El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-07-20
COLUMBIA IS
RICHEST Of
SCHOOLS
Has Endowment Of SGT, 0OO,-
600 in Own Right and
Other Funds Available.
HARVARD ENDOWED
WITH $25, 900, 600
CBy Frederic J. Haskin.)

(By Frederic J. Haskin.)
New York, n. Y, July 2O.-Eew peo-
Ole realize what splendid liberaIity
has characterized the American peo-
pie in their gifts TO higher education
IN this country When it is stated
that there are five universities in the
United States with endowment funds
OF more than ten million dollars each,
ana As others with endOwmentS Of
more than million dollars each, one
may begin to appreciate how the
spirit Of giving to higher education
has affected the land. Last year ad-
dltlons to the endowment funds of
universities amounted to upward Of
million dollars in a number of in
dividual instances and to nearly two
million in several cases.
But it is when one states that the
aggregate endowments of the institu-
tons of higher education in the Unit
ed states are considerably in excess
of three hundred million dollars that
the fulI truth Of the liberality Of men
and women of wealth to these institu-
ions appears In addition to this,
these institutions own property
amounting in all to about $500, O00, 600
in value and the bulk of that repre-
sents money given by public spirited
men and women to the cause of high
er education
Columbia Most Richly Endowed.
The most richly endowed education
al institution in the new world is Co
lumb1a university of New York Il
has an endowment fund of twenty
seven million dollars in its own right,
and the funds Of Barnard. Teachers
college, and the New York College
OF Pharmacy-aQ integral parts of CO.
Iumbla uniYersity-bring the total up
10 more than thirty one million dol
lars- Last year the gifts to Columbia
amounted to more than $4,000 600.
whlle IN the last ten years they have
amounted TO more than 5000, 0O0
mere Is q wide difference of opin-
ION among educators as to whether
universities or separate institutions
ought TO be made the vehicles OF sci
entlflc research. Dr. Nicholas Murray
Butler, president of Columbia. thinks
Jhat the best results would spring
from having the big research funds
q the country placed under university
supervision He says that in this way
there would be combined an enthusi-
asm and an intelligence in seeking
out the hidden truths of science that
would yield greater results than can
be obtained by other methods He
thlnks that teaching and research go
mana IN hand, and that each is an
aid to the other
On the other hand. president Prit-
chett OF the Carnegie Foundation for
the advancement of teaching, con-
tends that research ought mainly 10
be left TO big institutions of research
where the undivided attention of men
OF science can be devoted to it Yet
IN spite of these diverging opinions
there are many teaching institutions
which maintain splendidly equipped
laboratories where research work is
carried forward, and many of the i'm
portant bits of applied science used
IN the commercial world today trace
back to the university laboratories.
Columbia Leads.
Columbia university may be said TO
be the head of the profession of
teaching in the United States. Through
It's Teachers college it has been turn
ing out the leaders Of the new educa-
tional thought of the country and
equipping them for the work of lead
Ing the people to accept the gospel
OF industrial and social progress. One
needs but TO look around him to be
convinced that the greatest work that
humanity IS that Of getting the
masses of the people to accept the
lessons that science already has
learned. 1t is plain even to the OBJ
server that the masses of the people
march forward at least a score of
years behind the van of scientific
progress. For instance. the telephone
was practical thing 20 years before
Its general use followed. If the aver
age farmer today applied the farm
agriculture has had for 20 years, his
yield Of corn and cotton of wheat and
meat, might be doubled, and the era
of the high cost of living ended If
the average householder were to &C.
cept and act upon the lessons of medi-
cal science already proved, tubercu-
losis might be wiped out, typhoid fever
and dlptheria banished, the hookworm
disease converted from a crying evil
into a medical curiosity, and millions
of lives saved and untold suffering
averted- The real work of the imme-
date future is more that of the pro-
pagand1st than of the discOverer be-
cause the chief value of scientific dis
covery lies in its being made to bene-
fit the masses OF humanity. Many
of the universities of the country are
beginning to realize this, and are turn
ing out teachers who can show their
pupils how to farm, how to keep house,
now to combat ntagious and infec-
tious diseases-in short, how to receive
into their own live and the lives
around them the fruits Of scientific
discovery.
Harvard Next In Wealth.
The second most richly endowed
university in the Americas is Harvard.
Its productive endowment funds
amount to nearly 25 million dollars,
and yet it finds need of much more
For instance its library, one of the
most valuable collections of books in
America, is poorly housed, and presi-
dent Lowell declares that unless bet
ter arrangements for its care are pro-
Ilueu mucn OF It's value VIII be lost.
He calculates that it will take an en-
dowment of million dollars properly
to care for it, and as much more in
ready funds to build new building
to house it. Harvard always has been
one of the leading universities in the
field of scientific research. and its
are among the best
equipped in the country. Harvard's en-
dowment has come from innumerable
sources. There is probably no insti-
tuition in the country that has at
tracted the munificence of d larger
body Of men than Harvard The funds
given have provided for all kinds of
fellowships, and research
activities
Leland Stanford Richly Endowed.
The third most richly endowed edu-
2ational institution in the United
States is Leland Stanford Junior uni
versity. California 1t has an endow-
nent fund of "A million dollars, to
say nothing Of its seven million dol
ar plant It has library of nearly
two hundred thousand volumes and
scientific apparatus and machinery
worth more than half a million dollars
like the University of Chicago this
Institution is in its present position
argely through the munificence of one
nan.