/^a9 60th Congress, ) SENATE. (Document Isf Session. ) 1 No. 143. APPEAL IN BEHALF OF PROPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. Mr. Frye presented .the following APPEAL OF MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIIi OP THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COMMITIEE OF FOUR HUNDRED, IN BEHALF OF THE PROPOSED UNIVERSITY OF THE UNITED STATES. January 7, 1908, — Ordered to be printed. Washington, D. C. , December 19^ 1907, To the Konorahle the Senate of the United Stdtes: Jrhe members in general of your honorable body will not need to be more than reminded of the several important steps taken by it during the past seventeen years toward the establishment of a graduate national university in the District of Columbia — the university oft- times proposed, provisionally located, and partially endowed by the Father of his Country, also favored and recommended by ten of his successors in the Presidential chair, and earnestly advocated by nu- merous other statesmen of highest rank, as well as by a multitude of the country's distinguished scholars, men of science, and practical educators most competent to judge of the country's educational needsj They will readily recall the introduction, by Senator George F. Edmunds, in 1890, of a bill to establish the University of the United States, and its reference to a special committee, afterwards made one of the standing committees of the Senate; the printing of 5,000 copies of a "Memorial in regard to a National University," in 1892, and thej several affirmative reports of the Senate's committee, submitted in 1893, 1894, 1896, and 1902, by Chairmen Proctor, Hunton, Kyle, and Deboe, respectively, and embracing, besides the arguments of the committee itself, and hearings before it by many of the most com- petent authorities in the country, no less than 700 letters of approval from other distinguished statesmen, jurists, officers of the Army and Navy, and 250 college and univerir^ity presidents — all of them warmly indorsing the measure. But the recent installation of a number of Senators and the lapse of five years without action by either the Senate or its committee, to- gether with the prolonged absorption of Senators in matters of press- ing importance, will justify a fresh calling of the Senate's attention to the subject, with a concise restatement of the case, and the appeal now respectfully submitted, in the name of the National University \ Air 2 PROPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. \^ A \»A Committee of Four Hundred, by the undersigned members of its ex- ecutive council, with the request that it may be printed and have any reference deemed appropriate. In a study of American education four things are especially note- wortli^% nameh" l.\ While, at the beginning, and for a considerable period afterwards, the whole field of education was mainly in possession of the ecclesias- tical organizations of the country, there sprang up at length a convic- tion, which has since steadily deepened, that the State and National Governments, dependent as they are for their security on the highest intelligence of the people, have educational obligations most solemn and important^ Indeed, so deep and moving has been this conviction that to-day not onl}'^ is there no commonwealth of the American Union without its public-school system of such scope and efficiency as to qualify students for the collegiate studies, but in the States generally, though not in every one, there are yet higher institutions, known as universities, established by authority of the State, and with endow- ments from the General Government in all cases where the public lands therein were still owned "by the United States at the date of their founding. 2. Notwithstanding all this intelligent interest in educational agen- cies — elementary, secondary, and superior — no institution in the United States or in the Western Hemisphere has yet so entirely passed the collegiate rank as to constitute a university in the highest sense; that is, an institution exclusively devoted to graduate work. The fore- most of them can boast of little more than beginnings of it in some of their departments. 3. \Trven if there were an exclusively graduate universit}^ elsewhere in the country, or several of them, there are certain offices, many and important, as well as national in both name and character, that would especiall}^ attach to a university at Washington, established by the Government and with national ends in view — such, indeed, as could be fulfilled by none othei\_l 4. fThe chief advocac/TIi a true university for the country at large has been in connection with propositions to establish at Washington a graduate national university of the highest possible rank for all the States; we might even say for all the American republics, their rep- resentatives in Congress assembled (at Philadelphia, in 1891) having already given the proposition their unanimous approval. That an actual beginning of such an institution was nat made long ago is one of the strangest facts in our national history. For, as every one familiar with what has been