The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-03
THE QUESTION AT ISSUE.
Shall We Have State University or
Shall We Nots

Shall We NOts
To the Editor of the indianapolis Journal:
The discussion which began few months
ago concerning proposition to remove
the State University from Bloomington to
indianapolis has been narrowed to the one
question, shall we have a State University
or shall we not? There never was anything
in the removal question, any way. 1t never
had a corporaPS guard in FAVOR Of it; least
of all did anybody in Indianapolis ever
advance it unless it was upon the sole
suppostion that such a location would be
best for all concerned, just as 1t is better
to have the Statehouse and its belongings
here than at Bloomington or any other out
of-the-way town. The local advantage OF
either the Statehouse or the universityS
being here is so infinitesimal as to be I'M
appreciable among the elements of our pros
perity. We don't care for either except
as a matter of accommodation to the State
at large.
This much must be taken for granted
in all intelligent discussion of the university
question: We have no university now, ex-
cept in name, and that the $105,000 annually
collected for the university, together with
the frequent and very liberal appropria-
lions for specific purposes, have not lifted
it above the grade OF college of the
liberal arts, and that as such it is not
superior to several of the colleges of the
State which are supported simply as private
enterprises, whether we judge by the guam
THY or quality of it's output, and further,
that we are brought Or, 70 the I0rhs OF the the
State are not in the mood to continue the
present methods without more marked re-
to abandon State aid entirely beyond the
proceeds of the liberal endowment or to
add millions to it and make a university
Wa will hn SUGGESTS
very pertinent preliminary question: Is
there "a demand for such a uni
airy. We have it in abundance and are
willing and even anxious to bestow 1t If
The older citizens of Indiana will re-
member that about fifty years ago there
was college epidemic in the State Every
or more. During its prevalence the Meth
odist Church alone founded twenty-three
after the sinking of hundreds of thousands
of dollars to accomplish the impossible, one
by one they went out, leaving nothing to
huge and expensive piles of brick and NOR
tar, much of which has passed into the
We are just now wrestling with a uni
versity epidemic. Every State wants one,
regardless of the law of supply and de-
mand, to which all must Succumb sooner
later. 1t was not the want of money
which proved fatal to the colleges oZeal-
ously begun during the college epidemic.
but a want of demand for them. James A.
Garfield said: with Mark Hopkins on one
end of log and bright youth on the
other end, you have a university" That
is a forceful panegyric, but it is as untrue
epitaph. 1t takes more than one
make university, and in spite Of money
or the lack of money the law of demand
is the omnipitent factor; Does Indiana need
a local university under the shadow of
Chicago University, which has millions of
of money and every other essential con-
dtion Of success, not to mention Michigan
and Wisconsin Universities, which have not
only absorbed millions, but each of which
is to-day demanding more and more? When
the State OF Ohio, in 1862, received her agri-
cultural land grant she practically let the
Ohio University at Ashens, , depend 81, wholly wholly
a real university at Columbus, supplement-
ing the grant with money from the treas
versity, but more than half million of
dollars have been gathered by taxation
as an additional fund, with annual ap--
the university is unable to live without
more money. In a late appeal to the Ohio
buildings must be erected; more apparatus
must be provided; more laboratories must
tepe IS no Terea hs State o has begun
a great work and she cannot abandon it,"
This is SO IKE the stereotyped demand of
our own university that. it seems to be
inspired by a similar condition.
The object of this paper is not to take
either side of the burning question, I but to
state frankly the condition of affairs We
have no university except in name, though
we laviShing hundreds or thousands
of dollars upon what we claim to have.
We can have no university without
liberality hitherto unknown, with an as
surance that our appropriations will never
cease, but grow larger as time passes Both
Wisconsin and Michigan Universities are
before their respective Legislatures for
larger appropriations. This is inevitable.
The question for us to solve at this fork
of the road is, shall we undertake a rival
work? Shall we build State university?
The question of the location of State
university is quite secondary to the ques-
ton, shall we have one? Ohio combined her
State funds with her agricultural funds
If we must have university it is an open
question whether to build TO the nucleus
at Bloomington, if what we have there
may be called a nucleus, or build to the
much more university appliance at Purdue
than at Bloomington is quite certain
Whether Lafayette affords better facilities
and is better location, | do not attempt
to say. 1t is worthy of investigated before
we go too far in our appropriations for
buildings apparatus, libraries and the like.
1t may be worth while to consider Indian
for the sake of Indianapolis, but for the
sake of the university. 1t is not improbable
that the arsenal grounds might be obtained
favorable terms IL the out counties
did not make it d part of their religion
as we'll as their politics, to fight every
thing and every body that belongs to In
dianapois. But the question is not where
we shall have a State university at all
not. Is there a demand for it? Have
we not too many already? Can we afford
to fight the law of demand merely be-
cause we have plenty of money?
Indianapolis, Jan. 2. u. L. SEE.