The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1917-06-22
WESTMINSTER Md FRIDAY AFTERNOON JUNE 22 1917
Westminster's Great Asset.

NpSfmInSJeTS ASSClS
The question: What are Carroll
County's Most Important Resources"
was recently put to me by visitor
from a Western state, and 1t does not
seem difficult, surely, to guess the un-
hesitating reply, as summed up In
very few words.
Our county's greatest assets are the
industry, thrift and moral sturdlness
of it's inhabitants, plus the fertility OF
its nearly four hundred square miles
of rarely beautiful area-and OF
which our gifted neighbor and friend
the Bentztown Bard has written:
The rolling hills of Carroll
That no other hills surpass
/ For crops of wheat and clover
And the seven-year pasture grass.
The rolling hills of Carroll
Why the birds must sing more sweet
In all that rolling country
Of the fertile corn and wheat
But the discussion of our country s
values led me later to thinking OF It's
county Seat-N eStminster, or which
we are SO fond-and OF its great
possibly greatest-asset. Thinking led
=. to questioning; and questioning to
suspicion that has, almost, settled IN
! to a conviction that we, as a commun-
! ity. fail in the fullest sense to apprecl-
ate our benefits in the possession OF
! a college-especially when that col
! lege is one of so high a standing
throughout our cOuntry-and indeed,
! beyond it overland is one of such
constantly increasing prestige as the
Western Maryland College.
! Why, the very thought of Oxford
and Cambridge in England, or Of
Princeton and New Haven in this
country being deprived Of their uni
versities is unimaginably dull. This is
conceded with ease, is it not? Yet, ex-
actly the same verify holds good with
the smaller universities and colleges;
| in fact on down to the preparatory
schools and seminaries, for even they
give flavor to their sections, while in
the cases of such colleges as Williams,
Dartmouth, Stanford and all the rest,
the charm they lend their surround
ings is unique-irresistable.
And, so, the thought of a Westmin-
ster lacking it's college HilI' is real
! Iy an unpleasant one and should in
duce greater degree of gratitude
even of thanksgiving than perhaps we
now in our hearts feel.
institutions of learning are not only
! contributOry factors in the higher cul-
! tivatiOn of their immediate communi-
! tieS-Often affording opportunities to
those who might not, otherwise, .ach-
ieve more than a common school edu-
cation-but they are also creators of
an atmosphere that in itself cannot be
other than elevating; just as someone
has said that living within library
walls-even, indeed, among unopened
bOOks-is educating, (the volumes SEEM
ing actually to impart knowledge
/ through their titles, yes. through
their buildings,). So it should be
quite comforting to realize that
even though some of us may not have
delved into the mysteries of science
or studied the graceS and beauties OF
| literature, or made ourselves masters
! of man. tongues, we can still, by this
! privilege OF environment, rub ell
! bows" with those who have, and
through this attrition, we, in
sensibly, learn much. In other
words, the college town may
almost become that, supposedly, i'm
possible thing: "a royal road to learn
ing" for those who will tread the path
A college town presents advantages
too, of a purely social nature far su-
perior to the ordinary bread and but
ter" community.
! But these and all other advantages
impaired by the university spirit
could not have been better exemplified
than tEey were in Westminster dur
ing the past week, when there was
gathered together a remarkable COM
pany of the educators of Maryland-as
well as most impressive group of al
umni-and when, as in former years
(of which there have been fifty
there were addresses upon social, edu-
cational and patriotic subjects deliver
ed from tie platform Of Alumni Hall
i to which it was in truth, a generous
! privilege to listen.
! Therefore it is reasonable to believe
that our college has not failed to ex-
ert, unremittingly, silent as well as
a vocal protest, against ignorance in
all it's ugly forms. And to all of this,
and much more in fact, we, the people
of Westminster, have free and well
come access. Are we not favored?
And yet there is still another side
to this question of the harvest reaped
by Westminster in its role of College
/ Town. and which renders our indif-
! ference-if such really eXists-Still hard
er to understand.
refe" to the fact that as g rule the
college town reaps the benefit of a
very considerable outlay of funds
which come almost entirely from out
side, and yet the college is in no sense
q liability to the town. In our case the
Western Mar and College brings in
about $4,000 annually, and dictrib-
utes it ell here; hence, even those who
thoughtleGsly disregard the senti-
rental. the social and even the educa-
tional atmosphere of college town,
i'll no. "efuse acknowledgment of
tlis mate al advantage in just con-
sideration of the Western Maryland
College as an asset to Westminster.
MRS. AUSTIN GALLAGHER.