FRIDAY, MAY 13, 1887. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 

 Professor Adams's recent monograph on ' The 

 college of William and Mary,' published by the 

 bureau of education, is a valuable contribution to 

 the history of the higher education in the south. 

 Founded in. 1693 by royal grant, this college is the 

 oldest in the south, and, with the exception of 

 Harvard, the oldest in America. This venerable 

 institution has fallen upon evil days. During the 

 civil v?ar, nearly all of its property was destroyed, 

 and the greater part of its endowment was lost. 

 The college which gave Washington his degree of 

 civU engineer, and to which, as chancellor, he 

 gave his last public service ; the college where 

 Jefferson, Monroe, Randolph, Marshall, and other 

 early fathers of our republic, were educated, — is 

 now closed. Of its former faculty, only President 

 Ewell remains ; and we are told that at the be- 

 ginning of each academic year he rings the col- 

 lege-bell, as a reminder that the institution still 

 lives. Repeated efforts have been made by friends 

 north and south, notably by Senator Hoar, to 

 have congress reimburse the college for the de- 

 struction of its property during the war, but with- 

 out success. 



While we can join in the wish that the good old 

 college may again see prosperous days, and com- 

 mend highly Professor Adams's diligent search 

 for the facts in the history of such an institution, 

 we cannot too strongly condemn his suggestion 

 that a civU academy for instruction, at public 

 cost, in higher political education, is one of the 

 needs of the hour. The land is dotted now with 

 colleges of higher or lower degree, in which any 

 young man may obtain all the instruction neces- 

 sary, if he but have the necessary grit. The for- 

 mation of a national school of paid students is by 

 no means necessary, that we should have a supply 

 of capable civil servants. It may be well enough 

 for the government to support those men who are 

 willing to fit themselves for the army and navy, 

 which training may unfit them for civil pursuits : 

 we cannot have modem soldiers and sailors in 

 any other way. But in civil life we are in sore 

 No. 233 — 1887. 



need of men who can understand the homely 

 proverbs of Poor Richard, and who will not be 

 misled into joining any anti-poverty society. 

 Such men can get a school-training which they 

 will make tell, from, any village school, and will 

 not ask the government for alms that they may 

 the later live from the public purse. While a 

 good clerk might be turned out by such a civil 

 academy, may we always be able to throw the 

 real burdens of government on the shoulders of 

 those who have learned to carry their own 

 weight. 



At a recent meeting of the Engineers' club 

 of Philadelphia, Mr. Edwin Ludlow spoke of a 

 much-needed invention to facilitate the prepara- 

 tion of anthracite coal without injury to health. 

 While engineering ability and mechanical skill 

 have done wonders during the last decade toward 

 putting the mining and preparation of coal on a 

 scientific basis, making it possible to ship as high 

 as twenty-six hundred tons of prepared coal from 

 one breaker in a single day, still in every breaker, 

 no matter how modern it may be, one will find 

 the chutes, through which the coal passes from 

 the screens to the loading-pockets, lined with 

 boys from twelve to fourteen years of age, who 

 sit there ten hours a day, picking by hand the 

 slate from the coal as it passes along. The at- 

 mosphere of this screen-room is, in many cases, 

 so laden with fine coal-dust that objects cannot 

 be distinguished twenty feet away ; and, while 

 the breathing of this coal-dust does not seem to 

 have any immediate effect on the boys' health, it 

 undoubtedly lays the seeds for the bane of the 

 coal-region, — miners' consumption. It strikes 

 every thoughtful man, who looks down on from 

 one hundred to two hundred boys working in a 

 single breaker, that it is a very crude and expen- 

 sive way of preparing coal. 



We learn from Mr. Ludlow that various ap- 

 pliances have been designed, but that the only 

 really successftd one, as proved by actual experi- 

 ence, has been the water-jig. This undoubtedly 

 removes the slate with a small percentage of 

 waste of coal ; and where the product of the 