done and attempted in American edu- cation well knows, it came very near being provided for in the Consti- tution itself, (jeorge Washington, Charles Pinckney, Benjamin Frank- lin, James Madison, and others of the most illustrious framers urging its inclusion therein as a means of making it sure, and yielding only when exclusive jurisdiction over the District of Columbia had been conceded to Congress, which bod}' it was believed would be wise enough to take such action in the matter as would early realize the desires and expectations of the founders of the Republic^ Hence the earnest efi'orts to secure action by Congress so often made by the farsighted Washington, who not only in his messages repeatedly urged it upou the Congress, but also by means of many letters to John NOV 13 1909 53. OF a f»IlOPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. 3 Adams, Edmond Randolph, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Gov- ernor Brooke, Alexander Hamilton, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and others, as well as in his farewell address, kept the subject before the statesmen of his time, and finally went so far as to select a site for the institution and to remember it in his last will and testament with a bequest of $25,000 in stocks of the Potomac Com- pany, which at that time were in hi^h favor. Hence the timely efforts of Gustavus Scott, William Thornton, and Alexander White, Commissioners under the act to establish the tem- porary and permanent seat of the Government, who ably supported President Washington's recommendations by a memorial to Congress in in 1T96. rHence the support of the proposition by ten of Washington's suc- cessors in the Presidential office, six of them in unbroken line and four within our own time, namely, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andjew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Haj^es, James A. Garfield, and Ben- jamin Harrison, all of whom placed a very high estimate upon the service that such a university would render to the country in many ways, especially by bringing multitudes of the ambitious young men of all the- States into friendly association at a common center and for a common object — President Madison so high an estimate that, like Washington, he strongly urged it upon Congress three times; while Presidents Grant, Hayes, Garfield, and Harrison even thought, as other statesmen have, that if the high purpose of Washington had been duly and early fulfilled there would have been no civil warj Hence the interest felt by such eminent justices of the Supreme Court of the United States as John Hay, John Rutledge, John Mar- shall, Joseph Story, John McLean, David Davis, and Salmon P. Chase — felt, it may be said, by the chief justices generally, from the very beginning to the coming of our patriotic present head of the Supreme Court, who for so many years has stood fast for the measure and is pleased to still hold his place at the head of the executive council of the National University Committee of Four Hundred. Hence the deep interest in the university proposition shown 'by the most eminent of cabinet oflicers along the whole line of Presidential Administrations — such heads of Departments as Edmund Randolph, Timothy Pickering, Albert Gallatin, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, William M. Evarts, Williai;i H. Seward, George S. Boutwell, John Sherman, Alexander W. Randall, Carl Schurz, William F. Vilas, William E. Chandler, Timothy O. Howe, L. Q. C. Lamar, Augustus H. Garland, Redfield Proctoif, Oscar S. Strauss, and others. Hence the concurrence of such distinguished heads of the United States Army and Navy as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Lieut. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, and yet others. Hence the support of the proposition by such other of our most distinguished public men as Senator George Logan, of Pennsylvania, who, while United States Senator, introduced the first national uni- versity bill, and in due time reported it without amendment; as Samuel Blodgett, author of the first American work on political economy, who, while a member of the House of Representatives, re- ported to that body, in 1806, no less than 18,000 subscriptions toward the university, with $30,000 paid in as a beginning of endowments, to become available when Congress should grant the charter; as 4 PROPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. Samuel Mitchell, of New York, who, as chairman of the House com- mittee on the President's message, reported in favor of the univer- sity, in 1810; as the scholarly Richard Henry Wilde, of Georgia, who, in reporting affirmatively on President Madison's third recom- mendation, at the same time offered a bill to establish the university ; as the able Charles W. Atherton, of New Hampshire, who offered and saw adopted the House resolution declaring the constitutionality of a national university, and as Mark L. Hill, of Massachusetts, who ably supported the recommendation of President Monroe. Hence the support given to the measure, in the form of resolutions by the entire Congress, in 