Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-11-10
THE SMALL COLLEGE.
ITS ADVANTAGES OVER THE GREAT
UNIVERSITY.

!
He Includes Middlebury College Among
Those of His Choice.
At the recent Congregational council
held in Boston, Rev. Henry Hopkins,
ID. D., of Kansas City, son of ex-Pre.i-
dent Hopkins of Williams college, de-
livered an address on the subject, "The
Place and Claim of the College-A Plea
for the Smaller Colleges" After dwell
ing upon the centralizing tendency now
so noticeable In many paths of endeavor.
including the establishing and endowing
of great educational institutions, he said
in part:
Nevertheless, while we accept this
universal centralizng trend as a provi-
dental CALL and believe that 1t may be
that the power of the movement makes
most opportune and necessary the asser-
ton of the fundamental principle of the
sacredness and value of the individual
man, and of the fact that the vigor of
the complex whole must always depend
upon the vitality and perfection of the
units.
1t Is good time to declare and insist
that capital exists for the sake of pro-
ducing men, and that men do not exist
for the sake of producing capital 1t is
good time to declare and insist that the
country is the best place in which to
rear strong and beautiful men and
women. and that the smaller towns
associated at once with country life, and
social advantages are to be as in the
past the seed>plant for the highest
human product, and that for the sake of
the great cities, and for the nations
sake. the country church and the village
life must be fostered. 1t is also es-
pecially fitting and needful that at this
/ time the righiful claims of the smaller
colleges should be recognized and the
essential nature of their place and SER
vice be indicated.
1t Is good time to suggest to the man
or the syndicate of men meditatng the
i bestowment of new lmpt rial gifts upon
education, that S20.000.000, given to 20
widely separated colleges, would be a
better investment for the kingdom of
God and for the Republic than $20,000,-
600 given to any one institution.
There are colleges and colleges.
speak only of those already existing in
nearly every state with ample field,
definite purpose, disinterested aim, high
ideals, improving standard, that are
nobly manned, dignified In character,
and though often struggling with
poverty, worthy to be recognized in the
great national university guild.
Concerning these in general, we cannot
fail to notice that they have had from
the beginning a record of marvellous
fruitfulness. In the personal---very.
era the small Christian colleges gave us
the men who led the people and moulded
the state. Leaving out Washington,
Franklin and Roger Sherman-truly a
tremendous exception-it was to say
that the greatest and most influential
men 10 the formation of the government
were all graduates of colleges. A his
torian of William and Mary college say {:
"This little college gave u student to
the army of the Revolution, two attorney
generals to the United States, 20 members
to congress, Is senators, II governors,
81 judges, several generals to the army,
y
sors. four signers of the Declaration,
seven CT binet officers, and three presi
dents" The record of the other early
colleges is scarcely less remarkable, and
coming down to a later era it is true that
the chiefest glories of Harvard, Yale and
Princeton are reflected from the names
of men who graduated in the distinctive
ly college era. The largest institutions
are chiefly illustrious by reason of the
product of their smaller years. The
galaxy of men, distinguished as his
torians, "a poets, as tribunes of The
people, as statesmen and iurists, whom
the whole American people claim and
honor, creators of our literature, leaders
Of our thought, citizens of the world,
these men who were proud to call IIar-
ward alma mater, were nourishf in her
bosom before her more prolific day.
The older universities have a heavy task
on hand if they are TO equal their early
record.
As to recent times, comparisons are
difficult and statistics Illusory, but find
the editor of an Influential weekly, who
claims to have verified his statements,
saying:
1T is striking fact that sixty per
cent of the brainest Americans who have
risen to prominence and success are
graduates of colleges whose names are
scarcely know outside of their own
states. 1t is fact that during the past
ten years the majority Of the new and
best methods of learning have emanated
from the smaller colleges, and have beer
adopted later by the larger ones"
have lately noted that at the Univer
sity of Chicago, where they are supposed
to get the best, the president and ten OF
the eighteen head professors are grad
yates of the smaller colleges.
But entirely aside from distinguished
names and services, every one mus
acknowledge that the whole world Of
politics and business, of letters, OF