New-York tribune., 1911-02-19
POLY NEEDS MONEY
AdeIphi College Also Seeks 10
Increase Endowment.

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Polytechnic Institute. Brooklyn, nee"o ,,a
endowment fund OF $4,000 to carry V"
work properly That Is the substa''.o
appeals that are being sent out TO II
OF the school In and out OF the alu''',i'
sociatlons. II Is the hope OF those III cum
10 have the whole fund raised by inc e"'
OF this year, and Indications appear ia.V'
able. The members Of the board OF trustees
have subscribed $4,000 toward the enuo"
ment. and sixty other persons have pr"
ised 100000 more The sums contribute
by the sixty ranged I'm size from SV ~
$4,000.
Poly has a competitor in the search io'
funds In Adelphi College. Adelphi needs "'
endowment Of 10000 In the last ""
months IL has collected $4,000 and so neeuS
about the same amount still TO meet 10
requirements az does its sister institution
President Levermore has Instituted cam
paign Of public education. He Is senoihs
out n series Of postcards, bearing statistics
which show the position Of Brooklyn III re-
spect to higher education. His first caro-
sent out week ago. indicates that Brooh-
lyn Is paying less attention 10 college edu-
cation than any OF the cities in her class
treating the borough as a clty-and that
the ratio Of her college students to the
whole population Is far below the average
for the nation at large.
Three committees are at work for Poly
These are citizens committee headed by
Colonel Willis l.. Ogden a committee OF
the Polytechnic Preparatory School Alumni
Association and committee of the Poly
1l., ion "a
first alumni committee is headed By James
II. Calender and the second by Joseph j.
Carlln
"Poly'-as all Brooklynites have called
the school for years-occupies large build
Ing which stands I'm Livingston street, be-
tween Boerum Place and Court street. The
structure occupies the only piece of ground
on the block which is not Owned by the
city. At its rear are the Municipal Build
ing and Murphy Park-some time to be the
site OF tho proposed new Municipal Build
ing. A few years ago there was set on
foot a plan for turning the school and its
site over TO the city-iu fact. the plan Is
still spoken OF from time 10 time, but
Brooklyn has not succeeded well with her
municipal plans. SO, from the indications,
Poly" will keep Ler old place for while
longer. But whether the school is situated
downtown or elsewhere in the borough her
educational needs would probably be the
same.
Another scheme which might have made
much difference also cropped up couple
OF years ago. This was a plan TO unite
Poly" and Adelphi in a new educational
institution to be established and maintained
by the city as The Brooklyn College" The
bill for the institution was even brought
before the Legislature. but nothing came
of the movement After the scheme had
come to be looked upon as impossible Of
realizati ton the colleges determined upon
the collection Of the endowment funds.
Existence a Struggle.
Both institutions are compelled 10 strug-
gle against untoward conditions. on the
one hand, their preparatory departments
must vie with the public high schools,
which are equipped and maintained on an
elaborate scale. on the other hand. the
collegiate and technical departments have
found strong competitors in Columbia. New
York University and other institutions
across the river, TO say nothing OF Yale,
Harvard. etc.
But the leading men OF tne DoTouSn sun
are determined upon keeping up the fight
for Brooklyn institutions. Many OF these
are graduates OF Poly and Adelph, and
many others-such as Colonel Ogden. Abra-
ham Abraham. Henry Batierman. William
y. Dykman, Neils Poulsen and Charles a.
Schieren-are not. The latter feel that the
credit Of Brooklyn requires the mainten-
ance Of the schools.
Polytechnic institute has now Loss pupils
less than any Of the high schoolS-in all
departments. 1t seems TO puzzle the men
interested in the institution TO account for
this because the school has excellent stand
ing especially in its chosen field Of tech
nical education. There are two good rea-
sons for the small enrolment. one Is that
Brooklyn has n comparatively small popu
lation Of families of large wealth. AS
Brooklynites get rich, in the modern sense,
they usually move TO Manhattan. All but
a handful Of the rich persons who remain
in the borough arc satisfied to send their
children to the public schools.
When ready for college the sons Of we'll
to-do families prefer to go to higher insti-
tutions. where they will get a taste OF col
lege life. The college life in Poly" and