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IGHER EDUGATION 
 AND THE PEOPLE 
 
 A PAPER READ BEFORE THE JOINT SESSION OF THE 
 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION 
 AND THE MICHIGAN FARMERS' INSTITUTES 
 
 By HENR Y C. ADAMS 
 
 PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL EbONOMY AND 
 FINANCE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 
 
 AN N A RB O R , M I C H I GA N 190 
 

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HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE PEOPLE.* 
 
 BY PROFESSOR HENRY C. ADAMS OF THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 No one can regret more than myself the enforced ab- 
 sence of Dr. Angell, President of our University, to 
 whom this paper on " Higher Education and the Peo- 
 ple" was assigned in the program as originally drawn. 
 It is evident that this topic should receive consideration in 
 order to round out the educational feature of our program, 
 which explains why I have consented, at the last moment, 
 to say a few words respecting it. The topic is of peculiar 
 significance when discussed before a Michigan audience. 
 This State stands committed to the policy of public educa- 
 tion and gives to the phrase a broad and comprehensive 
 meaning, including not only what is technical and gen- 
 eral, but the idea of popular education as well, for it is 
 no misuse of language to include the Farmers' Institutes, 
 as at present organized and conducted, as part of the 
 educational system of the State. It is an interesting fact 
 that at this, joint meeting of the Farmer's Institutes and 
 the Michigan Political Science Association, everyphase 
 of the problem of education receives either direct or 
 indirect consideration. 
 
 In discussing the relation of higher education to the 
 people, I shall undertake no extended definition of higher 
 education. It is a term which changes its meaning from 
 
 *This paper was read February 25, 1902, at a joint meeting of the 
 Michigan Political Science Association and the Michigan Farmers' Insti- 
 tutes. It forms part of a general program, the object of which was 
 to discuss the bearing of education upon rural prosperity. This pro- 
 gram included a paper by President J. L. Snyder, of the Agricultural 
 College, upon the " Economic Value of Industrial Education," a paper 
 by the Hon. L. D. Harvey, Superintendent of Public Instruction in 
 Wisconsin, upon "Changes Demanded in the Educational System of 
 Rural Communities " and a paper by the Hon. Delos Fall, Superin- 
 tendent of Public Instruction in Michigan, upon "The Rural School 
 Problem in Michigan." It seems proper to make this statement in 
 order to explain why the illustrations in the present paper are confined 
 strictly to the class of work done in universities. 
 
 (1) 
 
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 time to time in order to meet the changing needs of the 
 community. As used in the present discussion, it in- 
 cludes both the general and technical instruction offered 
 by colleges, and the research carried on by instructors in 
 these institutions. This last point seems to me of great 
 importance, for under existing ideas relative to education, 
 an institution of higher learning must be a center for 
 investigation as well as a place for instruction. The ex- 
 tension of knowledge is as truly a function of universities 
 as is the imparting of that knowledge. The true teacher 
 jVjpust be an investigatorj 
 j^„,.iThus defined the relation of higher education to the 
 people may be considered from three points of view. 
 These are as follows: 
 
 First. The point of view of those who seek an edu - 
 cation. 
 \ Second. The point of view of those who make use of 
 
 \ the services of experts and professional men trained 
 
 ; at the college or university. 
 
 Third. The point of view of the political, social and 
 industrial conditions which are in large measure the 
 ^_^roduct of higher institutions of learning^ 
 
 So far as the individual student is concerned, very lit- 
 tle can be said upon the topic in hand. Were the ques- 
 tion of education entirely, or even primarily, a personal 
 question, there would be no answer to the argument that 
 he who is benefitted by the instruction ought to pay for it. 
 But this presumption does not present the matter in its 
 true light. Our society is a complex affair. Each class 
 depends for its prosperity upon the prosperity of other 
 classes. The life of each individual is bound up with the 
 life of all. Such being the case the advantage of an edu- 
 cation to the individual cannot present the point of view 
 from which the question of the relation of the higher 
 education to the people may reasonably be discussed. 
 There is, however, one observation relative to this 
 
