53 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



themselves ; and the same resistance to changed conditions appear. 

 In Escott's "England " is an idealized picture of the typical rector, in 

 which the good man's heroic labors are pathetically set forth in such 

 strains that one is reduced to absolute wonder that men like John 

 Bright can be so perverse as to advocate disestablishment ; though 

 indeed he might be excused on the ground that the clergy must be 

 prevented from altogether sacrificing themselves on the altar of their 

 country.* And in America a like fact appears in the military and 

 naval service. If the naval officers could have their way, we would at 

 once begin to discount the nations of Europe in building ruinous en- 

 gines for killing our fellow-Christians ; and the soldiers would likewise 

 have an enormous standing army perpetually fighting the air on dress- 

 parade. And now, to come to the immediate subject in hand, the 

 same truth holds with regard to education. The European system 

 was introduced into this country, and, though it has been forced to 

 change very extensively, it has held its ground with wonderful te- 

 nacity. The primal distinction from one which would naturally grow 

 up here is not in the subjects offered for study but in the method of 

 maintenance. The European system assumes that people do not 

 know what they need, and that it must be offered to them gratis. In 

 America we recognize the contrary to be true in nearly all the con- 

 cerns of life in religious establishments, in the militia, and latterly 

 in most college curricula. 



In this paper I propose to pass in review the operation of educa- 

 tional endowments both past and present. Having admitted that the 

 artificial support of education had at one time its social justification, 

 we shall confine ourselves to the inquiry, Have endowments been pro- 

 ductive of the progress of knowledge and sound education from the 

 individual standpoint? For it will scarcely be pretended that in 

 these days this mode of education is a necessary means of preserving 

 order. That end is now subserved by commerce and the vast inter- 

 dependence which complicated and specialized systems of production 

 and exchange involve. The province of education in our day has 

 become narrowed like all others, and speaking, of course, of higher 

 education is now simply the bestowal of needed knowledge. We 

 shall address ourselves to the inquiry as to whether endowments are 

 a suitable means for the diffusion of knowledge by a brief examination 

 of the history of the English schools and universities, and by a short 

 study of their present operation in this country. 



The history of Oxford is deeply involved with that of the general 

 mass of British society. It is first known as poor and democratic. 

 In the early part of the fourteenth century it is said that as many as 



* The Archbishop of Canterbury, for example, sacrifices himself to the extent of 

 taking a salary of $75,000 a year. Every one must feel sorry for the archbishop; espe- 

 cially when it is considered that he has to live in a palace rent free and to endure the 

 terrific labor of crowning kings and the like. 



