River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-07-25
A GREAT UNIVERSITY
It's Foundation Earnestly AdvOcat-
ed by George Washington.
Part Taken by the Late Senator Kyle
in Carrying Out the Disinter-
ested Wishes of the Father
OF His Country.
[speeIal washlngton Letter.I

THE late Senator James II. Kyle,
of South Dakota, was quietly
and uRostentatiously engaged
in seeking TO promote legislation for
a truly national university, such as
Washington contemplated. He formu-
lated and introduced bill six years
ago, providing for a national univer-
sity, with thousands of students, with
buildings that shall eclipse the new
library, set in the midst of a beauti-
full and spacious campus, with re-
sources practically unlimited, and
with all the treasures collected here at
the command of graduates of the
highest colleges.
The plan for a national university
originated in the patriotic mind of the
first great American general and
statesman who. Is honored with the
name Father of his Country. He OBJ
served that American youth of parts
and means were usually sent abroad
to the English universities, or to the
great schools of the continent, and he
feared the effect upon the country of
their coming to hold in contempt the
plain and hard life of pioneer days.
lie feared also the false political
teachings of foreign lands. For this
reason he strongly urged the estab-
iishment of the school, and remem-
bered it IN his win. The failure of the
nation to execute his wishes is partly
explained by two facts. The country
has never till now felt unanswerably
the demand for it, and there has been
a jealousy against it by existing col
leges; the higher the grade the more
vehement the opposition.
Senator Kyle's bill provides for a
university in which instruction shall
be given in the higher branches of
practical as well as literary and sci
-entific departments of knowledge, and
facilities furnished for research and
investigation.
The governing power is placed in a
board of regents, Is in number. Eight
are "a be appointed by the president
with the consent of the senate. No
two are to be from the same state.
The other seven are the president,
vice president, chief justice, speaker,
commissioner of education, secretary
of the Smithsonian, and the president
of the university. The scholastic work
of the institution is to be directed by
a council of faculties consisting of the
deans of faculties, presided over by
the president of the university. The
school will, of course, be wholly I'M
sectarian and non-partisan.
Endowed chairs are provided for,
and also fellowships. No chair is to be
endowed with less than $780, 900.
None but graduates of colleges with
the degree of bachelor of arts or the
equivalent are to be admitted. Free
scholarships are to be given to as
many from each state as there are in
its congressional delegation.
University square," where the ma
tional observatory was originally To-
Gated, is set apart for the site of the
school. This is the tract originally
selected for the purpose by President
Washington. 0ne-third of the net
proceeds Of the sales of public lands
for ten years is given for an endowz
ment. Half of the amount is to be
held by the treasurer of the United
States for the buildings and equip
ments and for current expenses.
The other half is to be allowed to
accumulate in the treasury as a per-