Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-06-17
NATIONAL EDUCATION
Relations of the General Government
to the Subject.
ADDRESS OF DIRECTOR WALCOTr
History of the Discussion From
Colonial Times.
TIL E GEN NERAL POLICY

CHICAGO. June 1T.-Charles D. Walcott,
director of the United States geological
survey, delivered an address today before
the faculty and students of the University
of Chicago. His subject was Relations OF
the National Government to Higher Edu-
cation and Research"
When one considers" said Mr.. Walcott.
1.-The relations of the government to higher
education and research, one Of the first
questions to arise is, What, within the linn
itations imposed by the Constitution. can
the government do? Other pertinent in
quiries are: What has been done: what is
the present policy of the government; how
are it's educational resources being utilized.
and what can be done that is not already
being well done by our universities, col
leges and technical Institutions?
Many of our wisest and best statesmen
and jurists are of opinion that the general
government has no power, under the Con-
stitution, to appropriate money for educa-
tiOnal purposes, that important function
having been left to the states.
Colonial Discussion.
"a glance backward over the history OF
colonial and national discussion and legis-
lation is interesting and instructive.
In colonial times Oxford, Cambridge and
Edinburgh were to American youth the
centers of learning and higher education.
They furnished all that was needed by the
well-to-do student, and local colleges were
given scant attention and support. The
founders of our college system were obliged
to meet adverse conditions which developed
In them the same qualities that led their
compatriots to the conquest Of the CONT
nent.
Early in the seventeenth century Q619)
the Virginia Company granted ten thou
sand acres of land for the founda ton of
seminary Of learning for the English in
Virginia. At the suggestion of the king,
the bishops of England in the same year
raised fifteen hundred pounds to aid in the
education of the Indians in connection with
the proposed grant of land for the semi
nary. A portion of the land was occupied
and the seminary started under the direc-
ton of George Thorpe, a of high
standing in England. But the institution
was short lived. 1t, with it's inmates and
founder, persisted in the Indian massacre
of 1922.
For a time the movement for higher
education was delayed but in 1886 Harvard
founded: then William and Mary, in
1860; Yale, in 1701; the College of New
Jersey, in 1746; the University of Penn
sylvania, in 1851; Columbia, in 1854; Brown,
in 1854; Dartmouth in 1863; the University
of Maryland, in 1874; North Carolina, In
17S9-'9e; Vermont, in 1871, and Bowdoin, in
1874
In the Constitutional Convention.
THE university spirit was well developed
when the constitutional convention met in
1877. James Madison a member of the
convention, acting in harmony with the
known wishes of Washington. proposed to
give the national legislature power
To establish a university.
To encourage, by premiums and pro-
visions, the advancement of useful knowl
edge and the discussion of science.
Charles Pinckney also earnestly advo-
90 tod 40, fnr hn oct hi lie, Of a
pational university, and Mr.. Wilson sup
ported the motion; but the matter was
dropped. on the ground that Congress
already had sufficient power to enact laws
for the support of national education.
George Washington sought to impress
on Congress and the people his earnest
conviction that the government should es-
tablish and support a great national uni
versity. To this end he made bequest in
his will, and If Congress had treated 1t as
did the legislature of Virginia his bequest
for the endowment Of Washington College
there would be today a fund sufficient to
give adequate support to a great institu-
ton for investigation and original research
in the capital city.
I'm his will Washington expressed the
fears he entertained to the effect of for
eign education on the youth of America
and the desirability of having an American
university.
When the disposition Of the Smithsonian
fund OS3S-1S46) was under conSiderati ton
the subject Of founding a national univer-
sity was fully and freely discussed. and the
plan rejected by Congress.
Another attempt was made in 1873, and
since then many bills of like import have
been introduced in Congress. None of
these have received even so much as a IA
vorable report from the committee to
which it was referred, either of the Senate
or of the House of Representative.
Grants of Land.
THE trend of opinion has been and Is that
tional university in the sense suggested by
Washington and those who have followed
him. The Congress has, however, gener-
ously aided technical and higher education
by grants of lands to states and territories
for educational purposes. This policy was
established by the act of 1877, and subse-
quent enactments have added to the ben
efits,
1.-The most important act. after that Of
1871, was that of 1862, granting land for
the endowment of colleges for teaching
agricultural and the mechanical arts 1t
is to be noted that by this act the respon-
sibility was thrown entirely upon the
states. and that, 50 far as the administra-
ton of the fund was concerned, it was
state, not national, education.
THE total grants of lands aggregate
about 13,OO0,OO acres, or 10000 square
miles. OF this 2,5O0.OOO acres, or 1000
square miles were for the establishment
of higher institutions Of learning. This
land divided among thirty states and ter
ritories, gives an average Of a little more
than $1,000 acres. or about $50 square miles,
For technical schools, called Colleges for
the benefit of agriculture and the mechan-
ical arts" Congress has granted to forty
five states 10, 100000 acres or about 16 900
square miles. This Is an average of 100000
acres, or about 800 square miles. Congress
now grants annually to each of these for
ty-five colleges $50, 900. this appropriation
aggregating more than 81 600 600 all Of
which is expended under the direction of
state boards.
The policy OF the government, as gath
cred from it's acts. has been and Is to rele-
gate lhe direct control Of education to the
states, aiding them In this work by grants
of land, and In the case Of technical educa-
ton by grants Of money also.