420 
A  Counsel  of  Perfection. 
f  Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
\  September,  1913. 
would  increase  the  efficiency  of  its  institutions  of  learning,  relieve 
the  legislature  of  a  task  which  is  no  part  of  its  proper  duty,  free 
the  trustees  and  officers  and  faculties  of  our  universities  and  colleges 
from  the  necessity  of  going  to  the  legislature  and  the  governor  of 
the  commonwealth,  give  them  a  right  to  a  part  of  the  state  revenue 
thus  set  apart  for  education,  elevate  the  standards  and  enhance 
their  efficiency,  by  allying  them  with  the  University  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  give  their  degrees  a  position  recognized 
through  the  state  and  beyond  it. 
This  may  be  a  counsel  of  perfection,  but  none  the  less  well 
worth  discussion  and  careful  consideration  by  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society,  true  to  its  purpose  of  promoting  useful  knowledge. 
What  can  be  more  useful  than  to  know  how  best  to  bring  to  bear 
on  education  the  means  and  methods  of  securing  that  which  is  best 
fitted  to  prepare  men  and  women  to  be  good  citizens,  to  teach  them 
all  that  is  necessary,  to  secure  them  the  best  schools  for  every  pro- 
fession and  occupation,  and  to  reform  existing  institutions  of 
learning,  so  that  they  may  do  the  greatest  good  to  the  largest 
number  ? 
Make  the  state  supply  from  its  plethoric  treasury,  the  money 
required  for  higher  education,  as  it  does  for  secondary  and  elemen- 
tary schools,  and  then  the  distribution  may  be  safely  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  state's  college  and  university  council,  composed  of 
state  officers  and  the  representatives  of  the  universities  and  col- 
leges and  technical  schools.  Among  them  will  be  found  men  who 
will  see  that  the  state's  money  is  well  spent,  with  a  proper  dis- 
tribution between  buildings  and  maintenance,  salaries  and  expenses 
incidental  to  instruction. 
The  state  will  supply  through  its  ex-ofhcio  members  and  its 
trained  inspectors  due  protection  against  undue  expenditure  of  any 
kind. 
The  state  college  and  university  council  may  properly  insist  that 
wherever  money  is  given  for  any  special  purpose,  it  shall  be  enough 
to  provide  for  future  maintenance,  and  not  be,  as  it  too  often  is  the 
case  to-day,  a  burden  on  income.  There  are  plenty  of  reforms 
incidental  to  a  reorganization  of  our  institutions  of  learning,  that 
will  need  the  careful  consideration  of  the  state  college  and  univer- 
sity council.  A  few  years  will  serve  to  show  how  unnecessary  dupli- 
cation of  work  can  be  prevented,  how  neighboring  colleges  can  be 
united  into  one  strong  college,  how  technical  and  professional 
