The citizen., 1914-03-06
FRIDAY. MARCH 6, 1914.

SHALL ALL COLLEGES AND
ACADEMIES THROUGHOUT
THE STATE BE CONSOLIDA-
TED INTO A STATE UNIVER-
SITYq
A bill has been introduced in the Leg
islature to consolidate all the academies,
private schools and colleges in the State
into one big university. This will seem
to be at a glance a measure of the ut
most Importance to the taxpayers Of
Maryland. Of course a university Of
that character will of necessity be large
and very expensive institution. The
State has been appropriating for years
past large sums of money to support pri
vate schools, academies and colleges in
different parts of the State and it has
been very expensive luxury to the tax
payers of the State, and we warn the
Legislature the tax rate is already ex-
ceedingly high and is heavy burden on
the people. Governor Crothers in his
administration cut off and reduced these
appropriations to some extent but he
failed to 90 far enough.
This State has by law public school
system conceded to be by public educators
at large one of the best of any State in the
Union, and while the public school sys-
tenn is an absolute necessity and is 10y
ally supported by the people of the State,
yet it is a burden and heavy burden
on the taxpayer. There are many men
and many women in the State who are
taxpayers and have to pay their share to
support the public schools and yet have
no children to be educated. Now this
would seem to be for that class o. people
a hardship to pay taxes to support the
school system from which they derive no
direct benefit. The only justification for
it arises from the fact that it is vast
assistance to the State in the execution
of police power Of the State, in sup
pressing and preventing vice and crime
in so far as education eau do it. And
it must be conceded practical common
sense education tends to suppress and pre-
vent crime, but whether the higher edu-
cation tends to the same end is mooted
question. Higher education seems to
indicate that the tendency is to skep-
ticism and infdelity.
The people of this State intend that
all its citizens shall have a public school
education, that means practical COM
mon sense education such as nine tenths
of the populstion-and that is the full
extent to which nine-tenths of the people
can ever have, for all practical purposes,
of life that is sufficient. Now if it is
desirable for anybody to give his son or
daughter higher education than the pub
lie schools can, they ought to pay for it
themselves. The burden of that higher
education wholly or in part ought not to be
shifted to(the shoulders of others, which
State university supported by the tax
payers of the State would do. We have
in this State already great university; it
is said and claimed to be one of the
greatest universities in the world.
Whether it is or not, it has been an ex-
pensive luxury to the taxpayers of this
State. Johns Hopkins had given to it
by its f under millions of dollars and
millions of that given to it they let get
away and it has been an incubus on the
State ever since. The truth is Johns
Hopkins is too big university for
the State of Maryland. 1t is not too
large in fact, but it has "Big Head. -
II wants to be Tower of Babel Of edu-
cation, and it is impracticable and i'm
possible in its aims.
Colleges and universities seem bent on