A COUNSEL OF PERFECTION : A PLAN FOR AN AUTO- 

 MATIC COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF A 

 STATE TAX FOR HIGHER EDUCATION. 



By J. G. ROSENGARTEN. 



(Read April i~. 1913.) 



The example of the western state universities suggests a similar 

 organization for other states. Here in Pennsylvania the L^niver- 

 sity, dating from 1740, when under the inspiration of Whitefield, the 

 plan of a school was first mooted, has outgrown its modest endow- 

 ments. Biennially it goes to the legislature to ask help to carry on 

 its work. In the interval it appeals to its alumni and friends for 

 help to meet its pressing needs, higher salaries, a larger teaching 

 force, and more huildings and appliances for its multifarious edu- 

 cational needs. 



What is true of the University of Pennsylvania is true of all 

 other universities and colleges of Pennsylvania, and of the East and 

 South, and no matter how large their endowments and income, each 

 and all require more money to keep pace with the growing expenses 

 of higher education in the modern university. 



It needs no apology to broach the matter here, for Franklin 

 founded both the American Philosophical Society and the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania. In fact after the Revolution the charter of 

 his College of Philadelphia was taken away, and a Charter given to 

 the L'^niversity of the State of Pennsylvania, and the constitution 

 affirmed the duty of the state to help it. Later the charter of the 

 college was restored, and still later the college and the university 

 were united in the L^niversity of Pennsylvania, and it has grown to 

 its present great estate under that charter and that name. 



From time to time the state has aided it, and private munificence 

 has enabled it to provide the splendid buildings in which it is now 

 housed, with College and Law and ^ledical Departments, and to 



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