1820, 1823, 1825, and 1832. Hence the support accorded by such eminent legislators of a later day as Senators Sumner, Patterson, Ingalls, Garland, Carpenter, Davis, Hoar, and the great body of Senators of the more recent past, whenever the question of the proposed university has come before them. Hence the unanimous report of the House committee on Education, in 1873. Hence the support accorded by many of the most distinguished of our diplomats, beginning with Joel Barlow, minister to France, who drafted the first national university bill, and concluding with Gen. Horace Porter, late ambassador to France; John A. Kasson, once minister to Austria-Hungary and then to Germany ; Oscar S. Straus, late minister to Turkey, and David J. Hill, minister to Belgium. Hence the advocacy of the university measure throughout the whole period of our history as a nation by the foremost of our men of science and learning — such men as Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, Josiah Meigs, Edward Cutbush, Thomas Sewall, Thomas Law, Alexander Williams, Horace Holley, Charles Caldwell, Alexander Dallas Bache, Benjamin Apthorp Gould, Louis Agassiz, Joseph Henry, James Hall, Benjamin Pierce, O. M. Mitchell, Arnold W. Guyot, Edward Everett, Amos Dean, James Dwight Dana, Theodore D. Woolsey, Spencer F. Baird, Hooper C. Van Voorst, Henry H. von Hoist, Samuel P. Langley, John F. Norton, Daniel C. Gilman, Alex- ander Graham Bell, and others too numerous to mention in this con- nection. Hence the concurrence of nearly all the most distinguished of American ecclesiastics who were ever approached on the subject, among them Bishops Alonzo Potter, Henry C. Potter, Ethelbert Tal- bot, Henry Y. Satterlee, AVilliam Paret, Thomas March Clark, Thomas Underwood Dudley, and Thomas F. Starkey, of the Prot- estant Episcopal Church; Bishops John P. Newman, Charles C. McCabe, David H. Moore, William F. McDowell, and Earl Cranston, of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; James McCosh, Francis Lindley Patton, Thomas De Witt Talma ge, and Robert S. Booth, of the Presbyterian Church; Henry Ward Beecher, Congregationalist ; James Dana Boardman, of the Baptist Church, and Edward Everett Hale, Unitarian, and present chaplain of the United States Senate — even such as have been deeply concerned in the establishment and maintenance of institutions of learning in the interest of their re- spective denominations ; seeing, as they have, that a graduate national university at Washington would fulfill important offices that could be fulfilled by none other. PEOPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. 5 ' Hence the support not only of the State university presidents, as would naturallj^ be expected, but also of the eminent heads of the more important independent universities, both old and new; for ex- ample, Presidents Thomas Hill, of Harvard; Theodore D. Woolsey, of Yale; Francis Wajdand and E. Benjamin Andrews, of .Brown; James McCosh and Francis L. Patton, of Princeton; F. A. P. Bar- nard and Seth Low, of Columbia ; William Pepper, of the University of Pennsylvania; Plorace Holley, of Transylvania; P. B. Barringer, of the University of Virginia ; James C. Welling, of the Columbian ; J. G. Schurman, of Cornell; Daniel C. Gilman, of Johns Hopkins; David Starr Jordan, of Leland Stanford; William R. Harper, of the University of Chicago; and Edward B. Craighead, of Tulane— in a word, the presidents generally, even to the number of 250 Hence the highly important advocacy of the national university measure by the State superintendents of public instruction and the United States Commissioners of Education, every one, and by the National Education Association — the most important educational or- ganization in the world, numbering its members by the thousand; which body, during the past forty years, has repeatedly, with unanimity and emphasis, declared its recognition of this high demand by resolutions and by the formation, many years ago, of a committee of promotion^ Hence, coming now to what we think of as present time, the unani- mous action of the United States Senate in forming a select com- mittee of that body, in 1890, to receive and report upon a bill for a national university, offered by Senator George F, Edmunds, of Ver- mont — a committee significantly entitled " The committee to establish the university of the United States," afterwards made a standing committee, sabmitting decided reports in '93, '94, '96, and 1902, Plence the unanimous action of the Pan-Republic Congress, in 1891, in adopting a resolution in favor of the establishment at Washington of a graduate university of highest rank in the common interest of all the American Republics. <^tlence, to conclude this recital, the remarkable facts that nearly every one of the Presidents of the United States and the greatest of other Americans in every walk of life and in everj^ period of our national history w^ho have touched the subject in any way have, with almost no exception, declared for the university, and that no American of acknowledged greatness, from the days of Washington until this present, has raised his voice against