Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-10
An Argument for Early Action.

AS far as il is disclosure OF iie pi es
ent financial condition of George WASH
ington University the preliminary report
of the Attorney General to the House OF
Representatives under the terms OF the
Wiley resolution Is substantlai arSu-
ment for the carly enactment of the Bou-
tell bill extending to the District or Co
lumbia the benefit of the Morrill, acts
and naming George Washington as the
instrumentaity of their application rms
report shows clearly two facts, first, that
George Washington University is in pos
session of a complete educational equip
ment such as should he had by an IN
stitution chosen for public instruction I'M
der the Morrill, acts; second, that owing
to the lack of a sufficient endowment this
institution is now and has for some years
been in financial straits in consequence
of conditions which in no wise reflect
upon its capacity satisfactorily to serve
as the medium of the proposed local ed
ucational work.
1t is not denied by any critic of George
Washington University that il is per-
forming all important function in the
educational life of the District of Column
bia, that its influence and benefits are even
more extensive than the boundaries of
and effectiveness. It's students represent
all the states of the Union. Its grad
yates in the professions go from it's halls
to all sections to enter practice. AS
factor in the life of Washington it is of
traditional value. 1t has every year
from the infancy of the city added
richly to the intellectual develop
ment OF the capital. The surest proof of
the apprehension with which various pro-
posals of retrenchment and contraction
have been met. For an example, it has
been suggested as a measure of economy,
to meet the pressing situation, that the
teachers college or school of peda gogy
should be abandoned. The announcement
of this possibility has evoked a strenuous
protest from hundreds of public school
teachers. who have found in the George
Washington Teachers College an inval-
Va BILE aid in their work and consequently
a factor of the utmost usefulness in the
education of the youth of Washington.
The amount which the university would
receive from the government if named
as the instrumentality for the local appli-
cation of the Morrill, acts would approxi-
mately meet its deficit of revenues for
while primarily long delayed act of JUS
tice to the District and not a measure of
private relief, should be expedited rather
than retarded by the fact that il may have
the incidental effect of preventing the seri-
Gus Gripping OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT of this
old and useful institution. The Attorney
Generals report contains nothing sugges-
tive Of educational weakness beyond the
weakness of poverty. While more de-
tailed audit is yet to come obviously MOTH
ing remains to be disclosed which can in
any way indicate the least improperly in
the provisional designation of George
Washington as a means through which
the national government extends aid to
the cause of public education in the Dis
trict of Columbia. The pending bill safe
guards the federal interests thoroughly.
Direct representatives of the United
States are to be added TO the board of
trustees of the institution. The designa-
ton of the university is revOcabe at the
pleasure of Congress. If action is not
had promptly upon this measure Congress
may find itself in the embarrassing
position later of extending the Morrill,
acts TO the District ard finding no local
Institution which is equipped to meet the
fundamental requirements of the law as
an instrumentality for their administra
tion.