334 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and christened it with his name, has 

 died and left to the university several 

 hundred thousand dollars, and on cer- 

 tain conditions practically the whole of 

 his estate, which is said to-be between 

 five and ten million dollars. The will is 

 a complicated document with numerous 

 codicils, somewhat difficult to interpret 

 and likely to give rise to legal complica- 

 tions. The history of Clark University 

 has been curious and interesting. As 

 in the case of the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, there was a difference of opin- 

 ion between the founder and the presi- 

 dent as to the scope of the institution. 

 In both cases the founder had in view 

 a more or less local college, while the 

 president believed that we had colleges 

 in sufficient number, but needed in the 

 United States universities on German 

 models, but going even further than 

 Germany in making research rather 

 than instruction the primary object of 

 the institution. Johns Hopkins died 

 very soon after the establishment of his 

 university, and though there was for a 

 while a good deal of difference of opin- 

 ion in the board of trustees, the univer- 

 sity idea triumphed. A college was, 

 however, established in connection with 

 it. At Clark University the founder 

 lived for ten years, and appears to have 

 altered several times his point of view. 

 He withdrew his support, and the uni- 

 versity work which began brilliantly 

 was much reduced in range and quality. 

 The greater part of the faculty removed 

 in a body to the University of Chicago. 

 It appears that at this time Mr. Clark 

 bequeathed his money to the university 

 only on condition that the president 

 should resign, but later devised a com- 

 promise by which the university should 

 continue as at present, while a partly 

 independent college should be estab- 

 lished in conjunction with it. The in- 

 terpretation of the will, the value of the 

 estate and the development of the uni- 

 versity open problems that will only 

 be settled in the course of time. 



Europeans who look upon the 

 United States as a material and com- I 



mercial nation must find it difficult to 

 interpret the great gifts that are con- 

 tinually made for the cause of higher 

 education. Twenty-five years ago there 

 were in America no universities in the 

 sense in which the term is most properly 

 employed. During this comparatively 

 brief period the older institutions have 

 become universities, and the great in- 

 crease in expenditure has been met 

 chiefly by voluntary contributions. The 

 annual expenditure, for example, at 

 Harvard and Columbia Universities is 

 about a half million dollars beyond the 

 tuition fees, and the money invested in 

 grounds and buildings is in the case 

 of either university many millions. 

 Then this period has witnessed the es- 

 tablishment of new universities, rival- 

 ing in endowment the older institutions. 

 The Johns Hopkins University and 

 Clark University have been mentioned 

 above, but the most noteworthy in- 

 stances are the University of Chicago, 

 to which one benefactor still living has 

 given eight million dollars, and Leland 

 Stanford Junior University, the endow- 

 ment of which reaches the enormous 

 sum of thirty-five million dollars. At 

 the same time, the State universities, 

 directly supported by the people, are be- 

 ginning to rival privately endowed in- 

 stitutions. It may be confidently 

 asserted that no nation has ever so 

 liberally supported higher education, 

 and the wisdom of this liberality is now 

 demonstrated, even from the most mer- 

 cenary point of view, by the place the 

 United States has taken in the world's 

 commerce. It will be still further dem- 

 onstrated in the course of the next 

 twenty-five years. It is possible that 

 existing conditions are not favorable to 

 literature and to art, but the future of 

 science in the United States is assured 

 beyond question. 



It is sometimes said that Govern- 

 ment control and individual initiative 

 can not be united, but there is no jus- 

 tification for this view in the develop- 

 ment of the educational and scientific 

 institutions of the United States. In- 



