The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1895-06-15

on what Is the proper scope OF the WOrK OF
the university. We should be careful in filling
out the brOadeSt plan to undertake no depart
ment or work until there is a high probability
that the time is ripe for IT., and that it can
have a permanent support il it proves success
full. One legislature. OF course. can not bind
its successor to continue It's appropriations.
But the public mind may come TO be as well
settled. and in most states 1t Is as well set
tied, concerning the necessity OF continuing
certain kinds Of university work, as il is con-
corning the necessity of continuing the main
tenance of prisons and aSylumS. And certainly
a legislature may not ruthleSsly check the de-
velOpment of a department which has
been begun in good faith by its pre-
deceSSOr, and which IS achieving good
can not be wholly escaped whenever a untver-
Sity Is dependent on appropriations renewed
annually or bienninally by Legislatures. But
1t Is well enough to speak plainly on this sub
jeCt and to remind legislatures that this insta-
bility of plan is a real and serious misfortune.
The best plan to be devised for securing this
stability Of support is the enactment of a law
providing for a tax OF a fraction OF 4 mill upon
the property Of the state Experience shows
that this tax law is not likely TO be repealed.
and. of course. the sum increases as the state
grows wealthy, and 50 keeps pace in some de-
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 Califor-
mia.
ONE 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 one
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 a few OF them we're
graduates of colleges. They appreciated the
value Of advanced education. They desired
it for their children. But they had not
tho mnnnG 70 Gapd fhafr nhillran 80 tbn
east or to found and maintain we'll
equipped colleges at home. The national en-
dowment, however. supplemented in some
cases by gifts Of land by the states, Sufficed for
the founding OF institutions and for the devel-
Opment of them within a few years to a
strength which no college dependent on pri-
vate benefactions could have reached for many
years. But for the state universities. their
children, and perhaps their children's chill
dren. would have looked in vain for the help Of
a college furnished for the excellent and varied
work now done in this and other similar in
StitutiOnS. They have thus enabled the poor to
gain an education, and IN the days when these
new states have greatly needed educated men.
The few rich men could easily have sent
their sons and daughters to eastern
colleges. 1t was OF comparatively little
consequence to their children whether the
state provided a scheme for higher education.
But il 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
it was OF even greater consequence to the state
that its population was not divided sharply
into two claSScS-the men rich and educated
and the men poor and ignorant. Wherever
such a division exists you have all the elements
of discord, strife and civil war. But give the
poor boy with brains and character an educa-
tion 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
poor boy, the son Of the day laborer or of the
w-aSherwOman. will take the precedence of the
rich boy, whether in church or in state. II the
contrary Il the fact in any case. the rich boy
deserves to lead. and his leadership causes no
heartburningS or conflict
The state university crowns and completes
the public school system, and by strengthen
ing it bleSSeS the state. 1t is constantly ex-
erting an inspiring and lifting power on the
public schools. 1t does this by furnishing COM
petent teachers for the high schools. 1t is Il
maxim of experienced educators that 4 teach
| er ought to have received a more advanced ed
uCatiOn than is given in the school which he
teaches. Those high SCHOOLS which have re-
lied simply on their own graduates for teach
ers have made a grave mistake. Such teach
erS can not, as a rule, bring to the school the
stimulouS which a competent college graduate
can impaTt. The state universities in most of
the western states have naturally come
into a closer, more nearly organic re-
latiOn with the schools than the denomina-
tlOnal 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
ty. The schools have been melted and helped
TO larger and better work. A virtual unity in
the state education system has been secured.
The power Of this unity IS felt by the youngest
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 its benehcent 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.
Its affairs must be well administered by its
board OF c~uratOrS, Its chief executive officer
and its faculties. This may seem a mmo
place remark. But an explanation OF it will
relieve it of its commonplace aspect. mean
to say that the proper administration of a
university is a profession, a special business,
which calls for experience and GER
tain peculiar gifts in the administra-
tors, and especially in the executive.
The administration OF the old typical
colleges was comparatively simple. The cur
riculum OF study was StereOtyped. The faculty
was small, the income needed was not large.
The public regarding it as a something. if not
sacred, yet as mysterious to them, and con-
| corning them but little. never ventured to crit
icise any of its methods or its general policy.
In fact. they gave very little thought to it. Al
most any clergyman VITO could make a good
appearance in the pulpit of his denomination
and teach from textbooks the elements of in
tellectual and moral philosophy could fill the
presidency acceptably: The trustees were
seen at the college only during the crowded
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
days. Not only must collegiate education be
furnished by the university, but in most cases
technical and professional training. Since it
is under the control and dependant, in some
degree. on the appropriations OF the state. il is
at once the pleasure and the duty of its officers
TO lay its affairs open to the public and to take
all proper measures to keep the public ac-
quainted with its operations. 1t must invite
inspection and challenge criticism. 1t must be
ready at all times to justify its policy before
the people. Its CuratorS. therefore, can not
well be so neglectful of their duties. as many
college trustees permit themselves to be. They
should keenly feel themselves responsible to
the public for the manner in which they
execute their trust. They should have meet
ingS frequently enough to understand the af-
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
leave. the details OF the work inside the uni
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 ac-
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 who can never even visit
its buildings and grounds is so limited, that it
is very difticult to give 10 he greatest masses
Of the people an accurate idea OF the precise
nature of the work done at the university,
| much less OF the method and spirit in which it
tendency on the part OF some to suppose that
the university is a sort Of ariStocratic inStitu-