412 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1003 



was spending for all purposes something 

 over one million dollars per annum. Min- 

 nesota's outlay for current expense was 

 over $650,000 per annum. Illinois had 

 available considerably over two million dol- 

 lars for all purposes for the biennial period. 



Only six years have elapsed and yet for 

 the current year 1913-14 there is being 

 expended by each of the three state uni- 

 versities — Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illi- 

 nois — in round numbers, two million dol- 

 lars per annum for current expenses, which 

 excludes not only building, but equipment 

 outlay. This increase of approximately 

 three hundred per cent, in six years in ex- 

 penditure undoubtedly would not be made 

 were it not for the fact that those three 

 states are convinced that they are receiving 

 satisfactory dividends on those combined 

 annual outlays of over six million dollars. 

 That they are being repaid in many more 

 directions than they realize during those 

 early years seems likely, because in the 

 modern university, as in a railroad or other 

 important public utility, the initial cost of 

 installation and operation, as also of exten- 

 sion, must inevitably be very much higher 

 in relation to efficient service than in later 

 years. 



For the proper fulfillment of her func- 

 tion of developing leadership in every phase 

 of social and economic development, the 

 provincial university must of necessity 

 keep pace with all human knowledge and 

 add her share to the sum total. When we 

 remember the additions which have been 

 made to our armamentarium in our own 

 generation, we shall be prepared to plan 

 generously for the future. 



It requires no mental effort, however, to 

 understand that in order to prepare as well 

 the youth of to-day to meet his responsibil- 

 ity as we were prepared to meet ours, a 

 greater range of teaching and experience 

 must be provided because of the added 

 knowledge of one generation. 



The standpoint of the youth of to-day is 

 not very different from that of our own. 

 He believes that his capacity is greater 

 and his viewpoint wider than those of the 

 preceding generation, just as we unblush- 

 ingly admitted our superiority over our 

 predecessors. Even admitting his increased 

 mentality for the sake of argument, we 

 realize that the youth of to-day can not 

 avail himself of aU of our sources of infor- 

 mation as well as those which have been 

 discovered since his time. Notwithstand- 

 ing the increase of human longevity, we 

 are not yet warranted in insisting that 

 thirty or more years be expended in prepa- 

 ration for an active working period of a like 

 term. 



Nevertheless, universities must maintain 

 all the departments of real knowledge 

 which were available to earlier generations 

 whilst developing those of importance to 

 the present and coming generation. If she 

 is to be the chief mechanism for the diffu- 

 sion of knowledge, she must be the leading 

 explorer in unknown fields in order that 

 our stock of knowledge be increased. Upon 

 her rests the responsibility for finding out 

 and bringing over from older and other 

 lands, all that is worth while. She, too, 

 must take a leading place in the investiga- 

 tion of local resources and develop meth- 

 ods for their more intelligent utilization. 

 Thus each province will come to know the 

 resources of other lands and of other prov- 

 inces and at the same time be in a posi- 

 tion to afford exact information and the 

 best possible service to others who need 

 what she has to give. 



Canada needs experts in special lines, 

 some of which deserve mention. 



HOUSEHOLD ADMINISTRATION, HOME ECONOM- 

 ICS AND DOMESTIC SCIENCE 



These are terms with which we are all 

 familiar and indicate that this generation 

 is waking up to the need of special train- 



