The Topeka state journal., 1897-06-26
NOT ENOUGH C0LLEGES.
Secretary Wilson Favors the Estab-
lishment of a College in Every
COUNTY

County.
Chicago, June 26.-The Record prints
the following expression of views by Sec
retary of Agriculture James Wilson:
1T never occurred to me that there
were too many colleges" said Secretary
Wilson. Il always thought there were
not enough. Ihave heard of men being edu-
Gated beyond their capacity and women
beyond their sphere, but I am very sure
that the learning they acquired must
have contributed to their happiness as
well as to their usefulness. I have heard
of men being spoiled by education, but
have never seen such a thing, and it
seems to me that man who is a fool
with education would be a bigger fool
without one A man who is spoiled by
education, if such a thing is possible
must have been made of very poor stuff
to begin with. You cannot make a silk
purse out of q. sow's ear. That has been
demonstrated by the experience of cen
turies, but in all my career as an educa-
tor I have never found a boy or girl
who wasn't the better for learning some
thing, and the nearer you get the col
leges to the people the more people you
will get into the colleges. don't believe
in big institutions. 1 don't believe in the
Capitalization of educational facilities 1
think that they do more good if they are
scattered. The fewer pupils a professor
has, the more attention he can give them,
and while, of course, he ought to have
enough to provide him a decent cempen-
sation he ought not to have more than he
can handle. There are forty colleges in
Iowa already, and they are multiplying
all the time. hope to see the day when
there is college in every county and 800
students in every college. These local
colleges may not afford the same privi-
leges for a scientific education that a
young man can obtain at Yale or Har-
ward or Princeton, but you must remem-
Der that comparatively few families are
able to send their sons to such institu-
tions, or any considerable distance from
home. The most useful college for the
western states is one which let's the stu
dents go to their homes every Friday
night and stay over until Monday morn
ing. Some of the institutions out west
are very poor. but they are not too poor
to give a boy education, and they can
teach him lessons in economy in addition
to the other sciences.
Another thing I object to-" continued
the secretary, 'is the talk I hear about
the extravaganza of the farmers. A farm
er has the right to live as we'll as any
body, provided he can afford the expense,
and I never yet have known man to
mortgage his farm to pay household ex-
penSeS. The condition of our farmers is
growing better and better all the time,
and I like to see it. Formerly they used
to have a homemade rag carpet in the
parlor and bare floors over all the rest of
the house. Now they have pretty Brus-
sells carpets and have sent the rag car
pets to the chambers. Formerly people
went to church and to town in lumber
wagons. and if they were pretty we'll off
they had spring seats. Now nearly every
farmer out in the country has a carriage,
and a. handsome set of harness. Formerly
it used to be the height of WomanS
ambition to have a melodeon or a cabinet
organ. Now she must have a piano For
merly the girls made their own clothes;
now they have their Sunday gowns cut
out by the dressmaker in the nearest
town, although they still do the stitching
themselves. And they are all the better
for it. This advantage has harmed no
body and has brought a great deal of
happiness. 1t is the result of education
and refinement and the elevation of the
taste, and do not think those qualities
are any more out of place in a farmhouse
than in a brown-stone palace in the city
while these advantages and enjoy
ments have added to the cost of living
nobody has gone to the poorhouse on
that account. The same degree of INTEL
ligence is just as valuable a farm
in a counting house or a mandatory,
and the mortgages that lie upon the
farms of Iowa are not due to extrava-
gance, but to Improvements. They repre-
sent more land and improved implements
and fine cattle and horses. The farmer
gets a better crop and more of it, and he
keeps adding to his own wealth well
as to the wealth of the nation"