November 17, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



627 



But the state university must be and 

 become more than a civil service academy. 

 It is and is destined to become to an ever- 

 increasing extent the scientific arm of the 

 -state government, just as the governor and 

 his assistant officers are the executive arm 

 and the judges and the courts are the 

 judicial arm. 



As the business of government becomes 

 more complex, the problems which the state 

 has to solve in many different directions be- 

 come more difficult, requiring in many 

 cases most careful scientific experimenta- 

 tion and long-continued investigation, for 

 the pursuit of which there must be ade- 

 quate laboratory equipment and trained 

 investigators. For all such work the state 

 university is the natural and simple means 

 already provided. 



I have called attention to the fact that 

 here in the University of Illinois are al- 

 ready located, for example, the state water 

 survey, the state natural history survey, 

 the state entomologist's office, the state 

 geological survey, etc. There is no doubt 

 that if the university is properly organized 

 to undertake this scientific work in a way 

 to make it thoroughly effective, it will, to 

 an increasing extent, be constituted the 

 scientific arm and scientific head, if you 

 please, of the state administration. 



It goes without the saying that this con- 

 centration of the scientific work of the 

 state government at the university has 

 most valuable educational results. The in- 

 creasing number of scientific men centered 

 at the universities helps create that scien- 

 tific atmosphere, that scientific spirit which 

 is absolutely essential to the upbuilding of 

 a great university. This union of scien- 

 tific investigation and educational work is 

 a most fortunate combination for both 

 sides of the enterprise. The scientific work 

 for the state government offers an oppor- 

 tunity to train the young men in actual 

 practise, and by thus securing their interest 



in and training for such work the govern- 

 ment is able to obtain an ample and regular 

 supply of properly trained workers in this 

 field. By such a union the state secures 

 the maximum of service at a minimum of 

 cost. 



Further, the state university will, I be- 

 lieve, in combination with the normal 

 schools become practically, for many con- 

 crete purposes, the state department of 

 education. We have already in this state 

 and in most of the American states a state 

 department of education, consisting usually 

 of an officer called the state superintendent 

 of public instruction. His duties, however, 

 are comparatively narrow, as prescribed 

 by law. The possibility of performing them 

 is determined by very meager appropria- 

 tions. Usually speaking, it is an office en- 

 trusted with the enforcement of the school 

 laws and the distribution of the school 

 money. The functions of the public min- 

 istry of education such as one finds in so 

 many of the European states either are 

 entrusted to him in a very small degree, 

 or he is enabled to carry out these func- 

 tions only within very narrow limits. The 

 duty of canvassing the educational needs 

 of the state from time to time, urging and 

 impressing them in a strong way upon the 

 people of the state, not merely upon the 

 teachers and the legislatures and the gov- 

 ernment, but upon the great masses of the 

 people — this is something which our Amer- 

 ican departments of education have done 

 only to a very slight extent. Now and 

 then a strong personality in the position 

 of state superintendent has worked out 

 great things for the education of the state. 

 We have an example of such a personality 

 in the superintendent's office of the state 

 at present. But there is need of a more 

 continuous, of a wider spread, of a more 

 deeply rooted, activity in this direction, 

 than the state superintendent's office under 

 existing conditions can develop. Such a 