 (2) 
 
aspect of higher education of peculiar significance to us 
 in Michigan. It is a matter of no slight importance to 
 the citizens of this State that the highest in education 
 lies open, and practically free, to any one who desires to 
 avail himself of its advantages. Under such conditions 
 education can never result in the establishment of a priv- 
 ileged class. It can never get very far from the needs of 
 the people. It can never become an aristocratic affair. 
 From the prim.ary school to the university the opportunity 
 of securing an education lies open to every citizen of the 
 State. Were it not for the constant recruits from all 
 classes of the people, the University, and 1 doubt not 
 also, the Agricultural College, might as well close its 
 doors. Statistical data in support of this statement could 
 be submitted, were that necessary, but I leave this phase 
 of the subject to hasten to what seems of relatively 
 greater importance, namely, the general and social ad- 
 vantage of maintaining higher institutions of learning. 
 
 The second point of view from which the relation of 
 higher education to the people may be considered pertains 
 to the character of the service rendered by the men and 
 women who receive collegiate and university instruction. 
 The range of knowledge at the present time is so broad 
 that no one person, however gifted, can become its mas- 
 ter. Specialization is the rule in all progressive life, and 
 the degree to which specialization is carried may be 
 accepted as a measure of social advancement. The 
 product of successful specialization is the expert. It may 
 be that the motive which leads one to become an expert 
 is the hope of personal advantage which knowledge gives, 
 but it would be a mistake to assume that this advantage 
 stops with him who by strenuous study becomes an expert. 
 Indeed, we do not begin to measure its importance until 
 we appreciate the extent to which it is used by the pub- 
 lic at large. We are apt to overlook the fact that it is 
 impossible to develop an expert of high efficiency without 
 
 (3) 
 
raising the general plane of excellence in the class to 
 which he belongs. An expert physician, for example, is 
 only possible upon the basis of a highly developed science 
 of medicine. Such a physician must avail himself of the 
 thousands of experiments in the many laboratories scat- 
 tered throughout the world. Each laboratory makes its 
 contribution; each publishes its discovery. As isolated 
 facts, these contributions and discoveries are of slight 
 importance, but, correlated with the contributions and 
 discoveries of other laboratories, they build up a body of 
 useful knowledge which, in the hands of a skilled physi- 
 cian, permits not only the alleviation of pain, but the 
 control of disease before regarded as a sentence of death. 
 
 Citizens of Michigan may contemplate with pride this 
 phase of the argument, for no medical school in this 
 country, and few in Europe, have made more positive or 
 helpful contributions to the science of medicine, during 
 the last quarter of a century, than the one which our 
 State supports. One or two illustrations of what the 
 development of the science of medicine has done in 
 recent years may not be inappropriate. 
 
 Diphtheria used to be one of the most dreaded of dis- 
 eases, and well might this be the case. Before the 
 discovery of modern treatment, fifty cases in an hundred 
 terminated fatally; at present the ratio of mortality is 
 ten in an hundred. In the matter of milk and milk poi- 
 sons, there has been wonderful advance in recent years. 
 The records of fourteen hospitals in the City of New York 
 show that, in the case of children brought for treatment 
 suffering from summer complaint, the average rate of 
 mortality has been reduced from eighty-five per cent to 
 fifty per cent. I might continue such illustrations with- 
 out number, but these, mentioned are adequate to show 
 that technical excellence on the part of the physician is 
 of more importance to. the patient, and to us who are 
 friends of the patient, than -to the physician himself. 
 
 (4) 
 
The individual practitioner may be satisfied with a degree 
 of excellence just above that of his competitors, for that 
 would enable him to obtain the highest fees; what soci- 
 ety wants, however, is a high plane of excellence on the 
 part of all practitioners. If this be true (and the illus- 
 tration applies equally to all expert and professional 
 knowledge), the people at large are more vitally inter- 
 ested in the maintenance of higher institutions of learn- 
 ing, the product of which is a high level of professional 
 excellence, than are the persons who attend those insti- 
 tutions. 
 
