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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 502. 



been of service to man before a decade has 

 passed. 



Already at Wisconsin here and there a 

 scholar has arisen whose most elemental 

 thought is to see deeper into the order of 

 nature. Let the university search well for 

 such spirits and give them unbounded op- 

 portunity, for they are to be benefactors, 

 not only of the state, but of the entire 

 earth ; for a new truth, a new principle, is 

 not the property of any state, but instantly 

 belongs to the world. May men of creative 

 power, trained by Wisconsin, leave our 

 doors in ever-increasing numbers, until they 

 become a great enlightening influence in the 

 state and the nation! The final and su- 

 preme test of the height to Avhich a uni- 

 versity attains is its output of creative men, 

 not in science alone, but in arts, in litera- 

 ture, in ethics, in politics and in religion. 



I, therefore, hold that the state univer- 

 sity, a university which is to serve the state, 

 must see to it that scholarship and research 

 of all kinds, whether or not a possible prac- 

 tical value can be pointed out, must be 

 sustained. A privately endowed institu- 

 tion may select some part of Imowledge and 

 confine itself to it, but not so a state uni- 

 versity. A university supported by the 

 state for all its peojole, for all its sons and 

 daughters, with their tastes and aptitudes 

 as varied as mankind, can place no bounds 

 upon the lines of its endeavor, else the state 

 is the irreparable loser. 



Be the choice of the sons and daughters 

 of the state, language, literature, histoi-y, 

 political economy, pure science, agriculture, 

 engineering, architecture, sculpture, paint- 

 ing or music, they should find at the state 

 university ample opportunity for the 

 pursuit of the chosen subject, even until 

 they become creators in it. Nothing short 

 of such opportunity is just, for each has an 

 equal right to find at the state university 

 the advanced intellectual life adapted to 

 his need. Any narrower view is indefens- 



ible. The university .should extend its 

 scope until the field is covered from agri- 

 culture to the fine arts. 



The barrenness of America in the crea- 

 tion and appreciation of literature, inusic 

 and art is the point upon which Europe 

 charges us with semi-barbarism. If the 

 university does not become the center for 

 the cultivation of the highest capacities of 

 the human mind, where is the work to be 

 done in this country? In America there 

 is no other available agency. This work 

 must be undertaken by the university, or 

 else remain undone. 



If the people of the United States are to 

 cease being mere money getters, if they are 

 to accomplish more than material advance, 

 if they are to have proportional develop- 

 ment, the university must give opportunity 

 for training in all lines of human endeavor. 



If the University of Wisconsin is to do 

 for the state what it has a right to expect, 

 it must develop, expand, strengthen crea- 

 tive work at whatever cost. Only by so 

 doing is it possible for the university to 

 serve the state in the liighest way. For 

 my part, I look forward with absolute con- 

 fidence to the liberal support by the state 

 of a school whose chief function is to add 

 to the sum of human achievement. I am 

 not willing to admit that a state university 

 under a democracy shall be of lower grade 

 than a state university under a monarchy. 

 I believe that legislatures elected by all the 

 people are as far-sighted as legislatures that 

 represent an aristocracy. A great grad- 

 uate school will be realized at some state 

 university during this century. Is Wis- 

 consin to have this preeminent position? 



We are now able to suggest the ideal 

 American university — one which, has the 

 best features of the English system Avith 

 its dormitories, commons and union; one 

 which includes the liberal and fine arts 

 and the additions of science and applied 

 science; and one which superimposes 



