New-York tribune., 1907-11-20
HtRrARD'S ANNITERSARY

The celebration yesterday of the 300th ami
versary OF the birth Of John Harvard awakenS
interest outside the city of Cambridge and the
graduate body of the famous university which
Harvard founded. AS in time the first and in
prestige and influence perhaps the foremost
of American institutions OF learning. Harvard
University summarizes in its history the strug-
gle for enlightenment which every American
community has conducted and to which every
such community has made willing and gen
erOuS sacrifices The story of all our Colonial
college foundations is very similar. EStab-
lished by Jealous churchmen of one sect or
another maintained in the face of poverty and
priyation. they planted here in the Western
wilderness the seeds Of learning. piety and hui
mantarianism and spread intelligence and re
tinement among a people necessarily absorbed
in the eXactng task OF subduing a new con
tinent. Those Institutions were the nurseries
in which the leaders of the thought of their
time were reared, and they thus became enor-
mously potential in shaping the destinies of
the New World. while themselves taking more
and more native quality from their environ
ment This adaptability has enabled thcm-or
al least the hardest of them-to keep abreast
of national growth and democratic develop
ment and TO survive with unmpared credit and
influence in Il period in which conceptions of
education have radically changed and the bur
den of instruction is being more and more
shifted from the shoulders of the Church and of
private associations ana corporations to those
of the State acting rs agent for the general
public
1t is hard to overestimate the value of the
work done for learning. progress and citizen
ship by institution like Harvard, operating
steadily for nearly two centuries and three
quarters. The influences of the culture fOstered
at such centre too manifold to be traced.
nd no pf Ia rI * nfn a
eninE usefulness and activity. In the intellect
ual development of the nation it has played
role second To that of no other educational
agency. and its leadership in the academic
world, historical and actual, may be conceded
without in the least impairing the credit due
to worthy associates or undertaking the re-
Gently developed influence of the newer State
directed and supported system of higher edu-
cation Efficiency. not age is the true test of
merit and Harvard does not ashland need
not ask-tO be judged by any other standard
than educational efficiency.
SO little Is known Of the young clergyman
who gave half his patrimOny to establish col
lege in Cambridge, then New Town THAI It
seems eXtravagant to impute to him any def
mite plans for the future of the institution for
which ne provided 1t is Harvards chief claim
to distinction, however, that it has not allowed
itself to be hampered by its original aims in
its free and natural development Situated .in
a colony perhaps the most sectarian and intol-
Grant of all the thirteen, it somehow outgrew
the narrowneSs of the New England provincial
/ spirit and became the bOldest champion of in
tellectual independence and scholastic freedom
It was the first college to fight the battle of
academic self-responsibility and to encourage
students and teachers 10 sacrifice tradition
whenever necessary, i'll the pursuit Of truth.
Not so much what it has taught as the spirit i'm
which it has taught has for it the devotion
of its sons and the respect of the world, which
values courage, liberalty and the free clash of
ideas Thoroughly democratic in its ideals of
/ individual responsibility and freedom of judg-
ment, ii has served the nation and the cause
of democratic progress as distinctly as it has
contributed TO the spread of culture and the
industrious pursuit of the liberal arts and
sciences