, 1897-12-07

course and have shown marked ABILITY.
This percentage of education is at least
equal to that of either of the eastern
colleges with which the writer was con.
nected.
Even if party affiliations were the
only reason in appointing trustees for
the state universities. which is seldom
the case, it would be a more liberal plan
than that the board should be neces>
sarily of one particular sect, or worse,
that all, or at least a majority, should
be clergymen of a certain sect Of a
single state, as III the case of one of our
eastern universities According to the
experience of those who have taught in
western trustees is in general broader
and decidedly less arbitrary than that
Of eastern boards.
II regard to the more important Ques-
tons of freedom of teaching, there is
no doubt that the state universities
have attained this necessary condition
Of higher education to as great a degree
as any other institutions in the world,
with the possible exception of the sim>
ilarly situated Swiss universities. So
far from interfering with the political
views of the professors, we have the
case of a western state which has given
$1,000 majority for protection keeping
ar eloquent free trader in the chair OF
political economy, and we know of pro,
lessons Of sociology in western states
advocating state ownership of many
branches of business, while the public
sentiment of the state is violently op-
posed to anything approaching social
ism.
The several cases of s%candalous dis
missal of professors for political reas-
ons. which have aroused public indig-
nation of late, have not been in state
universities nor very far west. On the
other hand, the best known professor
Of political economy in the United
States is understood to have left his
comfortable berth in an eastern insti-
tuition for the freedom of a western uni
versity. simply because his teachings
save oifense to one of the wealthy pat
IONS of the former institution
Not satisfied with his aspersion of
the trustees, Mr.. Bicknell states furth-
er that the president of the western
state university is TOO often a man of
meager attachments and ideals dictated
chiefly by personal vanity and a desire
for personal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT" Scarce,
Qualiliedly untrue. The presidents OF
state universities, with only one eXcep,
ton, are not only graduates of the best
eastern colleges, but have in most cases
the decorate of philosophy at
universities or at the first
class institutions of this country. Fully
three-fourths of them have been honor
ed with the electorate in laws by col
of standing. The one unfortunate
of a president not college bred
Mr.. Bicknell would make the
rule. is exceptional, and such errors oc,
cur also in the east.
The college in which the Writer last
was one of the best in New Eng |
land, and yet of its three presidents,
only one was a college graduate. The
other two in this case made good exec.
ltives. but only two frequently the pre-.
D.. d. has covered a multitude
Of ignorance.
Two years age the writer represented
an eastern college at a meeting made
up mostly of New England college pres
innate enough to be present at a similar
meeting in Milwaukee, where the presi-
tents of the state universities composed
he body of attendance. A comparison
was natural. The western men seemed
FULLY equal to the New Englanders in
scholarship, and eloquence, and
superior, if anything. in pro-
sr~essiveness Of ideas. Be this as it
to speak of men like Angel,
Northrup, Jesse, Garfield,
Draper, Schaeffer, Baker, Snow and
as men ''of meagre attainments
and ideals" after seeing or hearing
hem, would be as ridiculous as to say
the same thing of Eliot, Low, Gates,
Dwight, Warren and Andrews. A
who INDUCES in any such ex-
shows that he is entirely
nn%acquainted with the facts.
Is it necessary to say anything furth-
err about the educational ideals of state
There is but a single con.
clusion for one who has examined the
and such a one would also have
very definite opinion concerning the
Judgment If that gentleman read as
well as wrote, he would have discovered
in a recent journal of education, the
testimony of an eX-instructor of Har-
ward, who found higher ideals and high
er standards in the University of Nebras,
ka than he did at Harvard, and he
would also learn hat of the II institu-
tons recognized in Germany, five are
state universities.
sit is also to be noted the of the
II men who were killed In playing foot.
ball this year., 10 were in the east and
one in the south, which goes to show