The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-01-07
BY Martha c. Wells.


a IA states and territories Of the
land. Having successfully passed the
required conditions for the Rhodes
scholarships, they were entitled to three
years residence. Among the number
were some dozen of the most promising
men from the northwestern states. The
pride which the people take In these
students and the confidence in their
ability to reap from this opportunity
the greatest benefits, make their surs
rounding conditions and progress mat
ter of profound interest. .t ~
During intervals of several years,
having had the pleasure Of visiting
Oxford number Of times, and examin-
ing the places of permanent interest,
my recent trip took on greatly in
creased value, as the inspection Of the
different colleges, rooms, quadrangles
or gardens had a distinct personality,
as intimately associated with our own
citizenship or neighbors. Interviews
with Oxford residents, students and
professors, letters from those officially
connected with the Rhodes trust, and
others, have developed many interesting
facts concerning the American students
at Oxford-and especially from the
northwestern states.
The Rhodes Trust-Its Aims.
- With such dramatic suddenness did
Cecil J. Rhodes rise from obscurity to
worldwide. distinction, that when, in
1908, by his recent death, his will an
nounced the endowment to Oxford uni
versity,. England, Of $5O,00O,000, men
inquired sfwho was he9' Few indeed
achieved power to transform the map
of continents or permanently influence
men s minds; this was rarer because the
accomplished it, unaided from the first
by birth, position or fortune. Aided
only by his own effort, and endowed
only by good lineage, he was a mil
honaire at 81; an empire builder, mas
tering half a continent, and, dying al
40, the worlds benefactor in educa
tional endowment. While he achieved
his power and wealth in fertile
Rhodesia, his desire was not merely tt
add 100000 square miles to Greater
Britain, his imagination sought not 81
much imperial expansion as the welding
of the empire into a federated whole
and the ultimate attainment of perfec
union of the great Anglo-saxon race.
+ The Conditions of the Will.
:: The world thought it knew this ma,
of action during his lifetime; his will
/. revealed the incompleteness of the est
I. mate.
He would have race to follow him
+ His desire was that those future men
destined for the strenuous life Of natio
H,,51l I~h3 10 m
other in that ancient university, wher
S"Oxford whispers from her towers tn
! last enchantment Of the Middle Ages.
His millions were dedicated to this en-
dowment, as the most enduring metho
of carrying on the work he had s
= nobly begun. The conditions Of tn
trust were practical, careful, wise. N
endowment to waste on the idle c
weak. Trustees were, instructed t
search vast empires for those who coul
fulfil the preliminary conditions of tn
will which endowed Oxford universit
with scholarships in perpetuity. TIL
brightest intellectually, soundest phys
cally and strongest morally, he woul
have enjoy the advancement of mea
.'ures by which freedom and justit
should be enlarged in the world. H
provided sixty scholarships for tt
British empire, this to include Englar
and its colonies, sixty for the Unite
States which by the trustees was a
ranged to cover two for each state ar
territory, and fifteen for the Germs
empire.
The Motive.
Mr.. Rhoades said he desired "th
all young men that are English-spea
ii ing should acquire breadth of view al
{ instruction in life and manners, 81
also that they should have faith in II
unity of empire and union Of the En-
ish-speaking people thruout tt
i world" In choosing representati'
Anglo-Saxons and in placing the
young men gathered from remote par
of the world in intimate comradesh
with each other, in. study and anus
ment, in talking, competing, in dai
association during the years of viv
impression and formative influence
: saw that in the future there won
! exist bond Of interest, brotherho
& of men in affairs, from Canada to NJ
i Zealand, Rhodesia and Natal, Englal
d and the United States, who from CO..
mon friendship and underestimate
would strengthen the world g union a.
peace.
g The first examination selected fort