 If such a view of the case be conceded, the question 
 of the relation of higher education to the people is thrown 
 into a newer and truer light than when regarded from 
 the point of view of those who receive instruction. The 
 State, whose function it is to guard and develop the inter- 
 est of the entire people, is not called upon to apologize 
 for the expenditure of so much money as may be required 
 to place at the disposal of the humblest citizen the ad- 
 vantage of expert training. The people are interested in 
 maintaining experiment stations in all branches of useful 
 knowledge. 
 
 It may perhaps be objected that investigation and re- 
 search are not a proper function of institutions founded 
 for instruction. To this 1 can only make reply, that, 
 speaking generally and with the sanction of the history 
 of civilization, the research which has blest the world 
 has emanated from the universities. When institutions 
 of higher learning cease to investigate and content them- 
 selves with teaching what the world already knows, the 
 development of civilization will be arrested; the world 
 will have entered upon a period of retrogression and de- 
 cay. I know of no other way by which the direct inter- 
 est of the body of the people in higher education can be 
 more clearly expressed. These educational institutions 
 are a part of the social order. They perform a function 
 
 (5) 
 
essential to the welfare of society. They render a ser- 
 vice direct or indirect to every member of the community. 
 
 Turning now to the third point of view from which 
 higher education may be regarded, let us consider the 
 general as distinct from the particular services rendered 
 by higher education. This has been foreshadowed in 
 what has already been said, but it is capable of more 
 definite expression by means of a few specific illustrations. 
 
 Upon what, let us ask, in the first place, does indus- 
 trial prosperity depend.? Speaking broadly, I reply, it 
 depends upon the character of the soil and of the climate, 
 and upon the posession of raw material for manufacture. 
 It depends also upon the safety of property and the secur- 
 ity of contract. It depends, finally, upon the intelligence 
 of the people which enables them to make use of natural 
 opportunities. It is the third of these conditions of pros- 
 perity which places emphasis upon education, . Intelli- 
 gence has always been regarded as essential for effective 
 labor. In medieval times, when men used tools, iudus- 
 trial training was secured by means of a seven years' 
 apprenticeship in whatever trade or craft was chosen, a 
 fact which goes far toward explaining thewondeful hand- 
 work that has come down to us from the fourteenth and 
 fifteenth centuries. At present tools have given way to 
 machiner}^ and ability to invent new methods of produc- 
 tion and to direct large aggregations of labor have come 
 to be of prime importance in the maintenance of industrial 
 efficiency. Consider this, for a moment, on the side of 
 invention. An hundred years ago inventions were more 
 or less accidental. The thought that Nature could be 
 conquered by patient study, and her forces harnessed to 
 the treadmill of industry, thus making possible the eman- 
 cipation of mankind from excessive toil, was not in-' 
 eluded within the range of practical thinking. Contrast 
 this with the present point of view. Invention is now 
 a profession. The Bell Telephone Company, for exam' 
 
 (6) 
 
pie, which, whatever we may say of it as a monopoly, 
 has conferred inestimable benefits upon the community, 
 has upon its payrolls the names of men who are trained 
 in the sciences and the arts, all of whose time is spent 
 in the laboratory with the view of perfecting this means 
 of transmitting thought. This is not an isolated case. 
 Every branch of industry has its experts.' No industry 
 'carTcontinue to be progressive without its experts, and if 
 we admit that the modern system of industrial organ- 
 ization based upon machinery is of advantage to the 
 world, we cannot evade the conclusion that the higher 
 institutions of learning which train experts are an essen- 
 tial factor in establishing and maintaining our present 
 industrial efficiency. The inventor is as important to 
 the preservation of industrial prosperity as is the physi- 
 cian to the preservation of health, and when each man, 
 whatever his business or occupation, appreciates to what 
 extent his personal success depends upon the mainte- 
 nance of general prosperity, he is forced in courtesy and 
 in honesty to acknowledge a debt of obligation to that 
 educational system which includes within its curriculum 
 scientific training for investigation. Without our schools, 
 not only would further progress be arrested, but we 
 should soon lose the general intelligence necessary to 
 avail ourselves of the technical progress already made. 
 
