858 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 077 



vincial authorities to realize the magnitude 

 of undertaking to provide a satisfactory- 

 university. Although Manitoba has had 

 a tiniversity since 1877, it can not be said 

 as yet to have made provision for it which 

 is at all adequate. 



Manitoba has now a population of about 

 380,000, and with all the demand on her 

 for increased university facilities, which 

 means expenditure for installation and 

 maintenance, has only been able to expend 

 approximately $80,000 for building and 

 permanent improvement, and for mainte- 

 nance $15,000 per annum (which until last 

 year was only $6,000 ) , with an addition of 

 $25,000 from land grant and other sources, 

 making a total current expenditure of 

 $40,000 per annum. 



A comparison with some of the state 

 universities of the middle west which are 

 comparable with Manitoba in the matter 

 of resources, history of development and 

 certain other conditions may be of interest. 

 In order that those who wish to go more 

 minutely into the various questions in- 

 volved may have the opportunity of so 

 doing, certain tables are appended. Cer- 

 tain of them were prepared and published 

 in the University of Minnesota Alumni 

 Weekly as the basis of an appeal to the 

 state at large and the legislators in par- 

 ticular during the last session. 



Minnesota had to begin in a small way 

 and work out her educational problems 

 from the ground, as is the case in Manitoba. 

 Her university was founded nine years 

 earlier than that of Manitoba, but develop- 

 ment was going so slowly and the increased 

 demands were so out of proportion to avail- 

 able facilities that the alumni and other 

 interested individuals in the state became 

 aroused and a campaign of general educa- 

 tion began. 



The development from 1887 to 1906 is 

 shown. In 1887 there were only 412 stu- 

 dents registered out of a state population 



of 1,180,000 and there was available $35,- 

 000 from state funds and a total of prac- 

 tically $70,000 from all sources, with a 

 total student attendance per ten thousand 

 population of 3.49. The cost to the state 

 for educating a single student at that time 

 was $84.94 and the total cost of the stu- 

 dent's education was $169.24, with a total 

 per capita cost to the people of the state 

 of less than three cents. In 1906 the pop- 

 ulation of the state had nearly doubled, 

 being then over two millions, the university 

 attendance had increased to 3,956, the total 

 funds derived from the state to $251,464.49 

 per annum, the total annual current ex- 

 pense of the university, exclusive of build- 

 ings and permanent improvements, was 

 $542,167.49 per annum and the attendance 

 at the university for each ten thousand of 

 state population was twenty students. The 

 cost to the state of educating each student 

 had been diminished from $84.94 to $62.86 

 and the total cost of the education of the 

 student decreased from $169.24 to less than 

 $140. 



The development of the State Univereity 

 of Illinois from 1859 to 1905 was rapid. 

 The state appropriations for the university 

 were increased from $60,000 per biennium 

 (running in 1875 as low as $11,500 per 

 biennium) to $1,153,000 in 1903 and $1,- 

 114,525 in 1905. It must be remembered, 

 however, that the University of Chicago, 

 Northwestern University and very many 

 private, denominational and other colleges 

 in Illinois were being developed synchro- 

 nously and that the state appropriation for 

 the university has been doubled since 1905. 



Comparative statistics of the various 

 state universities of the middle western 

 states, with some of the endowed institu- 

 tions, show approximately as many stu- 

 dents at the state imiversities as in the 

 endowed universities, whereas the funds up 

 to 1905-6 were far less adequate. 



For the year 1906 Minnesota had $542,- 



