better work
than to see that the proper legislation
is had for this purpose. He is certainly
interested in seeing that they are made
TO do creditable work.
IT is pleasure to be able to say that
our Vermont station (and we may ex-
tend the statement to cover most, if not
all, of the New England stations) is
doing some good practical work. Pro-
fessor Cookies dairy work is highly