May 9, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



719 



open to the vessels of commerce and of war of all 

 nations observing these rules, on terms of entire 

 equality, so that there shall be no discrimination 

 against any such nation or its citizens or its sub- 

 jects, in respect to the condition or charges for 

 traflSc or otherwise. ' ' ' 



In view of all this the speaker urged that the 

 United States is in honor bound never to do or 

 allow anything which can be interpreted as in any 

 way inconsistent with the terms of our treaties. 

 A Counsel of Perfection. A Plan for a State 

 University and for an Automatic Collection and 

 Distribution of a State Tax for Higher Educa- 

 tion: Joseph G. Eosengarten, A.M., LL.D. 

 In view of the proposed convention to revise the 

 constitution of Pennsylvania, it may not be inap- 

 propriate to urge the preparation, consideration 

 and discussion of a provision in the constitution 

 for a mill tax for higher education in Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



The founder of the Philosophical Society was 

 also the founder of what is now the University 

 of Pennsylvania. 



From the suggestion of a building big enough 

 for George Whitfield's great audiences, Franklin 

 drew the inspiration in 1740 for the Academy of 

 Philadelphia, which grew into the College of Phil- 

 adelphia, the University of the State of Pennsyl- 

 vania, and the University of Pennsylvania of our 

 own day. 



Franklin (to-day Franklin and Marshall) Col- 

 lege, of Lancaster, Pa., was a tribute paid to him 

 in the closing years of his long useful life by his 

 admiring contemporaries. 



The constitution of Pennsylvania, adopted in 

 his lifetime, pledged the support of the state to 

 the university. 



To-day there are, as reported by the National 

 Bureau of Education, 87 state universities, and 

 other state-aided institutions of higher education. 

 More than twenty-five of them receive the proceeds 

 of the so-called mill tax rate, varying in amount 

 and methods of collection and distribution. No- 

 table among them' is the University of Wisconsin, 

 with a tax of three eighths of a mill, yielding 

 $1,103,029, with a total income from the state of 

 $1,552,398, and from the United States of $80,000, 

 under the Morrill land grants, and returning to 

 the state a large and varied service in public 

 work and commissions of many useful kinds. 



Under the same fostering care, other state uni- 

 versities have grown rapidly into importance — 

 notably Michigan, Indiana, Colorado, Illinois, 

 Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska-, Texas, and state aid thus 



secured by the mill tax has been supplemented by 

 many magnificent gifts from individuals. 



The question of how best to make constitutional 

 provision for higher education has been discussed, 

 and its advantages afiirmed by Andrew White, of 

 Cornell; President Swain, of Swarthmore; Presi- 

 dent Beardshear, of Iowa; President Jesse, of 

 Missouri; Professor Herbert B. Adams and Pro- 

 fessor Maphis, of the University of Virginia; 

 Professor Lefevre, of the University of Texas; 

 President Ellis, of Ohio, and by the representative 

 educational leaders from all parts of the country. 



In Pennsylvania, with a state revenue of over 

 thirty millions, a mill tax would produce an in- 

 come large enough to support all the universities 

 and colleges and institutions of higher education 

 in a way to make them of infinite benefit and 

 credit to the state. 



With a provision in the constitution for such a 

 mill tax for higher education should go power in 

 the legislature to create a state board of educa- 

 tion, including in it the governor and principal 

 officers of the state ex officio and representatives 

 of universities and colleges and technical schools 

 and museums. 



Let the state be divided into three sections, 

 eastern, middle and western, each with its local 

 educational council, consisting of representatives 

 from all the institutions of higher education in 

 the section, these in turn to send one or more 

 representatives to the state board of education. 

 That body could frame a plan on which the pro- 

 ceeds of the mill tax should be distributed, accord- 

 ing to numbers, standards, efficiency and other 

 conditions prescribed for a share of the income 

 from the mill tax. 



In due time the weak colleges would see the 

 advantages of union with others, thus increasing 

 efficiency. 



The University of Pennsylvania would naturally 

 be the head of higher education in and for the 

 state, other universities and colleges being affili- 

 ated with it. 



State College should be made the great agricul- 

 tural school for the state, attracting to it all 

 branches affiliated in that important work, veter- 

 inary schools, forestry, conservation of natural 

 resources, etc. 



The University of Pittsburgh would be the head 

 of higher education in the western part of the 

 state, and naturally would become the center of 

 all work for educating men in mining, metallurgy, 

 electricity and the other arts and sciences needed 

 in developing the great resources of the state. 