 The same conclusion would be reached were we to 
 consider the importance of efficient management. No 
 man today can work alone. The principal of division of 
 labor is of universal application. This is only another 
 way of calling attention to the importance of organiza- 
 tion ; and it goes without saying that if a thousand men 
 are to work together they must work under the direction 
 of a single mind, and that their efficiency as a working 
 body depends upon the manner in which their labor is 
 directed. But ability to manage a great industry comes 
 not by birth ; it is the result either of experience or of 
 
 (7) 
 
technical training. If learned in the school of experience 
 it is the public that foots the bill, because it is the pub- 
 lic that finally must bear the burden of mistakes and 
 failures. It is far cheaper for the public to provide schools 
 for the training of men into whose hands may be placed 
 the management of great industries. Is it not then evi- 
 dent that in business as well as in the professions, the 
 demand for training is primarily a public demand, and 
 that the body of the people, whether we regard the ques- 
 tion from the point of view of organized workers seeking 
 direction or from that of the consuming public have a 
 most direct and imperative interest in the maintenance of 
 those institutions which give the needed special training. 
 Such considerations as these suggest what I belive to be 
 the true relation between higher education and the people. 
 Were further illustration of this sort necessary I might 
 refer to the industrial history of Germany, whose recent 
 commercial importance rests directly and avowedly upon 
 her educational system. She has developed more exten- 
 sively than any other country facilities for commercial 
 and technical instruction. In England, also, is it coming 
 to be recognized that the continuance of commercial 
 supremacy depends upon the development of educational 
 facilities; while in the United States, the necessity for 
 commercial and technical education is forced upon the 
 universities and colleges by the desire on the part of 
 manufactures to secure standing in the worrd's market. 
 Our own university has established a course in Higher 
 Commercial Education, and the interest which business 
 men have evinced in this course indicates that they 
 appreciate the importance of trained intelligence in com- 
 mercial affairs. To make this illustration tell upon our 
 argument it is of course necessary again to remind you 
 that the permanent success of one class, or one interest, 
 is impossible unless it be accompanied by the success of 
 all classes and all interests. The success of the agri- 
 
 (8) 
 
cultural interest, for example, is bound up primarily with 
 the development of a home market for agricultural prod- 
 ucts, and it is a truism to say that the limit of this market 
 is the prosperity of those members of the community not 
 engaged in agriculture. 
 
 My next illustration of the general advantage of higher 
 education to the community calls to our attention the 
 changes whch are rapidly taking place in the conditions 
 of rural life. In medieval times agriculturists lived in 
 little communities, going from their homes each day to 
 work upon the land. Whatever we may say of the ad- 
 vantages of intercourse which such a system permitted, 
 it had the decided disadvantage of restricting the land 
 that could be tilled. The farmer of our own time, on the 
 other hand, accustomed as he is to the use of machinery, 
 requires a large amount of land for cultivation, and this 
 necessitates that he and his family live upon the land 
 cultivated. I need not dwell upon the isolation incident 
 to this method of cultivation, nor upon the fact that 
 school and church privileges, as well as all those social 
 amenities, which make life pleasant, are far from propi- 
 tious. At present, however, there' seems to be some 
 hope of relief. Certain changes are taking place which 
 promise much for rural life I refer to the extension of 
 electric lines through country districts, to the establish- 
 ment of local telephone service, to the wide dissemination 
 of electric power, to the rural mail delivery, and the like. 
 The social possibilities bound up in the full development 
 of these enterprises, as M^ell as others of the same class 
 that might be mentioned lie beyond the power of the 
 imagination to grasp. We are, I believe, upon the eve 
 of far-reaching changes in the conditions of life in rural 
 communities. Such a remark lies of course within the 
 realm of speculation, but it is reasonable speculation. I 
 look confidently for the time when social intercourse and 
 manufacturing on a small scale will be restored to rural 
 
