Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-11
ITS NEW FEATURES
Plans 4 Gorge Washington
University Outlined.
Special ADVANTAGES
STUDY OF sAi1rAr1on, LIBRARY,
SCIENCE AND POLITICS.
Students Attracted to Washington
From Throughout the Country
Distinguished Faculties.
SPECIAL ADVANTAGES
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

I By WILLIAM CUhIIO
| Written for The Evening Star and the Chicago
| Record Herald.
George Washington University is new
| institution. 1t is to have a new location on
! the banks of the Potomac, south of the
| White House. at the foot of 18th street,
where the old Van Ness mansion and
| grounds have recently been purchased 1t
is to have a group of splendid buildings for
which half a dozen eminent architects are
| now engaged in preparing competitive de-
| signs. 1t is to have new endowments and
/, new alliances but at the same time is to
| enjoy all the prestige and advantages and
| inherit the wealth. traditions and reputation
of the ancient Columbian University, which
| has been one of the most honored and In
| fuential educational institutions in Amer
lea, with an llustrious alumni 5000 strong.
| George Washington University is to be
strictly non-sectarian, organized on what
may be called an American plan, and de-
! voted exclusively to postgraduate and pro-
fessional work. Affiliated with 1t, however.
| will be undergraduate colleges organized
| similar to those at Oxford Cambridge and
| other foreign universities, and composing
| the department of arts and sciences. The
other departments will be medicine, law
and jurisprudence politics and diplomacy,
public health and photography and literary
| science. The three first-named departments
are conventional and can be found In all
| other great universities. The last three are
! new features and promise to be of impor-
lance.
Public Health Department.
The department of public health is unique
and, understand, cannot be found in any
other institution. Its principal aim will be
to fit men for service sanitary officials
and upon boards of health. national state
and municipal, and to educate them in the
subjects of preventive medicines and meas
ures and constitutional and administrative
law Sanitary science is becoming more
and more prominent in civil administration;
the health of the people Is no longer a
matter of indifference to state or municipal
officials; our sewerage and water supply are
subjects of great concern, and the public
is beginning to realize that its protection
from disease cannot safely be left to poll
ticians.
At the same time 1t is equally apparent
| that there is a scarcity of men qualified to
assume the duties and responsibilities. This
department of the university has been or
ganiZed for the purpose of giving those
| who desire to enter that branch of the
service of the state an opportunity to quail
| ify themselves. sFhe city of Washington
| has many advantages for such a school,
and not only will the faculty be selected
| from the scientific men of the government.
| but the laboratories, the hospitals, the med
| ical museums, the libraries Of the medical
| corps of the army and the navy, the ma.
| the government devoted to the prevention
| and cure of disease will be open to its stu
| dents. The course of study will include
! the treatment. of epidemics and diseases
| among live stock as well as mankind and
| laws relating to personal and property
rights. BATEa ,1&a -s9H y
! This department will be distinct and sep
arate from the medical branch of the uni
versity. The latter will be conducted upon
| the approved conventional plan, to educate
| physicians for the diagnosis and treatment
| of all the physical ills that humanity has
| inherited. The new department is Intended
| to train men to prevent disease by the use
| Of methods which have been and are all
| the time being discovered for the preserva-
| ton and protection of the public health
| 1t is a most encouraging sign that the
| official bureaus in our cities that deal with
scientific problems are being more and
more taken out of the hands of politicians
| and placed in the hands of trained men,
| as they are in Germany, France and other
| Euro can countries, and a diploma from
| this department should be a sufficient rec
| ommendation to any candidate for such an
| Office.
photography and Library Science.
The department of photography and IL
brary science is not an entirely new idea,
| because several universities and colleges
| have library science schools. During the
| last few years it has been discovered that
| trained librarian is better than one
who has had no training, and schools
| have been provided for the training pro-
| cess This discovery is being made in
| other branches of human activity also.
| Educated clerks have been found better
| than ignorant ones, educated mechanics
| are found more competent than those
| who are not educated, and in all COM
| mercial and industrial enterprises the
value of learning and training is being
felt and recognized. While the majority
| of employers of labor may yet consider
that the cheapest is the best, their num-
| Der is growing smaller every year, and
by and by the man who has been trained
| to do things well will have the best po-
| sition and draw the biggest salary. We
are approaching that period in the United
States very rapidly. The Oldest library
schools are those at Albany, at Pratt In
| stitute Brooklyn, DreXel Institute Phil
| adelphia and they have recently been es-
tablished at the University of Illinois and
at Western Reserve University, Cleve-
land At Pittsburg there is a training.
| school intended especially for those who
handle childrens books, and at Lake
Chautauqua there is summer school for
librarians under the direction of Melvil
Dewey of Albany.
Mr. Carnegie is largely responsible for
the present active demand for trained
librarians, but it is not temporary. The
number of public Libraries in the United
States will continue to increase, and the
handling of books has become a recog-
nized profession. No place offers so many
advantages to students in photography
|
Politics and Diplomacy.
The school aof politics and diplomacy at
Columbian University has been a great sue
cess 1t is theaonly institution of the kind
in the country, and that Washington is the
best place for the study of politics and
diplomacy needsono demonstration. It is
here that history is made. and the Capitol,
the executive departments the Supreme
Court of the United States the embassies
and legations of foreign countries are all
classrooms and sources of information and
inspiration. =
George Washington had notion that the
federal capital was the best place to edu-
cate young men who are to share in the
responsibilities Of government and be USE
|, full citizens. In his last will and testa-
ment he expressed; his views on that SUBJ
ject and the hope that youths of fortune
; and talents from all parts (of the country
| thereof might be sent there for the COM
nIetion of their education in all of the
branches of polite literature. in the arts and
| sciences, and in acquiring knowledge of the
principles of politics and good government y
!. In a speech to Congress December z, 1896
;. he urged the establishment Of "a national
Institution for the education of our youths