The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-07-12
A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY.
A Cherished Plan of George Washing.
tons Brought to FruitiOn.
It. Paul Pioneer Press

An event OF national importance
that has not received the attention it
deserves was the birth of a national
university at Washington in the latter
part of May. This is the fruition of
assfavorite project of George Washing
toms, which is said to have arisen
from a chance remark made to him at
Cambridge in 1775, when the war for
independence was hardly begun. The
agitat for national university has
been kept up from that day to this al
most continuously, but the develop
ment of the large universities of the
east, of the state universities and Of
the privately endowed universities,
like Cornell, Chicago, Johns Hopkins
and Leland Stanford, have rendered
the need of a national university less
obvious. They have performed the
functions which Washington had in
mind and have performed them better
than single university. could have
done. They have offered excellent in
struction in all departments, and 30 far
as the bachelor degrees are concerned
have. because OF Unelr geographical
distribution, given opportunities for
characterization to tens of thousands
that would not have been reached by
a more centralized institution. ~. They
have also more recently, besides de-
veloping schools of law and medicine,
instituted graduate courses in. all
branches. These courses are growing
of Importance and are attracting larger
numbers year by year. Yet, except at
Johns Hopkins and one or two other
institutions, the graduate departments
are subordinated to the undergraduate
departments. The instruction is COM
paratively.. meager and undeveIoped
compared with the work in many for
eign universities and the degrees of
master and of doctor have distinctly
lower value than similar degrees in
Europe.
Whether the fault lies in the under
gaduate departments from kindergarten
TO college or in the graduate depart
ments the unpleasant fact is that in
the matter of original research and in
important contributions to learning
and to science this country has been
far behind European. 1t has made con-
tributions in many branches equal to
those of Europe, but in comparison
with the numbers who have received
university degrees the extent of these
contributions is much less than it
ought to be. The estimation in which
graduate instruction in this country is
held is indicated by the annual ex-
odus of from two thousand to three
thousand young men to foreign uni
versities.
1t has been the aim of those who
have been urging congress of late
years to found national university to
supplementssthe work of the many uni
versities with an institution for gradu-
te.work that would confer thesdegrees
of master and doctor only to those
whose work came up to a standard
equal to that of the most exacting
foreign universities They have not
proposed to have this institution com
pete with the other universities. Every
year has made it clearer that the place
for such an institution was Washing
ton. For not only does the capital at
tractsleading men form all parts of the
world, but in.its various departments
and laboratories there exists a we'll
equipped::.plant that COULD only be
duplicated at the cost of millions. if
at all :. There are the bureau of statis-