 (9) 
 
communities: and, when this shall have been accom- 
 plished, the country rather than the town will offer the 
 opportunity for sensible living. To whom will the coun- 
 try be indebted for the realization of so bright a picture? 
 The question is answered before it is asked. The ten- 
 dency to which reference is made is one of the many, 
 blessings bound up in the development of science. It is 
 the professor who, with his students, works patiently 
 within his laboratory at the occult problems of electricity 
 and other mechanical agencies to whom must be granted 
 praise for having rendered this change possible; and yet 
 he is not entirely responsible, for without the generous 
 support of the people, thus giving him the opportunity of 
 investigation and instruction, he would be unable to de- 
 vote his life to such a service. Thus, ever do we come 
 back to the idea that the higher institutions of learning 
 under which we include research as well as instruction, 
 are of primary, nay essential importance to the great 
 body of the people. 
 
 My third illustration is of an entirely different sort. It 
 may be urged that all that has thus far been said per- 
 tains to physical science and not to general culture. It is 
 doubtless easier to illustrate the popular advantage of 
 higher institutions of learning by reference to the phys- 
 ical sciences and mechanical inventions, than by referring 
 to what is sometimes called the culture studies, but one 
 cannot conclude from this that the people at large are not 
 interested in those departments of colleges and universi- 
 ties which concern themselves with literature, music, his- 
 tory, philosophy or politics. The physical sciences min- 
 ister to the conditions of life ; these other branches of 
 learning minister to life itself. There are many ways in 
 which studies of this sort spread their blessings to the 
 community even though (which 1 trust may not always 
 be the case) they are followed by a comparatively small 
 number. Ask yourselves seriously the question, what it 
 
 (10) 
 
is you desire from your clergymen, your teachers, your 
 statesmen, and you will be forced to recognize that these 
 studies, sometimes called culture studies, are in reality 
 professional studies for men who undertake to serve soci^ 
 ety in the manner suggested. Consider this suggestion, 
 for a moment, from the point of view of the clergyman, 
 I know of no professional class which stands in greater 
 need of a broad and* comprehensive education. Espe- 
 cially is this true when we recognize to what an extent 
 the spirit of social service has entered into the life and 
 activities of the Church during the past twenty-five 
 years. It is a most encouraging fact that this great 
 institution — the peculiar guardian of the principles of 
 religion and morality — should recognize the importance 
 of the social as well as of the personal application of re- 
 ligious principles. The Church is coming to regard itself 
 as the center from which the inspiration to a higher social 
 and political life should emanate, rather than as a haven 
 to which man may flee from the contaminating influences 
 of an evil v/orld. If, however, the Church is thus to 
 serve as a center of positive influence in the community, 
 it must touch the community at all points. The clergy- 
 man must be able to see how good roads are related to 
 right living; how manual training and technical educa- 
 tion bear upon the moral life of the boys and the girls; 
 how charity is related to poverty; how industrial organ- 
 ization is but a phase of social organization and carries 
 with it a moral influence; how the circulation of good 
 books may result in fruitful thinking and healthful living; 
 how through clubs for the young and societies for the old, 
 the roof of the Church may be brought to shelter the 
 pleasures of the people as well as their worship; and how 
 all these agencies may be made to exert a positive influ- 
 ence for righteousness in the conmmunity. This is easy 
 of statement, but it is difficult of execution. The clergy- 
 man under this newer and broader interpretation of his 
 
