July 12, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



45 



tutions unhampered by public or private 

 control. 



Eespectfully submitted, 

 (Signed) Egbert H. Thurston, 



Victor C. Alderson, 

 Thomas Gray, 

 J. B. Johnson. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY* 

 To the National Council of Education : 



The undersigned members of the com- 

 mittee to investigate the entire subject of a 

 national university and to report to the 

 Council do now report, as follows : 



The appointment of the committee was 

 authorized by the Council at their meeting 

 at Washington, D. C, on July 11, 1898, in 

 the passage of the following resolution, of- 

 fered by Mr. Dougherty, of Illinois : 



Resolved, That the chair appoint a committee of 

 fifteen, the majority of whom shall be members of the 

 Council, who shall investigate the entire subject of 

 the establishment of a national university and report 

 to the Council. 



MEMBERSHIP. 



The president of the Council subsequently 

 appointed the committee, as follows : 



William E. Hakpee {chairman), president of the 

 University of Chicago. 



Edwin A. Alderman, president of the University 

 of North Carolina (now president of Tulane Univer 

 sity of Louisiana). 



James B. Angell, president of the University of 

 Michigan. 



Nicholas Murray Butler, professor of philos- 

 ophy and education in Columbia University. 



James H. Canfield, president of Ohio State Uni- 

 versity (now librarian of Columbia University). 



J. L. M. Curry, agent of the Peabody and Slater 

 educational funds. 



Newton C. Dougherty, superintendent of 

 schools, Peoria, 111. 



Andrew S. Draper, president of the University 

 of Illinois. 



Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard Univer- 

 sity. 



Edmund J. James, professor of public adminis- 

 tration in the University of Chicago. 



*Eeport of the Committee of the National Educa- 

 tional Association. 



William H. Maxwell, superintendent of 

 schools, New York, N. Y. 



Bernard J. Moses, professor of history and politi- 

 cal economy in the University of California. 



J. G. ScHURMAN, president of Cornell University. 



F. Louis Soldan, superintendent of schools, St. 

 Louis, Mo. 



Willi ABiL. Wilson, president of Washington 

 and Lee University. 



MEETINGS. 



The committee have held three pro- 

 tracted meetings : at Washington, D. C, 

 on November 2, 3 and 4, 1899 ; at Chicago, 

 111., on February 26, 27 and 28, 1900 ; and 

 at New York, N. Y., on May 23 and 24, 

 1901. The first meeting of the committee 

 was attended by all the members except 

 Messrs. Angell, James (absent in Europe), 

 and Moses. The second meeting was at- 

 tended by Messrs. Harper, Alderman, But- 

 ler, Dougherty, Draper, Eliot and Soldan. 

 The third meeting was attended by Messrs. 

 Harper, Butler, Canfield, Dougherty, 

 Draper, Eliot and Maxwell. 



Mr. Moses has been absent from the 

 country on public business, and so has 

 been prevented from sharing in any of the 

 deliberations of the committee. Mr. Wil- 

 son's untimely death in .1900 deprived the 

 committee of the benefit of his cooperation 

 in the preparation of this report. 



PRELIMINARY INQUIRIES. 



Before the committee came together for 

 the first time, individual members had, at 

 the request of the chairman, undertaken to 

 prepare reports upon special phases of the 

 subject referred to the committee, with a 

 view to preparing the way for their more 

 intelligent consideration and discussion. 

 The reports so prepared included one by 

 Mr. James, on the constitutionality of a 

 national university (printed in the Educa- 

 tional Review, Yol. XVIII., pp. 451-66, De- 

 cember, 1899) ; one by Mr. Canfield, on 

 past efforts to establish a national univer- 

 sity and the reasons for their failure ; two 



