The Cairo bulletin., 1904-11-22

! partmrntS ihls autumn, ana TO 1uugi
from present indications il win Ger
tainly not be many years before ii
attendance will reach five thousand.
The University OF Chicago, al
though not yet fifteen years old, ha.
won for itself. for the city, and FOL
the state of Illinois, deserved repu
tation for scholarship and training
! throughout the world, Certainly ev
cry citizen of the state should take
a personal pride in the achievements
of this institution in the field of high
er learning. and feel a keen gratifica
ton that such a center of scholarship
and culture could be built up within
so short time in our midst 1t testi
fees to a maturity of our society
which few Of even the most sanguine
students of our institutions and life
would have believed possible.
| Aside from these great institutions
well on their way to rank among the
leading universities of the world one
should. not forget the great technical
school. the Armour Institute. which
will ere long rival in equipment and
scholarship the foremost technical
schools Of the east and of Europe.
When TO these schools of universi-
ty grade We add such institutions as
the Lewis Institute of Chicago, the
Bradley Institute at Peoria, Decatur
college at Decatur-to mention sim
ply the later of these newer founda
tions--one may get some idea Of the
breadth and depth of our educational
system.
We ought to remember also with
gratitude in such summary the
work of more than a score Of denomi.
national colleges in beginning the
work of higher education in tnis
state, in developing the scholarly spir-
il. and pointing the way toward high
er things The oldest colleges in the
state, like Illinois at Jacksonville.
Shurtlcff at Alton, McKendree at Leb-
anon, and those founded later like
Knox college at Galesburg, the Wo.
mans college at Jacksonville. Illinois
Wesleyan at Bloomington. Eureka at
Eureka, st. Ignatius at Chicago, etc,
etc, have done and are doing a work
for Illinois of which we may well be
proud. and which we could i'll afford
to spare. Every thoughtful citizen
must wish for these institutions in
creased opportunities and increased
so as TO make and keep
their work of that high quality our
modern society demands.
Nor should we forget in such a list
the five great normal schools eslab-
lished and supported by the state,
the hundreds of high schools upol
which the whole system of higher cd
ucation of the state rests, the many
private academies and seminaries
which have played such an important
part in our educational history, like
the Grand Prairie seminary at Omar
ga. the academy at Elgin. the Month
cello seminary, the seminary at War
rem, etc. etc.
ADhltis thb 10 tiut iuGt
every citizen of Illinois should be in
in and proud of this group of
Our own educational history, as
well as that of the Mississippi valley
in general, proves that it is vital to
The success of this system that the
state shall do its full share in provid-
ing the most ample facilities for its
children. No success, however great. |
Of private institutions, whether
church or secular, can do away with |
he necessity of the states taking an
active and leading part in this devel |
1pment, and to this active part your
interest and support are necessary.
You may be personally interested |
N one or another of these private in
'titutions mentioned above If so, you |
ire doing the education of the state |
, service for which your fellow citi-
.ens should be grateful; for after all, |
Northwestern. and Chicago, and |
Knox, and st. Ignatius, are not mere
y Methodist, Baptist, Congregational,
,r Catholic institutions-they are H.
inois institutions as well. in whose
success and glorious record we all re-
dice. But you are also, by the fact
hat you are citizens of Illinois, CON
and you ought to be friends
md helpers of the University of Illi-
lois. which In a peculiar sense is the
of all its citizens-men
md women, old and young, native
md foreign.
The desire of the people of Illinois
IS we understand 1t, is a very simple
me. viz: that the University of Illi-
lois shall occupy among the univer-
titles of the country a position in
quipment and in scholarship similar
n rank to that which the state of IL
inois holds in wealth and population
mong her sister states in the union.
To do this it is necessary. of course,
o accept the same high standards of
as prevail in the great
Universities of this and other coun-
ries. We must develop here in our
midst at the state university one of
the great centers of scholarship to
which our youth win naturally resort