196 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



fi-oin the ffratitudc of the future towards our undei-takiii'% far loss from 

 tlie present. If we educate the 3'outh of our State in tlie j^raetical duties 

 of Iiie,and embark them in tlie pursuit of science, or art, and of wealth, 

 •we may reasoiialil}- expect tiiat the benefits conf'uri-ed will be i-emem- 

 bered in future years by those who look l)ack upon the univei-sity with 

 atfection, and that i^ifts and bequests will enrich its endowments and 

 extend its usefulness. This has been the experience of all eminent edu- 

 cational institutions. For the present, a few public S))irited men may 

 bestow of their means to aid in the establishment of a college, but our 

 princijjal reliance must be upon the State. A special tax of seven cents 

 on the hundred dollars would raise a fund yearly of one hundred thou- 

 sand dollars, which would sustain an institution of the character 1 shall 

 describe, Avith moderate tuition fees, and which I deem the proper foun- 

 dation for the future university. The tax which a State pays for the 

 education of its children is the lightest of its burdens, and the most 

 useful; for ignorance is an implacal)le foe of liberty and order, the fruit- 

 ful parent of crime, misery, and disgrace. Every dollar expended to 

 elevate the character and enlighten the minds of the young is saved 

 from pros])ective expenditure to re])ress or punish crime. The duty of 

 the State to ])rovide means for the education of its children does not 

 end with common schools. Higher institutions of learning cannot be 

 sustained by the income derived from the pupils. They must be directly 

 su])ported b}' the Government, or largely endowed by the munificence of 

 individuals. The education which is imparted in them is not more for 

 the benefit of those who are taught than it is for the good of society; 

 and the State should provide the kind and degree of instruction which 

 its own interests demand. The university should not be absolutely a 

 free school; but superior education should be ]tlaced withifi the reach of 

 the industrial classes by the liberality of the State at such rates of 

 tuition that the poor may be benefited as well as the rich. I doubt not, 

 if the State will organize such an institutution on an adequate basis, that 

 betbre many 3'eat'S private libei-ality will provide scholarship funds for 

 the benefit of ])oor students, and thereby give the means of higher edu- 

 cation to many best fitted l)V natural u'ifts to receive it, but who would 

 otherwise be debarred by poverty. The benefits of this expenditure, like 

 bread cast upon the waters, will doubtlcs return tenfold to the public 

 wealth. From scientific culture springs inquiry, and from investigation, 

 discovery. Should this undertaking jn-oduce f)ne agricultural chemist 

 like Leibig, the mere material advantages resulting tVom increased pro- 

 duction would far outweigh its entire cost. Ancient Fgy])t raised pyra- 

 mids to the monarch who taught his peo])le to cultivate the valle_y of the 

 ]Nile, and ])rofit by the swellings of the sacred river. But what monu- 

 ment could properly attest our gratitude to him who should give to fer- 

 tility and man the vast tule lands of this State? What values could 

 estimate our gain, or the measure of our obligation? Our benefactor 

 would be gone, ])erchance forgotten, ere the magnitude of his work was 

 half comprehended, in the brain of an unknown English artisan the 

 steam engine was begotten ; but with its first ))ulsation Brittannia started 

 with a new and resistless vigor upon her unchecked 'course of em))ire. 

 The cotton gin, the invention of a Coi.necticut artisan, had well nigh 

 crowned a weed the king of the woi'hl. llunilile and ob.scure ma}' be 

 the hand that kindles the beacon of discovery, but it is the world that 

 watches the i-ising flame, and nations that read and ])rofit by the light. 

 Observing tliat a wvy al'le i'e])oi't to the last JiCgislature, made by 

 the State Geologist and others, objected very decidedly to an experi- 



