The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-03-27
FROM THE OTHER SIDE.
Robert s. CampbeIrs Answer TO the
Letter of DIR. Tolmage.

Robert s. CampbeIFs Answer TO the
Letter of DIR. ToImage.
To the Editor Of The Herald:
| A letter appeared in your issue Of the
26th, signed by Dr. James E. Talmage.
which contains some curious observa-
tons on my recent letter to you.
This distinguished educator ungrac-
iously insinuates that 1 did not write
the letter to which my name was
signed. Suppose L should return the
compliment by asking whether Dr..
Talmage wrote the extended letter to
which his name is attached? am re-
sponsible for what appears over my
own signature. and 1 do not follow an
illustrious precedent of writing anony-
nous letters on this subject.
The doctor credits me with the act
Of endorsing Measurements and fol-
lows with the assertion that year
ago he preferred to remain silent on
this question. Unless my memory is
at fault he appeared before the COM
mittees of the last legislative assembly
and made extended pleadings upon the
subject. Am l correct in this, or is
the doctor making misstatements?
But to his argument.
Dr.. Talmage makes five SUPPOSE
tons. each of which is purely fanciful,
on which to base all his hypothesis.
viz:
First-That the present university
grounds in Salt Lake city will be pre-
sented by the city to the territory.
Second-That when so presented. the
territory could sell these grounds and
hl1i16inOS a fneiY- eSfiT,1a UaIl1n-
$250,O0O.
Tlhird-That with this money the ter
ritory could erect suitable buildings
for university and college purposes, on
the Fort Douglas site.
F'ourth-That the present college
buildings alt Logan could then be used
for the deaf mute institute.
Fifth-That we shall lose the Fort
Douglas site unless the college and
university are united at Salt Lake city.
These are all mere wishes or fan
cies, not facts. Not one of them is
known to be true.
The first suggests to me that If the
city undertakes to give away the uni
versity square in order to remove the
college from Logan, injunction pro-
eeedings to restrain the city will be
begun by interested taxpayers.
The second is an inconsistent sugges-
estate market.
The third may or may not be true.
The fourth is idle speculation.
The fifth is not true; we have five
years in which to begin to build on the
Fort Douglas site.
Yet is is out of these suggestions
that DR.. Talnlage tries to build an ar
gument.
DR.. TaInlage says: ct is a notorious
4bor he orT-i0rr1tJ1ra1 (yal1oora ma c
no adequate laboratory for our uni
versity courses in chemistry or in
physics" By personal investigation.
I have ascertained that DR.. Talmage
makes a misstatement in this sweep
ing assertion. The space now devoted
to physics and chemistry in the Agri-
cultural College building comprises
some seven fine rooms, the largest be-
ing about 80 by so feet in dimensions"
Will DR.. Talmage assert that these de-
partments of the university now oc-
cIpy so large a space as these seven
rooms? Besides this, there is group
of very large rooms in the basement.
which can be used for physics, in case
the classes in that subject shall reach
200i-an extravaganza supposition.
College and university can both be
accommodated at Logan, with some
slight Encouragement of rooms and de-
claimed that the present university
buildings will accommodate both-they
will not suitably accommodate either.
[ again quote from the doctors let
ter:
No person. professional educator or lay
man. who has given mature thought TO
the proposition. and who has knowledge
course, as told in the painful and costly
experiences of states in which the ex-
pertinent of university segregation mas
been tried, can at all doubt the proprlety
of concentrating energies in the building
up of one strong state university.
This assertion is a ''misstatement"
Not only do all educators not believe
that it is best to unite the agricultural
and industrial with the classical and
literary institutions, but many main
tain that the Agricultural College
should be kept apart from the over
shadowing influence of university
ideas, while laymen, like myself, al
most universally demand that the uni
yersity idea shall not be thrust upon
the very institutions which were
founded to aid the masses of the people
to acquire an industrial and scientific
education, which they could not get in
the universities. Accordingly we find
that in Idaho, Missouri, and other
states in which these institutions have
been combined, strong efforts are now
being made by the masses of the peo-
pie and by the farmers especially, to
separate the Agricultural College from
the university.
DR.. Talmage proceeds:
1 venture to assert that the union of |
the two institutions in June, 1896, would
be in every way practicable and beneff- !
cial. Even If wisdom dictate the contin- I
uation of work on both sites until COM |
modious buildings can be erected on a