the proposition — not one. The truth is, no valid objection to such a university as Washington pro- posed has ever been made or is possible. Accordingly, we are constrained to ask, What has been the matter ? WHY THIS DELAY OF AN HUNDRED AND NINETEEN YEAES ? There has been nothing like it in American history or in any other. The delay has not been due, as we have seen, to serious convictions that nothing more in the way of university education is needed, as a little circle of ambitious heads of institutions have insisted, although the wrong thus done to higher education has been very great. The delay has not been because of any serious doubt of the Con- gressional right to establish such a university. There never was any 6 PROPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. room for a real question of this sort, and it has finally ceased to be urged. The delay has not been because of too large demands by friends of the measure, for we are asking of the Government nothing in the way of material aid other than that the provision by Washington himself be made good — nothing; although fully satisfied that if the nation's resources are to be further used for objects not strictly gov- ernmental none are more deserving than the establishment of the institution of learning most needed and most universally demanded. / Our faith is great in the wisdom of patriotic citizens of largS^ wealth — in the matchless givers of the present and in their worthy successors; and when they fully understand the need we believe that they will see both the fitness and the moral gain of devoting to this pur230se gifts even greater than any hitherto accorded and will gladly follow the example of Washington and share with him the honor of the final realization of his exalted aims. fThe delay has not been due to a serious conviction anywhere, much less to a prevailing belief, that the proposed university would weaken or in any way injure existing institutions, and such an objection would be considered too absurd to require mention had nobody been deceived by iM In the firs£place, there is no conceivable way short of violations of law, punishable by the courts, in which one institution can, in any proper sense, " injure " another. One may, by presenting superior attractions, draw to itself students who might otherwise attend else- where, and thus acquire a relative importance. The attraction maj^ be found in superior location, with better surroundings and condi- tions, better buildings and equipments, better instruction, or better established and wider reputation ; but each of these things is desirable, and to prevent their being ofl'ered because some one or more institu- tions in the country can not supply them would surely be to wrong the great public. Indeed, a general practice upon such a principle would forever stoj) the progress of civilization. As a matter of fact, no one of the very few institutions which have opposed the establish- ment of a university of the United States was ever known to resist the incorporation of any of the great number of others which have sprung up since the movement for a national university began, although in kind and purpose like themselves, and hence destined to become actual competitors. It is plain enough, without discussion, that, in case of an institution that is to undertake a work in large part different, indeed in some im- portant respects beyond the possibility of execution by any other, and hence would leave no room for competition, it is useless to even talk of "injury," in however slight a degree. And yet it is by suggestions of this sort that the few enemies of the national university measure haA^e sought to prevent, and for the time have hindered, the incorpo- ration of the proposed university of the United States, and prevented its endowment with insured millions by private citizens. 0ind right here is found the reason for our persistent contention, since a very little inquiry will show bej'ond all question that such a university would not be a damaging competitor of any one of the five opposing institutions, even those at Washington, though having as good a right to rise as Johns Hopkins, the University of Chicago, or PROPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. 7 any other — indeed, as we have seen, a better reason for rising than they; and not only the reasons just referred to, but the very important one that the no less than $50,000,000 worth of facilities already here, in the forms of museums, libraries, observatories, and other establish- ments, are all of them the property, not of any particular city, or religious denomination, but of the whole nation, having been provided at the common cost, and for the nation's use ; in view, also, of the im- portant special national functions which it is to exercise. The delay has not been due to any well-grounded fear that the pro- posed university would " get into politics." For provision has al- ways been made against any sectarian or political discriminations whatsoever in the institution and for the free exposition and dis- cussion of all sides of every subject related to governmental policies. And this, too, is to be noted that, in proportion as an institution of learning attains real dignity and importance, the politician, as dis- tinguished from the statesman, is instinctively constrained to keep hands off. In addition to these considerations may be mentioned the indisputable fact that in the governmental institutions of learning already established, such as the State universities, the United States Military and Naval Academies, and the Smithsonian Institution, practically no difficulty has ever been found on this score. The prin- ciple of political noninterference in American governmental institu- tions of learning has been amply vindicated by experience and may safely be relied upon for vindication in the future. The delay has not been on account of recognized faults in the university measure^ The bill may not be faultless, but it is the fruit of much correspondence and many conferences with leading Ameri- cans, as also of three protracted sessions of the entire executive council of the National University Committee, the Chief Justice of the United States presiding, and has long held its place in the Senate and before the country, without a solitary suggestion of material change from any quarter, although suggestions have been ofttimes invited. Moreover, it has been four times approved (three times unanimously) by the Senate's University Committee. It could not have been framed in a more liberal spirit, and there is to-day the utmost readiness in the National University Committee to warmly welcome and adopt any other plan or form of charter that can be made to appear better calculated to accomplish the desired ends. What we want and feel that we may reasonably expect without much further delay is an act of Congress for the establishment at Washington of an exclusively graduate university of the highest possible type, one that shall be not national in name merely, but truly national in name, spirit, character, and relationships ; a univer- sity that shall ever be, not only in harmony with the best that is in the purposes of the Republic, but highly serviceable in the gTeat work of insuring to it the most enduring prosperity and the most glorious possible destiny. We even venture to hope for a university that shall also be competent to serve the lesser nations, and in time become an acknowledged advance-guard in the whole world's march of civiliza- tion. As carefully planned, it will be unlike any other, and yet have dis- tinctly in view the best interests of all others of every grade, and systematicall}'^ work with all for the universal good. Let us demon- strate this by pointing out some of its distinctive features: 8 ' PROPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED UNIVERSITY. 1. The University of the United States, when duly established, will fittingly complete the American system of public education — an office of very great importance,' since, without such completion, they who have passed through its several grades from the primary school upward, and have won the college degrees, must suffer the in- calculable loss of that still needed constraining influence which leads to further attainments, and which can only be furnished in full measure by a concluding public institution whose high field is the whole vast realm of what lies beyond in every department of learn- ing and of what is yet possible to the genius of man through sys- tematic inquiry. In a word, the proposed national university by furnishing the requisite climax to the existing series of our public educational agencies will increase the interest of the youth of the country in the highest learning, lead greater numbers into all our colleges and universities, and in time relieve our boastful Re})ublic of the dishonor of holding a place but second in things which are vital, as compared with some of the other powers. 2. While maintaining all possible cooperative relations with other institutions, e. g., by exchange of student privileges and of favors among professors, investigators, curators, and other officials — in a word, such relations of whatever sort as may be found both feasible and advantageous — it will in general terms supplement others by supplying graduate instruction only in every department of study, notably in matters which concern the national welfare; furthermore, will tend to increase the patronage of other institutions by mailing them necessary gateways to the opportunities and honors it is to offer. 3. Wliile access to the instruction will be accorded to all persons competent to receive it, full membership and its degrees, strictly limited to the doctorate, will be accorded to such only as shall have already received a college or university title from some institution recognized for this purpose by the university authorities — a condi- tion at present imposed by no institution in America, and yet one that will stimulate all others to do their best work. 4. By this exercise of the right to determine what institutions are deserving of recognition, it will insure, as no other institution can, the needed adoption of high and uniform standards in all the colle- giate institutions of the country, establish a common measure for degrees, and afford the most healthful stimulation to every class of educational agencies. 5. By the dignity of its high rank and the facilities offered by its great schools of letters, science, philosophy, the practical arts, the fine arts, medicine, law, diplomacy, statesmanship, and yet others, it will become, as no other institution can, a means of educating at home the thousands of our graduates who at some risk now seek in other lands the facilities we fail to furnish. 6. For the same reason, it will become to all the other institutions a very important source of increasing numbers and superior teachers. 7. Because of its national character, it will draw to a common cen- ter, as none other can, great numbers of the graduate students of all sections, promote unity of feeling among them, and thus become in a high degree a nationalizing influence upon the country at large. PEOPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. V 8. Because national and of highest rank, it will bring to this world center many thousands of foreign graduates for a completion of their studies under the influence of American ideas and institutions — stu- dents whose return, after years of contact with free institutions (should they not remain to our own advantage), would promote the cause of liberal government everywhere. 9. For like reasons and because of the high place this country holds among the nations, the University of the United States would very strongly attract men of genius from every quarter of the globe to its professorships, fellowships, and laboratories, thus increasing the in- tellectual forces of both university and country. 10. By its graduate standards of admission in all its departments, thus insuring to the professional as well as nonprofessional pursuits that general information and that mental discipline which are re- quisite to the highest success, it will greatly advance the various pro- fessions in rank and real value. 11. With the collections, laboratories, and workers here present, it will greatly encourage all other institutions engaged in the work of original research and investigation, and thus become a very great force in the upbuilding of new arts and professions by the applica- tions of science. 12. By its central faculties and grand cluster of technical and pro- fessional schools it will early represent the sum of what is known and become to the whole world a great new fountain of knowledge and inspiration. 13. In turn, its scientific workers will be ever ready to meet the demands of the Government in whatsoever field of inquiry, and will feel in duty bound to qualify gifted students for any and every branch of the public service. 14. Being not in name only, but in fact, free from the narrowing influence of sectarianism in religion and of partisanship in politics, it will be an elevating power within its own domain and in the nation. 15. It will, in the nature of the case, exert, as no private or sec- tarian institution can, a most salutary influence upon the several branches and departments of the Government and upon civil affairs generally, elevating their standards and increasing their efficiency. 16. It will dignify the national capital and make it yet more attractive to all Americans and to the foreign world. 17. Because of its comprehensiveness, highest possible standards, exalted aims, and distinguished service to the cause of human learn- ing, it will command the admiration of the people and greatly strengthen the patriotic sentiment of the country. 18. Because national, it will be to the whole American people a potent means o:^ intellectual advancement, give new dignity and honor to the Republic, and contribute in a high degree to its supremacy among the nations. 19. Because, when once rightly established and duly recognized everywhere, it will have become a mighty means of promoting the world's progress in civilization. And so the reasons multiply, while the worn-out objections vanish, and we find ourselves more than justified in declaring with emphasis 10 IIKOPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. there is nowhere discoverable a single valid excuse for delay in the establishment of the proposed university; while the important and very decided demands for it are many, have been long continued, and inhere in the characteristics of the American people, in the na- ture of the government they have established and would perpetuate, and in the important relation our country sustains to all the other powers. rioME ACTUAL CAUSES OF THE DELAY. There is a great difference sometimes, as in this case, between a reason and a cause ; for, while a reason is always entitled to attention and more or less consideration, a cause may be ignored, or promptly arraigned, condemned, and brought to judgment. Earlier we spoke of the delay of the coming university for more than a century as a fact next to incomprehensible; yet we have had in mind several very important causes which have been quite mani- fest, namely : First. At the end of barely half a century we had hardly at- tained, as a whole people, to such a realization of its possible value as to make the establishment of a university like the one proposed seem so imperative as to lead to the requisite efforts and sacrifices. Second. It was plain that the cost would be great, while the coun- try was yet poor and multimillionaires were scarcely known. Some delay was then natural and may be generously pardoned. Third. There was the interruption of the civil war, with the po- litical conflicts leading up to and growing out of itr--conflicts all- engrossing and of long continuance. Fourth. The very unfortunate misconceptions of the few opposing institutions referred to — each of them so circumstanced and so repre- sented at the seat of government as to facilitate the working of ad- verse plans. J Again, with the wonderful growth of the Republic in area, wealth, and power, too many have ceased to be controlled by the lofty ideals which the fathers cherished — ^have been to a serious degree material- ized, and even made vainglorious, on the grounds that we are not only possessed of a genius and enterprise unparalleled, but have, through these gifts of Heaven, already made such achievements in the productive industries, in the means of intercommunication, and in commercial enterprises, as well as such increase of jDossessions, far and near, with yet greater armies and navies in the coming, as make us look imperial and seem to leave almost nothing else to be desired. In a rude general sense, these astonishing claims have been so far justified that it should hardly be surprising that the multitude of those directly concerned in producing so great results should, for a time, have lost themselves in self-satisfaction; forgetting that, all put together and important as they are, these things constitute but the beginnings of our civilization, and that in laying so substantial a foundation they have only made the United States of America supremely competent to achievements yet greater, because higher and more enduring, and which are, therefore, imperatively demanded. But we have a right to expect that the chosen men of the whole nation, who have been empowered to shape and direct the destinies of the Eepublic, will be found possessed not only of more than ordi- PROPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. 11 nary breadth and foresight, as well as of practical wisdom, but also of so pure a patriotism that it will make them superior not only to partiality and prejudice, which, in matters of this sort, have their root in merely personal, local, or denominational ambitions, but supe- rior also to even the most insidious approaches of a spirit of selfish- ness and injustice in whatsoever form or guise. For it is such men and such only who will understand the conditions of real greatness, and will hold their observance to be a most solemn and sacred obli- gation. Such men will readily comprehend that the source of Grecian greatness is to be sought not in the victories which so quickly made her mistress of southern Europe and northern Africa and for a time the supreme physical force among the nations, but rather in the things so gloriously accomplished by her illustrious philosophers, poets, orators, men of science, artists, and historians- — that but for these galaxies of her men of superlative genius and exalted aims, who gave themselves to the elevation and happiness of their people, and who, to the honor of those who ruled, were always encouraged and fostered by the state, there would have been no " glorious Greece " in human history ; that while her physical conquests were but fleeting and have left her a mite only in the geographic world, her marvelous achievements in the intellectual and spiritual realms still fill the whole earth and will continue to shine as white lights through all time. Such men as we have a right to count on at the Capitol of the nation will likewise realize that the glories of Rome are to be sought, not in the conquests made both East and West by her legions, but rather in the peaceful spread of her language, literature, art, science, ethics, philosophy, and law; that these, the fruits of her beneficent genius, at once various and splendid, have been and will ever remain her own chief glories and a priceless legacy to the human race. Such men will understand that the enduring greatness of this, our own Republic, greatest of all, is to be made sure, not so much by a reckless increase of her population, a stupendous growth of her many productive industries, and the spread of her commerce, or by such increase of her widely scattered possessions as will seem to demand an immense standing army and numberless ships of war ; not so much by mere material gains of any and every sort, as by the increasing intelligence of her people of every class and a faithful cultivation of all the virtues upon philosophic as well as religious grounds ; by such mastery of economic science as is essential to an unfailing material prosperity ; by an increase of zeal in the use of means for the highest possible intellectual culture of those who aspire ; by such encourage- ment as can be given to those