Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-08-02
miscellaneous Reaaias.
THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION.
Previously Gift for the Advancement
of Teaching.

Of Teaching.
When Andrew Carnegie decided to
establish a great fund for the pension
ing Of teachers engaged in the higher
educational institutions of the United
States, Canada and Newfoundland, his
motives were less those Of charity
than Of bettering the educational
standards Of America. He sought to
make the profession or teaching more
attractive by giving it rewards more
commensurate with it's Importance
and thus attracting to it more capable
men; and in return for this he planned
to have the foundation measuring UP
to the standard the foundation would
set.
1t was in this way that he expected
to see 1t converted from a mere fund
for helping men in their old age into
one that would stand for the advance
ment of teaching the while affording
this help as we'll. That the trustees
of the foundation are succeeding In
making the fund stand for all that
the name implies is clearly shown by
| the work that has been accomplished.
The most notable result has been the
Punishment from the realm of respect
ability in the educational world OF
those seudo-educational institutions
whose diplomas and degrees are
awarded for money and not for merit.
Illuminative of this result Is the work
done in the investigation Of the medi-
cal schools Of the country. Primarily
this work Of investigation was con-
Quoted to ascertain just what schools
are worthy to be placed in the list OF
institutions whose teachers ought to
be entitled to the benefits of the pen
sion system Of the foundation. But
while it was being done there was re-
vealed long list Of so-called medical
colleges which had neither the facili-
ties or the ability to fit men for the
practice Of medicine. Where, in 1905
there were 100 medical colleges in the
United States, with total enrolment
of 26,147, and with 5000 graduates
for the year; in 1910 there were only
120 such schools. with a total enroll
ment Of 1876, and 4,273 graduates
twenty-five ill-fitted schools passed
out Of existence in single year.
At the time the Carnegie foundation
brought out it's report upon medical
education in the United States, the city
Of Chicago had more proprietary medi-
cal schools than any other city in the
world. The report pointed out that nc
effort had been made to compel these
schools to live up to the requirements
of the law with regard to entrance ex-
aminations, and although the report
was severely criticised it resulted in
the going out Of business of five Of the
fourteen medical colleges Of the west
ern metropolis.
What has been done toward purging
the country of those medical colleges
which were unworthy of the name is
also being done toward advancing the
standing Of legal education. The in
vestigations Of the foundation lead to
the conclusion that the legal profess
sion is badly overcrowded, and that
this Is made possible largely through
the existence of inferior jaw schools.
When the investigation into the an
nual supply of physicians was made by
the foundation, it was shown that an
annual graduating class Of 1000 would
furnish an abundant supply Of new
physicians to fill the places left vacant
by death and otherwise, and also to
keep pace with the growing demands.
Assuming, and the foundation declares
this an obviously extravagant assump-
ton, that the proportion Of lawyers to
the total population ought to be as
great as the proportion of physicians.
it would require only LOO new lawyers
annually to maintain even the present
crowded state of the legal profession.
Yet the foundation finds an annual out
put Of more than four thousand new
lawyers from the law schools of the
country. 1t finds $4,000 practicing law
yers in New York city alone. The
foundation is laboring for higher
standard for law schools and for ad-
mission to the bar. AS it recently in
vestigated the medical schools of Eu-
rope in order to get a comparison with
our own, it now is undertaking an in
vestigation of the law schools of Eu-
rope.
The foundation was established in
1905, with gift Of $1O,00O,0OO. Later
in 1908, Mr.. Carnegie, whose first gift
had excluded teachers in tax-support-
ed schools and state universities from
participation therein, decided that they
should be provided for as we'll as teach
ers in the other institutions; therefore,
he announced an extra gift Of $5,000,-
900. Since that time over $1,000,000
has been accumulated in unexpended
income, so that the total capital Of the
foundation is now over $16,00O,O0 Mr..
Carnegie has not turned over all Of the
latter gift as yet, but the income Of
the foundation from the total capital in
hand now amounts approximately to
$l60,000 year. OF this amount $341,-
600 goes to the pensioning of teachers
in institutions measuring up to the
foundation requirements and $46,0OO to
widows Of teachers Of these institu-
tions
The trustees Of the foundation recog-
nized that there were teachers in in
stitutions which do not meet with the
requirements of the foundation who
deserve the pension, so it gives s122,-
900 annually in retiring allowances and
pensions to them as individuals, and
100000 a year. OF this amount $341,-
connected with such institutions. The
expenses of administering the founda-
tion are a little more than $4,000 a
year.
The total number Of benefciaries of
the foundation on the rolls last Sep
tember was 373, and the general aver