The herald., 1897-12-27
THAT NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

The present and prospective condition
of federal finances would not seem to
give encouragement to the attempted
revival Of the scheme proposed by
Washington, but which has long re-
mained in merited desuetude, of estab-
fishing great national university at
the capital. The proposed departure is
Of very doubtful propriety at best. for
1t would be departure Of the broadest
significance. Education Of the people
in certain directions and within certain
limits may safely be conceded to be
within the legitimate province of gov
ernment. The maintenance of military
schools such as that at West Point, and
of schools for instruction in naval affairs
similar to that at Annapolis, are not
only the privilege but the duty of gov
ernment and for the same reasons Q
school for the instruction of men and
women in the details of governmental
department work might be justified, es-
pecially II the civil service law is to be
class Is to be built up in this country.
But the broader scheme of enlsting
the general government as an educator,
in competition with the independent,
UNCONVENTIONAL and state institutions of
the country, will not meet with such IA
vor.
In the first place, Washington Is not
the most desirable seat for such an in
stitution. The atmosphere of the capi-
tai Is far from being restful and con-
ducive to study. On the contrary, 1t Is
ever feverish. exciting and distracting.
1t cannot be characterized as moral at
mosphere. 1t cannot be said to be par.
ticularly inspiring or ennobling. or, at
least, 1t Is only so in spots
and periodically. The average stu
dent would be likely to absorb
much outside the curriculum not
especially beneficial to his moral and
spiritual nature. If at all susceptible to
the influence Of example, he would be
very likely to contract habits all too
prevalent now. Sending young man to
a national university at Washington
would be almost as bad as sending him
to congress. But the scheme is vulner-
able at other points. There would be
the gravest danger that the institution
would become, II not at first, at least
ultimately, a political machine, con-
al l,vyy ri ~ do
and that the faculty would in time be-
come a political propaganda, blending
with the prevailing sentiment Of the
capital at the time.
Under a Mckinley administration all
the roads in political economy would
lead to a gold standard, and under a
Bryan regime the beauties of bimetal-
lism would not be likely to be subordi-
mated. Again, Washington is not famed
as health resort. The climate in win
ter and spring is notoriously bad, and
many men Of prominence have sue
cumbed to the miasma that comes up
from the Potomac flats and spreads out
over the city. 1t falls short in many par
ticulars of being an ideal seat for ma
tional university.
All of the objections that may be urged
against the location of such a school at
the capital, or against the location of
such a school anywhere, have not been
stated. There are others. But the rea-
sons that will be most potent with men,
bers of congress just now are the size of
the deficit in government revenues, the
meagerness of the prospect of an early
improvement, and the growing neces-
sity for curtailment Of public expend-
itures.