Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-05

the design of the buildings as a whole 10
unusually harmonious and pleasing They
are much more ornamental than the build.
ings of Columbia University. about a mile
TO the south. extending along Broadway
from 117th to 122d street and, possibly,
less solid in appearance. feature of tho
decorations on the City College buildings
IS the grotesque carvings, gargoyles. etc,
which partake somewhat of the nature OF
the grotesque carvings of the middle ages
but are so designed to fit peculiarly the
buildings which they adorn.
The main building will contain another
OF the City Colleges most distinctive fea.
lures, great hall to be used not only for
the assembling of the students, but also
for the holding of citizens meetings to
consider municipal and other questions,
This hall viii contain a great organ, cost.
ing 81. coo and will be decorated by an
immense mural painting 4ox22 feet in
size to be done by Blashfield. The bell
tower. structure TO stand by itself In the
college grounds. Is to support the largest
college bell In the world. When the build
ings are all completed and occupied there
will be accommodations fer 5000 students.
Including the land the cost of the buildings
will not be far from 100000. The annual
cost of the college to the taxpayers 10
about $4,000.
Naturally there are some In New York
who do not think the city should afford
any higher grade of education than that
which may be obtained in the ward schoois.
But those who believe in the City College
haps. the most potent safeguard of existing
institutions and of a republican form OF
government that could well be devised
New York is a city OF extremes. The
enormously rich and the bitterly poor, the
cultivated and the grossly ignorant. those
who have the best and those who have
the worst IN life to put up with. dwell
together within It's boundaries in greater
numbers than are to be found IN any other
American city. There is one road ANA one
road only for him to travel who would
rise from ignorance to enlightenment, from
poverty to wealth. from the worst TO the
best.
Doors Open to All.
This road is education. and in establish
ing and maintaining this college the city
of New York has made the road a possible
one to travel over; not that the require"
ments are lighter than those of other col.
leges. for in some respects they are mora
severe; but II may be Travelled Wlthout
money and without price, and is as open 70
the poor boy as to the rich. Closing thiS
road over which thousands of New Yorks
Young men have Travelled from the WORST
to the best would be to invite greater dis
satisfaction with existing conditions than
has ever been known, and 1t Is something
for congratulation that the metropolis ID
now spending millions in making it moro
attractive than ever.
DR. John H. Finley, president OF the COY
lege of the City of New York, Is man OF
Galesburg ILL., and Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity He has lived life of unusual breadth
since his own college days. In 1893, when
only thirty he president OF Knox ana
the youngest man holding such a position
in the United tates. Before then he HAD
been secretary of the New York State
Charities Aid Association: after leaving
Knox, and before taking his present place,
he was first an editor and writer and then
professor Of politics at Princeton, the first
to fill such chair in this country.
If he has hobby 1t is long distance walk
ing. Last summer, in vacation time, he
tramped entirely around the Yellowstone
Park. He tramped all over Porto Rico. In
vacation time. the year that the island
came under American rule and he walks
as much as he every day In the busy
season. His record day was sixty-m1ke
walk. some years ago, in the White moun-
tafns.
DR. Finley was farmer boy In Illinois,
where he learned to walk and to work On
the day that he had to take certain
spring examination In solid geometry ne
worked all the morning plowing corn,
then walked eight miles to Ottawa Nllinois).
took the examination and then walked
home again. When he got his rating on
that examination he found his standing 70
be SO