The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1901-07-18
EDUCATION FOR ALL.
National Capital a City of Colleges
and Universities.
sHitans of Every Age Were Men of
Humble Parentage Who Secured
Their Education by AppIi-
cation and SeIf-DeniaI.
Especial Washington letter.

NlOSS VI tAlC y car 10
called commencement" be-
cause the young people who
are given degrees are supposed to
haso completed educations, and be
ready in every sense for the com
mencement" of their careers in con-
tact with the world,
The national capital is becoming
ter. Colleges have been here from
the early days of the past century,
and now we have prosperous univer-
sites. There are many busy people
who do not understand the differ
.ence between a college and univer-
ssity, but well-informed people know
that each university is composed of a
number of colleges. The college
bears the same relation to a univer-
asity that a king bears to an emperor.
An empire comprises kingdoms, and
a university comprises colleges.
1t is well known that George Wash
ington advocated the establishment
of national university in the ma
tional capital; and his desire is grad
uai1y being developed. But the ma
tional university is yet only in en-
bryo. 1t will not be perfected until
the congress definitely acts upon the
proposition which a number of good
men have been projecting for more
than quarter of a century, out of
their own individual means.
The secretary of agriculture says
that fba i1aal notiOnol
would be a term of service in the
executive departments for young
men who have been graduated from
secular or religious colleges and uni
versities; term of service in which
they would learn all about the fed
eral government, as government
clerks, with opportunities for attend
ing the congressional debates, the
use of the congressional library and
contact with the statesmen from all
of the states.
The idea of the secretary, as
CLEANED from many conversations, is
that poor young men may thus have
opportunity to earn their bread and
butter by working in the government
departments, while they also earn
their Quotations by devoting their
extra time in taking advantage of
their environments. To the writer
this seems impracticable, because a
national university of that character
could furnish no diploma, no insignia
to demonstrate the course of study
1t would be a good thing for the
. Moor who ha
majority of students, and would
greatly enhance their worth to them
selves, to the republic and to the
world but it would be difficult to
systematic such a comprehensive
course of studies.
In this city, as in all educational
~centers, it is safe to say that the
number Of students who support
themselves in part, or in fact wholly,
lis constantly increasing. Although
not possessed of exact statistics as
to the number of men who support
themselves wholly or in part when
going through college, it is known to
be much larger than the outsider
who gets only a superficial view of
matters would believe.
Not only this, but the percentage
sof poor young men increases as well
as does the number. Perhaps our
colleges have certain extent more
of the poor young men than other
colleges. Of course, there is a large
number of very wealthy ones, more
of them in every entering class, but
that is accounted for merely by the