Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-06-13

annually or bienninally by legislatures. bus
IL is well enough to speak plainly on this sub
tect and to remind legislatures that this insta-
IN: best plan to be devised for securing this
stability OF support Is the enactment of law
providing for tax Of q fraction OF mill upon
that this tax law is not likeIy to be repealed,
and. OF course. the sum increases as the state
gree with the increasing needs of a growing
and prosperous university, Laws of this kind
are now In force in Ohio, Michigan. Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado and CaIifor-
mia.
SOME ADVANTAGES.
Let US now consider some Of the advantages
which have accrued to state universities and to
the public from their peculiar organization.
Most Of these universities have secured to ono
II not two generations the advantages of such
an education as would otherwise not have been
within their reach. The settlers of these west
ern states were poor. but generally intelligent
and fairly educated Not few of them were
value Of Prey desir ree
1t for their children. But they had not
as e to to ,o ssaa . ana s aa to xs
equipped colleges at home. The national en-
dowment. however. supplemented In some
the founding OF institutions and for the devel-
opment of them within q few years to q
vate 6enefactions could have reached for many
years But for the state universities, their
children. and perhaps their children's chill
q college furnished for the excellent and varied
work now done in this and other similar in
gain an education. and in the days when these
new states have greatly needed educated men.
The few rich men could easily have sent
Colleges It was Of eompsratipely eaf iisale
consequence to their children whether the
But 1t was Of the first consequence to the chill
dren of the hardy settler who was rescuing a
farm from the wilderness or the prairie. And
that it's population was not divided Sharply
into two classes-the men rich and educated
such division exists you have all the elements
of discOrd, strife and civil war. But give the
poor boy with brains and character an educa-
ton as good as the rich boy can have and you
need not fear an undue ascendancy of the rich.
The chances are. as all history shows, that the
washerwoman. will take the precedence Of the
rich boy. whether in church or in state II tho
contrary Is the fact in any case the rich boy
heartburninRs or conflict
The state university crowns and completes
the public school system, and by strengthen
ing It blesses the state. It is constantly ex-
ertinR an inspiring and lifting power on the
petent teachers for the high schools It is a
maxim of experienced educators that teach
or ought to have received a more advanced ed
teaches. Those high schools which have re-
lied simply on their own graduates for teach
ers have made grave mistake. Such teach
ers can not, as a rule. bring to the school the
stimulous which competent college graduate
can part The state universities in most Of
into closer, more nearly organic re-
lation with the schools than the denomins-
tional college can establish In this state and
elsewhere the university has established rela-
tiOns with the high schools most fruitful of
good TO the schools as well as to the UNIVERSE
Z a 70 hoo fnoi cd nd
to larger and better work. A virtual unity in
the state education system has been secured
and humblest scholar in the most primary
school in the state. Every child, even the
poorest. knows that this generous state has
opened and made clear and easy to him the
way from his modest Schoolhouse to and
through the university
Even an institution which is rendering so
great and useful a service as the state uniyer-
sity can succeed in it's beneficent work only in
case the conditions OF success are furnished
1t has certain inevitable needs, which must be
supplied Let US see what its principal needs
are.
board OF curators Its chief executive officer
and its faculties. This may seem q common
place remark But an explanation Of it will
relieve 1t Of its commonplace aspect. 1 mean
to say that the proper administration of a
university is profession. special business.
tain peculiar gifts in the the adm i
tors, and especially in the executive.
colleges Was eomparatively SIMPLE oa Ths sP saa
riculum Of study was stereotyped. The faculty
was small. the income needed was not large.
sacred. yet mysterious to them. and con-
corning them but little, never ventured to crit
an they gave Very little tsoge to f.
most any clergyman who could make good
appearance in the pulpit Of his denomination
tellectual and moral philosophy could fill the
presidency acceptably: The trustees were
hours of the commencement season and their
business was usually performed in the most
perfunctory way
DIFFERENCES OF TO-DAY.
How different Is the case with the state uni
versity, and indeed, with many universities to-
day. The courses of study are varied and
manifold. They require large faculties and
costly appliances. The annual expenditures
are many times those of the college of other
furnished by the university. but in most cases
technical and professional training. Since 1t
degree. on the appropriations Of the state. it is
at once the pleasure and the duty OF its officers
20 he nn 10
Quainted with its operations. 1t must invite
and challenge criticism. 1t must be
the people. Its curators, therefore, can not
we'll be SO neglectful Of their duties, as many
should keenly feel themselves responsible to
execute their trust. They should have meet
fairs Of the university, and to decide upon the
scope of its work and its general policy. They
may safely leave. and practically they must
versity to the faculties, reserving to them
selves, of course. the right of ultimate control
1t Is in the highest degree desirable that the
state university should. SO far as possible, be
understood by the people Of the state. To &C
compliSh this is not easy. The proportion of
the citizens of any state who can pursue their
studies at any university or college Is so small
the number OF them sho can never even visit
Its buildings and grounds Is SO limited. that it
Is very difficult to give to the greatest masses
nature Of the work done at the university,
much less of the method and spirit in which it
Is done. There is, therefore, not unnatural
on The part Of some to suppose that
ton. intended to confer special privileges a
chosen few, and that it is conducted with
extravagance No pains should be spared
by curators, teachers and students to COR
rect erroneous impressions on these points.
BY speech. by official reports. by the aid of the
press. the undisputable facts should be made
students in every one of these institutions are
the children Of parents who are poor, or OF
very moderate means; that a very large pro-
portion have saved by hard toll and by heroic
the amouna needed to maintain
themselves in the most frugal manner during
their university course; and that SO far from
being an aristocratic institution, there is no
more truly democratic institution in the world
than the university: none in which wealth and
birth pass for so little and brains and charac-
ter for SO much.
The university needs, a condition of sue
cess. that provision should be made for its
growth and development. In this prosperous
western life, which increases wealth and popu-
lat1on at SO rapid pace, the demands OF the
state university must constantly and rapidly
increase. In these circumstances for the uni
versity to stop growing is to begin to die. II
and improving its methods, SO as
to keep abreast Of other irst-rate universities