The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1915-08-03

The old question as to whether it is
university to be placed in a city is up
again.
DR.. Frederic A. Hall, acting chan.
cellor of Washington University, that
st. Louis seat of learning the remark
able expansion of which, particularly
In its Medical Department, is a matter
Of world interest, expressed, when
seen, the opinion that ground for a
controversy on the subject no longer
exists.
THAT question was dealt With de-
cisively more than six years ago." said
DR.. Hall, referring his interviewer to
an address delivered by the univer-
sity's chancellor, DR.. David +. Houston,
who is on leave of absence to serve as
Secretary of Agriculture in President
Wilson's Cabinet. and to a paper,
treating the subject in detail, prepared
by a professor of the university sew
eral months afterward.
"The points then raised in favor OF
the urban university seem to me to
gain strength with age," said DR.. Hall,
who, calling the librarian, procured
copies of the papers of which he had
spoken and presented them to his
visitor
Or. Houston's Terse Argument
The Houston address, while dealing
primarily with another, although re-
lated, subject, includes terse argu-
ment in favor of the urban university.
"The advantages of city location
for university are obvious" declares
DR.. Houston in this address. They
lie not more in the large collections OF
available books and documents and in
the interplay and friction OF the minds
Of the strongest men of the nation,
and in the frequent presence of the
great men of the world, than in the
existence of great institutions like
courts, manufacturing establishments,
architectural monuments and under
takings, and engineering enterprises,
which make it possible for the student,
and the professor as well, to keep
abreast Of the times, and, to see the
latest demonstrations of applied
science"
The paper pointing out in detail the
advantages of the city for a university
is in part as follows;
To begin with, the city itself is a great
teacher-a teacher of knowledge which
no formal class instruction affords, but
which every student ought to receive.
For all divisions of social science,
Economies, Charities and Corrections,
Education, Government) and the physi-
cal sciences physics, Chemistry, Engi-
neering), the city best contributes the
material needed by the student Some
Of these studies are scarcely possible out
side of city. Poverty, crime, and vice,
and the means OF dealing with them, can
not be studied from books alone; the
student must observe the facts at first
hand. and these he can find only In a
great town-there only can he find in
sufficient numbers, living in their own
districts, the classes of people to be
studied and also the institutions for re-
lieving them.
The life of the city with its sharp
contrasts of rich and poor has been
thought the chief danger of our free
government. If the study of these sub
iects is to be of practical use, that study
must take place in the midst of these
puzzling and troublesome facts.
In many subjects of study, the Ii
braries of the city supplement the library
Of a university. Large libraries nearly
always specialize more or less one is
well supplied with certain books which
others lack. The presence in a city of
number of large libraries is. therefore
a considerable advantage to the uni
versity.