The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-09-10
THE EDUCATIONAL YEAR.

.
to begin. II win be begun everywhere
under favorable auspices, with the peo-
pie prosperous md happy, and with the
united sentiment Of tho communities
throughout this State brought up TO
higher standard than ever, into keener
appreciation OF the value of education,
and in the support of the higher stand
ards for teachers that are now being
required. The educational outlook for
Utah the coming year shows brighter
| than ever before In its history.
The University will begin the year
strengthened throughout so that it is a
real rival of tho best cduca tioual iusti.
| tutions in The country so far as It's
courses of study extend. II offers
courses in all OF the classical depart
ments and has besides an engineering
school and electrical instruction equal
to the best. The School of Mines in
connection with the university is taking
rank above those mining schools which
are chiefly theoretical, and surpasses
them in practical instruction. No mi.
ming school in the United States has as
good facilities for tho training Of its
students along practical lines as has the
University OF Utah. Tho smelling oper-
ations Of this valley are on the most
extensive scale, and they treat the
widest varieties of ores. The mines in
the immediate neighborhood are not ex.
celled elsewhere in the depth and ex-
tent of active workings and in tho in.
genious appliances for ore extraction
and for outstanding the resources of the
mines as well as for the practical study
OF economic methods Of mining. In all
this matter the students of the School
of Mines at the University have dis
tinct advantages over the students Of
like schools elsewhere.
The Agricultural College also begins
the year under most favorable auspices.
The Agricultural College of Utah has
unique field. and faces many practical
problems. The question of irrigation ia
the paramount one in all agricultural
operations here, The duty Of water is
subject that needs much study and
practical instruction upon. 1t is now
generally conceded that the waste Of
water nnder the old style and fashions
Of irrigation would be enough to plenti-
fully water as much Of an area as is
now under cultivation. An occasional
season like the present one affords
splendid opportunity for the study and
development of arid land farming. The
bench farms the present year are yield
ing enormous crops Of grain. The col
lego can stimulate this farming by
aiding the United States Department of
seeds adapted for that kind Of culture
in Utah and for use in the arid farms
which that State has established for
experimental dry farming. All these
matters are properly under the control
and leadership Of the Agricultural Col
lege; and besides that, there is a wide
field for original investigation and the
bringing about of economic results.
There is said to be a rubber plant grow
ing on the side hills in many portions
of the State in quantities sufficient to
be important commercially. 1t is stated
that the product of this native rubber
plant would be a substitute for rubber
in many of its cruder forms. There is,
besides, an immense opportunity in the
development cf an edible cactus that
can be grown in the arid plains of this
State, the beginnings of which have
been pointed out and established by
Mr.. Luther Burbank in his phenomenal
investigations in southern California.
The Agricultural College should be an
institution made the pet Of the State,
be Of more immediate economic and
practical value to the people than any
other establishment or institution we
have. A limitless field of practical
utility opens out before this College,
and so far from being in any danger Of
destruction. it will be the favorite
school of all, once its scope is fully de-
veloped and its utilities brought into
immediate effect.
The high schools in the State are
being established on n frmer basis than
ever and moro of them are being or
ganized. The high schools as feeders of
the University and of the College oc-
cupy n most important function in our
educational system. With enough of
them established, the preparatory de-
partments in both the University and
the College can be done away with, as
they should be, and the students which
attend these higher institutions should
90 for the advanced studies and special
training alone, fully prepared, from the
local hioh schools,
The Normal school OF the State is do
ing excellent work in preparing teachers,
practically, and with increasing thor
oughness, for their labors. Both in the
parent institution in this city and in
the branch Normal at Cedar City, first
class work is being done. The real lack
of Normal school instruction in this