622 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 568. 



great man, the present president, facile 

 princeps among the leaders in American 

 education of the last twenty-J&ve years, 

 Charles W. Eliot, but I do not believe there 

 has ever been a time, down to within a very 

 recent date, when, if the faculties of Har- 

 vard College could have had absolutely 

 their own way, and had had money enough 

 to persist in their own way, they would 

 not have committed themselves squarely 

 against every question of educational prog- 

 ress which the scope of the times has 

 brought to them. And what is true of 

 Harvard is still truer of the less progressive 

 institutions of higher learning, of which 

 we have many. 



So I believe it is necessary, friends, by 

 the side of this system of private, endowed, 

 church institutions, to maintain a system of 

 state institutions. By the side of these 

 other great institutions of learning it is 

 necessary in this country to maintain the 

 state university, which, because of its en- 

 tirely different origin, because of the dif- 

 ferent influences to which it is subject, can 

 work out a supplemental scheme of educa- 

 tion in many different directions, extending 

 into many fields which would be neglected 

 in all probability by these other institu- 

 tions. Such an institution, even though 

 not a leader by choice, will by its very con- 

 stitution be compelled to adjust itself to 

 modern demands and thus force the other 

 institutions which wish to exist by its side 

 into a larger and more liberal view, and 

 finally into what is clearly the line of 

 progress. 



The state university is necessary in order 

 to help maintain the democracy of educa- 

 tion ; to help keep education progressive ; 

 and finally in order to keep higher educa- 

 tion close to the people, and make it the 

 expression and outgrowth of their needs. 



As a state university, we may properly 

 demand from this institution that it under- 



take certain functions which it is not so 

 easy for other institutions to assume. 



This institution as a state university may 

 become more directly and immediately the 

 external expression of the corporate long- 

 ing of the people for higher things in the 

 sphere of education than can any other 

 type of institution. This is said with all 

 due regard for and due recognition of the 

 real way in which the private institution 

 has entered into, and is a real expression 

 of, the life of our people. Fortunately, 

 we have never needed to fear, in this coun- 

 try, what some of the continental nations 

 seem to have feared, namely, that institu- 

 tions of learning under private or church 

 auspices would work against the public 

 interest of the community of which they 

 are a part. The fundamental object of all 

 institutions of higher learning may be 

 summed up from one side, as the creation 

 of the highest and most efficient type of 

 citizen. And fortunate it is for us that 

 we may truly say to-day, as in all previous 

 periods of our national history, that all our 

 higher institutions of learning, whether 

 founded by private individuals or by reli- 

 gious sects, have in this respect worked out 

 the same beneficent result for the com- 

 munity; that the graduates of all these 

 schools alike have been to the same extent 

 good citizens, have been devoted patriots, 

 have been self-sacrificing and public-spirit- 

 ed members of society. 



And yet I can not help but think that 

 an institution, in the establishment and 

 endowment of which every citizen feels 

 that he has a direct and immediate share, 

 expresses in a certain way more fully his 

 desire for higher things in the field of edu- 

 cation than can any other type of insti- 

 tution. 



As the citizens by their combined effort 

 make it possible to raise the standard, en- 

 large the outlook and increase the equip- 



