The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1909-06-17
The Worst of all Gratis.

other states have lately come revela-
tions of mismanagement of education
al institutions, which are a shock to
the country, though not a new one.
The last half dozen years have been
prolific of such revelations. Great ap-
propriations, made almost on demand
Of the managers of educational estab-
| lishments, are the undoubted source
of all such coruptions. It has been a
long time since public men grew afraid
to oppose any demand made by an
educational institution in the name OF
education. In one of the three states
named an honest member of the legis-
lature was asked by a citizen of the
state, who observing legislation at that
session, how he intended voting on a
pending bill He said he would have
to vote for it. You know it is a
steal;'' cried the other hotly. I
know it as well as you do" was the
answer, but I can't afford to be called
an enemy of education He named
great Christian communion and
added: They tell me if vote no I
will be charged with represeting them.
would follow me into my district, and
you know what that would mean there.
must be for it or dodge" He
lodged.
Such planting and watering is bring
ing forth its ripe, Or rotten, fruit. The
generous enthusiasm and patriotic pub
lie spirit of honest people have been
imposed upon as they always have been
and always will be, whenever and
wherever overconfdence in men grows
out of legitimate confidence in
measures. Our public intelligence
saw from the first that the one supreme
hope OF perpetuating the free institu-
tions we had here founded was II the
education of the mass. There Is 10
other hope Credulity. the child CT
ignorance, is ever the prey OF evil am
bition. But these revelations prove
that confidence, while not always the
child of ignorance, can be overedu-
Gated to the point Of growing credu-
lous as to the infallibility Of everything
proposed in the name Of education.
Educated confidence has been as weak
as ignorant credulitY could possible be,
or these most shameful Of all corrup-
tons could not have been made pos
sible.
How they have been made possible
and how they may even be continued
in spite OF these exposures, was shown
the other day in an editorial il local
contemporary under the startling title
of Starving the University" The
writer set out that the Missouri State
university could not continue to exist
on half million dollars year. Such
was the assertion; the proof was not
offered. The Legislative appropria-
ton is more than 100000 a year for
each of the next two years. The an
nual receipts by the university from
the distribution of the school tax the
state levies for the raising OF school
fund.- will swell this to approximately
half a million dollars. The State Uni
yersity has no debts. It has large
campus covered with good and COM
| modious buildings all in fine state
of preservation. It owns fine body
of land on the edge of Columbia as
the chief asset of its agricultural de-
partment. How it can starve on half
a million a year isn't easy to see
unless, as Col. Dave Ball maintained
during his campaign last year, there
must be a great appropriation de-
manded soon for enlarging the places
to make room for students IN addition
to the professors. Since We know
that that condition does not exist Al
| Columbia, we take it that half mil
lion year will pay a large corps o
competent instructors and keep ur
and increase all necessary apparatus
in the department. It is time to get
away from dreams in educational work,
since out of them we can see rising
the ugly figure Of graft. If popular
education ever is killed il will die at
the hands OF gTafters. It is the duty