The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-10-24
WEALTH OF OUR COLLEGES
THERE ARE s2s WITH PROPERTY
ESTIMATED At $3so.o0o. 600.
ship Required In ManaGement-
Girard With SIS. Sssss,Oss0 and Le-
land stanford With sI3,3oo,o<po

Although IL Is seldom thought OF IN this
light the business 81 college education Is
one Of the great business enterprises " the
country The - colleges aad universities
that have Just reolcfsed their doors 10 the
l.aoao American college students represent.
an invested capital Of S2ss, .0.lsc. and give
employment 10 2s...o persons as teachers
and officers. II all the professors, students
and buildings OF all the American colleges
were brought together an one locality they
would form q city Of the nrst magnitude.
Counting the amount expended ~ the stu
dents themselves and that expended IN
their behalf by the colleges. the total sum
paid out for college education III this coun-
try each year cannot fall short o! sllo.tc9.-
On
1t Is fact tina, the United States spends
more pro rata for higher education than
any other country In the world The
amount per unit of population Invested in
colleges and universities is nearly twies
as great as in England. and more than
twice great as In Germany.
While the total wealth Of American
colleges Is so, 90. or an average OF
sss7 90 for each, IL is a fact that the greater
part of the total sum Is In The possession
Of few of the leading universities. There
are seven Institutions that have together
property worth $sI.s0uap. Q. an average
OF sSso.po for the remaining AZ. II the
twentyseven institutions having product
i've wealth amounting TO 81, e9nr or more
were deducted. II would be found that the
average endowment in productive funds
Of the great ma icrity OF American colleges
Il only sli3.po
Not only are American college endow
ments larger than those Of any other coun-
try. but the cost Of instruction Is greatest
here. The wealth of American colleges
represents an investment OF 81. AS for each
Of the l75.0D college students, In Great
Britain the average * about $3.50 for each
student, while In Germany /. Is between
$50 and So This means THAI American
professors are better paid and that more
money Is spent Ia college buildings and In
scientific and mechanical equipment here
than abroad.
Mrs Stanford's recent gift OF SO. 900 90.
added to It's previous endowment Of So,
5B,Noa makes Leland Stanford. Jr., the
wealthiest educational institution in the
country with one exception. The excep-
Is Girard college. in Philadelphia. which
Is worth SI5 encore and has long stood a,
the head OF the list The work of Girard
college. however, Is the giving or tech
meal and trade instruction. 80 that the
newly acquired fortune Of the California
university makes 1t the richest of the In
situations devoted to higher education.
Next on the list comes Harvard. with pro-
ductive funds amounting to $lo.oo1.veo- The
Cambridge university IS followed closely
by Columbia. Cornell and the University
Of Chicago. Contrary 10 general opinion,
Yale has less wealth than any of these.
her productive funds amounting to only
$i,Fee,o go. f.a
The figures quoted show, not the total
wealth of the institutions named, but the
amount from which their incomes are de-
rived. Counting In the property held by
them In buildings and equipment and the
total would be considerably larger. The
following table gives approximately the
wealth nf these seven colleges: