, 1905-01-30
Of PRESIDENT VAN H|SE
ON BEHALF Of OTHER UNIVERSITIES

are to be devoted to higher education. The economies in ed
ucation by concentration are as great, indeed if they are not
greater, than they are by concentration of capital in large
industrial enterprises. Such concentration of capital has
been the striking economic lesson OF the last half of the
Nineteenth Century. The application of this great principle
to education has unfortunately been neglected by many Of
the newer states of the West. The desires for recognition
on the part of various local interests, combined with an
unfortunate lack Of appreciation by the states of the great
problem of higher education, have sacrificed for many years,
if not permanently, the educational interests of many Of
the states. Thus far Wyoming has avoided this fatal mis-
take. And at the present time the argument in favor Of
massing the higher education of a state is SO overwhelming
that it is hardly possible to believe that any state, once hav-
ing begun this wise policy, can sacrifice the interests of the
entire state to those Of some community.
In the state universities mentioned, where concentration
of all the university efforts of their respective states is
found, the advantages of the plan are SO obvious that no
one connected with such institutions thinks of division. In
the Colleges of Liberal Arts is carried all of the funda-
mental work for the Colleges OF Applied Science, Thus
the work in mathematics, language, and literature, necessary
for all students of engineering, agriculture, medicine, and
law, is done in this college. Also the work in the pure
sciences of chemistry, physics, and other subjects, basal to
the study of agriculture, engineering, and medicine, is pro-
vidcd Cor in this same college.
This may be more fully illustrated by the Colleges of
Agriculture which are associated with universities For
instance, at the University of Wisconsin the students of
the College of Agriculture, including those in both the long
and short courses, obtain all of their training in language,
literature, history, political economy, mathematics, physics,
chemistry, and botany, basal to their technical agricultural
work, i'll the College of Letters and Science. In the build
ings of the College of Engineering they take their shop and
forge work and other general engineering studies. The
consequence is that the College of Agriculture is able to
concentrate its entire funds upon the subjects strictly apper-
tanning to horticulture, dairying, the physics of the soil, ami
NAL husbandry, etc, etc. The inestimable advantages in
economy to the agricultural department is manifest. If the
college were by itself, it would necessarily support, in addi-
ton to the special technical courses in agriculture, all Of
those subjects which are fundamental to this applied science.
In a similar way the College of Engineering gains by
being a part of the general university. This college is able
to devote its funds to engineering subjects with no heavy
draft upon the funds for the work in language, mathematics,
and the pure sciences. The students in the College Of Let
tiers and Science also gain by the association with the
technical college. They may broaden their education by
taking advantage of the studies i'll the Colleges of Agrl-
culture and Engineering. Thus the advantages of the as
ISOLATION of the three colleges are mutual. Each is stronger
with the other two than if it were alone.
In marked contrast with this situation is that i'll those
Colleges of Agriculture and Engineering which are sep
arated from the university. Such colleges are obliged to
spend a large portion of their funds for teaching mathe-
mates, language, and the pure sciences. Recently, when
| visited a Western university in a state which has adopted
the plan of division of its funds, the professor i'll charge
of the physical laboratory, a former student at Wisconsin,
said to me: "Our laboratory in its character and equipment
does not much resemble the physical laboratory of the Uni
versity of Wisconsin, My reply was: "In your state you
maintain three physical departments of collegiate grade,