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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 353. 



the other distinguished members of the ]N"a- 

 tioaal Uaiversity Committee, and gave 

 promise of early success. President David 

 Starr Jordan, of Leland Stanford Univer- 

 sity, wrote, ' Put it through without the 

 change of a punctuation point.' Ifcs pas- 

 sage was advocated in person, before the 

 Senate university committee, by ex-Senator 

 Geo. F. Edmunds, ex-Provost William 

 Pepper, of the University of Pennsylvania, 

 Professor Simon Newcomb, General John 

 Eaton, Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard, Hon. 

 John A. Kasson, ex Gov. John Lee Carroll, 

 Hon. Andrew D. White and John W. 

 Hoyt; and on March 10, 1896, Senator 

 Kyle, chairman, submitted an aflSrmative 

 report, with the said supporting arguments, 

 and with over three hundred letters from 

 members of the National University Com- 

 mittee, and other papers supporting the 

 university proposition. It was an emi- 

 nently satisfactory report of 156 printed 

 pages, and for a time was supposed to be 

 without dissent from any member. Adverse 

 influences from denominational and other 

 sources had been at work, however, so that 

 a month later a brief minority report was 

 submitted, with opposing letters from the 

 presidents of Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and 

 the University of Pennsylvania, and five or 

 six small colleges, all denominational. 

 Even with their friends it was beyond com- 

 prehension how the minority were willing 

 to appear with so weak a showing. 



For the rest, it is suflicient to say that the 

 rule of courtesy which allowed the minority 

 time to get ready, the printing of affirma- 

 tive reports, and other causes, resulted in a 

 postponement of action by the chairman of 

 the Senate committee until the following 

 session of Congress. 



8. The ' Eeply to Views of the Minority,' 

 by the chairman of the National University 

 Committee, when submitted to the Senate 

 by Chairman Kyle, with many additional 

 letters of indorsement from distinguished 



friends of the measure, was promptly re- 

 ceived by the Senate and ordered printed. 



9. At the opening of the second session 

 of the 54th Congress, papers in support 

 of the National University proposition, 

 by Professor William H. H. Phillips, of 

 South Dakota, and President David Starr 

 Jordan, of Leland Stanford University, 

 were, upon motion of Senator Kyle, ordered 

 printed by the Senate, without dissent. 



10. Before the Senate committee's re- 

 port could be conveniently called up in 

 the second session of the 54th Congress, 

 Chairman Kyle was called to his distant 

 home, and, although confidently expected 

 from week to week, so that neither Senator 

 Sherman, who was next on the committee 

 list, nor any other member thought it fit to 

 act in his stead, he did not actually return 

 until within three days of the end of that 

 Congress. 



11. Upon the opening of the 55th Con- 

 gress, the appointment of Senator Welling- 

 ton, of Maryland, to the chairmanship was 

 a surprise to the National University Com- 

 mittee, because of assurances touching the 

 continuous and earnest work of Senator 

 Kyle. It also proved to be without result ; 

 for, notwithstanding assurances from Chair- 

 man Wellington of his deep interest in the 

 university cause and his purpose to do 

 everything possible to further it, not even 

 a meeting of his committee could be secured 

 during the said Congress. 



12. Notwithstanding these facts, coupled 

 with the readiness of Senator Chauncey M. 

 Depew, always a warm friend of the 

 national university idea, to take the lead 

 and carry the measure forward. Chairman 

 Wellington (still in possession, under Sena- 

 torial usage), because of assurances of 

 action, held over. And there was at last a 

 meeting of the committee, during the first 

 session of the 56th Congress, and an agree- 

 ment, without dissent, upon the new bill 

 offered by Senator Depew with the approval 