 (11) 
 
functions, is nothing less than a social engineer, and if 
 he is to perform these functions with efficiency and grace, 
 it is imperative that he understands the complex and in- 
 tricate machine which we call society. You appreciate 
 tlie importance of a technical education which results in 
 making civil and mechanical engineers, because you rec- 
 ognize the industrial and commmercial bearing of their 
 work, is it not reasonable to place as high an appreci- 
 ation upon the education of social engineers who are 
 dealing, not with the conditions of living, but with life 
 itself? An affirmative reply to this question, or indeed 
 any sympathy with the line of reasoning thus suggested, 
 is an acknowledgement of the social importance of a gen- 
 eral and comprehensive education on the part of those 
 who have to do with the moulding of life. Indeed, from 
 this point of view I should almost be willing to say that 
 the so-called culture studies are professional studies. 
 We at least find a fundamental reason why they should 
 continue to be nourished by all higher institutions of 
 learning. 
 
 This phase of the subject might be further illustrated 
 by referring to the work of the teacher, or to the nature 
 of the public service rendered by those who make our 
 laws. I pass these, however, in order to call your atten- 
 tion to a yet more fundamental relation Vv'hich higher 
 education bears to the interests of the people. You have 
 doubtless heard the question frequently discussed wheth- 
 er our democratic form of government is likely to stand 
 the strain of commercial prosperity. You will not, I trust, 
 convict me of lack of faith if I say that the pessimist who 
 prophesies the destruction of our popular institutions can 
 point to many tendencies which seem to give support to 
 his doleful conclusions. Without undertaking to analyze 
 the situation or speak critically of these tendencies, it 
 may be appropriate to call attention to the fact, that the 
 chief danger to which we are exposed arises from the 
 
 (12) 
 
popular worship of business success. Not only is it a 
 misfortune to the individual, but, in its results, it be- 
 comes a public calamity, that the acquirment of wealth 
 should be regarded as the test of a successful life.. Our 
 society is dominated by the commercial ambition. Our 
 form of popular government is threatened by the over- 
 mastering influence of commercial interests. Many rea- 
 sons might be submitted why we need a wider diffusion 
 of wealth and a more equal distribution of commercial 
 
 power. 
 
 Such remarks as these commonly lead to the advocacy 
 of some legislative remedy. The cure, however, cannot 
 be accomplished by law. It can only be accomplished by 
 a widespreadjLppreciation of what makes life worth hv- _ _/._ 
 ing. /"rke^orthiness of life does not depend upon con- / 
 ■ditions but upon an intelligent interest in those things by ' 
 which life is surrounded. Our universities and colleges 
 are the guardians of this intelligent interest. To them 
 is entrusted the lamp of learning. It is their high privi- 
 lege, as well as their social duty, to transmit this lamp 
 undimmed from generation to generation. The truly or- 
 ganized society is one in which human interests are 
 evenly balanced. It is not desired to curb the commer- 
 cial ambition of men, for without the commercial interest 
 there could be no industrial progress; it is, however, 
 imperative that by the side of this interest there should 
 flourish other interests and other aims to the end that | 
 our magnificent industrial organization, which is the won- \^ 
 der of history, should not in the end crush out the ideal \ 
 of high living. It thus becomes the task of universities \ 
 
 not only to minister to industrial advancement, but to j 
 
 enable technical advancement to minister to the life of I 
 
 the people. He who appreciates the social significance I 
 
 of true culture cannot fail to understand the intimate 
 relation which exists between the higher education and 
 the life of the people. 1 close, then, with the remark 
 
 (13) 
 
that institutions of learning which add to technical 
 instruction and research, the spirit of culture and of at- 
 tainment, render a direct service to the community in 
 that they provide relief from the intensity of the demands 
 of commercial life. From whatever point of view we 
 look at education, it is the people who are the chief ben- 
 eficiaries, partly because of the use they make of expert 
 training, but primarily because of the influence which 
 education exerts upon the form and spirit of society 
 which touches the life of the individual at every point. I 
 
 (14) 
 
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