The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-04
|. D. S. SCHOOLS
TO CONSOLIDATE
Movement Looking to Mormon
University Takes
Form.
BOARD REACHES DECISION
LOCATION LIES BETWEEN LOGAN
AND PROVO.
BOARD REACHES DECISION

The movement TO consolidate the coli
legiate institutions Of the Latter-day
Saints, looking to the upbuilding of a
Mormon university, has taken definite
form.
The report that the Mormon church in
tends to concentrate the college work Of
it's schools in one place was confirmed
yesterday by Professor Horace Cum
mings. general superintendent of the
church school system. Professor Cum
mings said;
The church school board has formally
resolved that college work shall be done
in only one institution
Location Remains Open.
Asked as to which church school had
been selected for the college work, he
stated that no authoritative discussion
on that point had as yet taken place He
explained. however. that the Salt Lake
school was already out of the running,
since that school had attempted nothing
for a year beyond high school grade and
that therefore. the candidates for the
college work were the Brigham Young
university at Provo and the Brigham
Young college at Logan.
1.-THE selection between these two.
said Professor Cummings. will not he
made at once: for the coming school year
the present conditions will not be dis
turbed."
The question of the ACCESSIBILITY of con
centrating the college work in the church
schools is almost as old as the similar
question with respect to the two state
schools. Many of the church leaders
have long felt that if the church could
afford to do college work at all. II could
not afford to do it in two or three widely
separated institutions. This feeling mas
grown with the growth OF the ldea OF
what constitutes a modern university ana
with the growth of the local ambitions OF
the administrative officers of each OF the
rival schools.
Urqe Ultimate Retirement.
Some members of the general board are
convinced. il is said, that the chuTcn
should retire all its schools from the
field of college work, leaving tIat Iletd
to the state Institutions, which the mem
bers of the church by their taxes help
to support, and give its attention edu-
cationally TO establishing and fostering
church high schools. As to whether the
present discussion to concentrate the col
lege work might not eventually lead 70
this Professor Cummings was unwilling
TO venture an opinion
J far more elaborate system than most
persons suspect. There are, all told,
/ twenty-five Of these schools OF these,
two are in Canada. seven in Mexico, three
in Arizona and nine in Utah The work
done is mostly of high school grade.
Three of the smaller schools IN Mexico
give grammar grade work and the two
in Utah which are rivals for the chance
to grow into a great church university
are the only ones which attempt college
WOrl-
A characteristic of the system of which
Superintendent Cummings is very proud
is its power to interest eduCatiOnally
young men and women who are too old
or too large to study in classes with small
| boys and girls Professor Cummings cites
many cases of men who have been lifted
I by the schools from an existence In which
| they did nothing but pound ponies and
| cattle and chew tobacco. into one of self
respect and influence.
Courses Are Uniform.
! The courses and text books in the var
/ iOus schools are uniform. and parallel
closely those of the state high schools.
/ Theology is the CharacteriZlng church
/ school study: this work. in fact, is the
| chief reason for the maintenance Of the
! church schools. On industrial subjects
/ the church schools place much emphasis
/ Manual training, cooking. sewing bust
! ness law and methods, are taught gener-
ally and with the aid of excellent equip
/ ment. OF late much interest has been
aroused by work in elementary agricui-
1 turs.
ABOUT 5000 pupils are in attendance in
( the church schools. under the instruction
of nearly 800 teachers.
Claims of Two Schools.
The Provo school will probably base
its claim TO the college work on its size
and situation. 1t is considerably the
| largest of the church schools. bOasting
last year of a registration of 1.540. Unlike
the school in Logan, which is next door
to the State Agricultural college, the
| Provo school has no near rival. The sit
| uation in Utah valley, finally. gives the
school unsurpassed opportunities for de-
VelOpmenT in agricultural instruction
/ The Logan school, on the other hand.
will stress the fact that 1t has al
ways led the church schools in amount OF
work of collegiate grade and in num-
Der of college students
A comparison which may be made IS
that of assigning the college work 10 one
institution and the normal training work
to the other.