Imurray] university DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA 97 



of an elementary education for all the people. It was much later that 

 it admitted its responsibility for compelling every child to avail 

 himself of the education provided. 



This conception of the State's obligation to educate its citizens 

 is the corollary of the doctrine of democratic government. If the 

 people have a right to govern they have also a duty to qualify for the 

 exercise of government. The politician may exclaim, "We must 

 educate our masters," but the people must accept the obligation to 

 make the most of themselves through education if they demand the 

 privilege of self-government. This humanitarian conception may be 

 traced to the rights of man, which were proclaimed by Rousseau, 

 formulated by Kant and set forth in the American Declaration of 

 Independence. They gave dynamic to the French Revolution and 

 intellectual justification to the American. 



That the State University and the State School rest on the same 

 basis is evident from the emphasis placed upon free tuition in school 

 and university in many States of the Union and later in some of the 

 Provinces of Canada. The British Columbia University Act of 

 1908 declared that instruction was to be free to all students in the 

 Arts and Sciences. The Minister of Education in Saskatchewan, when 

 discussing the proposed university, declared that the university, like 

 the schools, should be free. 



This admission of financial responsibility by the State for the 

 university was first expressed in Western Canada in the University 

 Ordinance of 1903, passed for the North West Territories, at the 

 instance of Premier Haultain, in which the State reserved for itself 

 the right to establish universities when necessary and thus notified 

 the advocates of sectarian colleges that the State would reserve for 

 itself a monopoly of degree conferring powers. 



Elsewhere in Canada, prior to this, the State awaited the initiative 

 of the Churches — ^in Manitoba no less than in Nova Scotia. But 

 between the granting of the Royal Charter to King's, Nova Scotia, 

 in 1802, and the N.W.T. University Ordinance of 1903, the people had 

 learned that sectarian initiative and control led to sectarian strife and 

 State embarrassment, and had come to realize that the State is in duty 

 bound to open the door of education from the lowest to the highest 

 grade, to all the people without respect to class, creed or race. State 

 support is only one of the essentials in the idea of a State university. 

 With support there must go control. 



The earliest form of control was regulation. This was exercised 

 through a Charter which conferred certain powers and duties. The 

 State retained the right of inspection through a Visitor or commission. 



7— B 



