The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-11-21

asked to ,resign their positions on ac.
count of political views to which they
had given expression.
1t is indisputable that In time past,
the acceptance of large endowments
by colleges has had the effect of re-
stricting the teachings of those COL
leges. This fact was appreciated ct
Wellesley, when, earlier in the year.
Mr.. Rockefeller offered n contribution
of 100000, and a number of the facul-
ty presented memorial to the trus-
tees protesting against the accepts
ance of the gift, because of thes$em-
barrassment which would surely re-
suit when the department of economics
should he engaged in the study of the
Industrial conduct of trusts like the
Standard Oil company
The incident at Wellesley forms the
basis OF an article by Miss Scudder.
in the current number of the Atlantic.
and she has there admirably stated
the reasons why colleges, especially,
should carefully avoid the acceptance
of tainted wealth." To quote from
hcr article:
First, to ignore scruple is to help
suppress ii. Every institution which
accepts without explanation money
under suspicion or indictment weakens
the awakening demand for ethical
scrutiny of the sources of wealth.
The church and the university
standing as they do for the subjuga-
ton of the gross automatic instincts
of the race by conscience and reason
are our most safe and natural guides:
and i'll betides the country where they
hold the rear rather than the van.
For a college or church which
accepts questionable money as a mat
ter of course Injuries far more than it,
self. 1t stiles the breath of new life
in our civilization; and the higher its
standing and the stronger its influence,
the more fatally does 1t effect this end.
:" Another reason, equally prac-
tical, equally cogent. should impose
caution in the acceptance of money:
the danger lest our colleges forfeit the
respect of the people. No one
can move among working people in an
informal and intimate fashion with
out realizing how entirely they lack
confidence in the integrity of our aca-
demic life. how honest and sincere Is
the scOrn with which they view it.
If the great throng of the un-
privileged come to distrust the centerS
whence these unifying forces should
proceed, and to view them as class in
StitutiOns, where is our hope for the
future? Better than this, let poverty
be the portion of our colleges. as it has
been the portion of some of the strong
est centers of intellectual life that the
world has known. " There is no
duty before the academic and religious
world in America more pressing than
the duty of strengthening the demand
that methods of acquiring wealth
come wholly under the dominion of the
moral sense. There is no opportunity
more significant. more in danger of
closing forever, than the opportunity
of convincing the public at large, by
definite sacrifice Of worldly advantage,
If need be, that the intellectual life
OIL the country, us represented ID! llS
organized centers, is disinterested,
honest and free"
Little may be added to the above as
arguments against the use of ill-gotten
gain in promoting educational inter-
ests. and it is to be hoped that in flu
ture there will be no further founda-
ton for the oft-repeated charge that
the wealth of the country is to any
extent utilized in subsidizing colleges
to favor false doctrines.