who are especially competent to the advancement of knowledge by means of researches and investigations, and by such inculcation of the principles of morality, individual, municipal. State, and national as will insure to us the respect, con- fidence, and hearty good will of other governments and peoples, and so make this, our Republic, already great, at once secure in peace and a guiding star for all the groping nations of the world. It was Americans of this high type who laid the foundations of the Republic, and, happily, there have laeen such men to grace the records of our national legislature, as well as the annals of our general his- 12 PUOPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. toiy, from the beginning until now. But they have not always had their way, for it seems tliat by the rules and usages under which our legislation is conducted a few unfriendly or unwisely committed Members of either House may embarrass and delay a very great measure for a lifetime or longer. fS. fifth, and one of the saddest causes of delay since the modern, more systematic, and persistent agitation of the subject began, is found in such lack of attention, and hence want of appreciation and active interest on the part of some in authority who are usually accounted patriotic in sentiment, as have made it possible for the un- wisely ambitious managers and supporters of four or five institutions to work their adverse schemes»J Nevertheless, the interest of the Senate, as a bod3% is put beyond question by a succession of friendly acts, which, though in part already referred to, are here consecutively mentioned, namely: 1. The formation of a " Select committee to establish the Univer- sity of the United States," on June 4, 1890. 2. The action of the Senate, on December 17, 1890, upon motion of Senator Cullom, in continuing said committee diwing the Fifty-second Congress. 3. The unanimous action of the Senate, on March 2, 1891, in fur- ther continuing the said committee. 4. The unanimous order of the Senate, on motion of Senator Proctor, on August 3, 1892, for the printing of the " Memorial in regard to a National University," and again, on August 5, 1892, in unanimously ordering, on motion of Senator Sherman, the printing of 5,000 extra copies of said memorial, for the use of the Senate. 5. The unanimous agreement of the Senate's select committee on the able report submitted on March 3, 18,93, by Senator Proctor, chairman, which, however, was submitted at the very close of the Fifty-second Congress and could not be acted upon at that time. 6. The Fifty-third Congress placed Senator Hunton, of Virginia, at the head of the University Committee, who likewise, in the course of time, submitted a unanimous report, and finally succeeded in get- ting it before the Senate, and in having it affirmatively discussed by himself and Senators Vilas and Kyle, though at so late a day that the coming in of bills having the right of way again prevented final action. 7. Next there was the very liberal action of the Senate in placing the " Select committee to establish the university of • the United States " among the standing committees. 8. The report submitted by Senator Kyle, chairman, on March 10, 1896, which included important hearings from a number of citizens of first distinction in the several fields of education, science, letters, and statesmanship, carefully prepared communications in advocacy of the measure from others, and no less than 400 briefer indorsements of it, by letter, from the most competent of advocates in all the States. 9. True, the university cause came to a dead halt through the neglect, most unpardonable, of a Senator from Maryland, by whom four full 3^ears were worse than wasted. And j^et the abiding interest of the Senate again became manifest in a Congress of earnest effort on the part of its committee's chairman, Mr. Deboe, of Kentucky, who, on April 1, 1902, submitted a very full and convincing report, PROPOSED UNIVEESITY OF UNITED STATES. 13 consisting of a brief statement of what had been done to secure action, a showing of the character of the opposition made, and of the status of the enterprise at that time, together with numerous hearings, papers, addresses, 300 additional letters of approval from eminent men in all parts of the country, and a list of members of the Na- tional University Committee of Four Hundred; the whole making a volume of 192 pages, which was printed in a large edition, and, if we have been correctly informed, with but one objection in the Senate. Chairman Deboe tried in vain, however, to get the pending bill taken up by the Senate. Other measures in number crowded to the front and kept it back to the end of the Fifty-seventh Congress. That was in 1902, since which time until now, though often and earnestly petitioned for, no meeting of the Senate's University Com- mittee has been called. It can not be doubted that the honorable Senate will pardon the freedom with which we have spoken, in view of the very serious nature of the facts recited; in view also of the important favors so promptly granted by it upon simple request of existing private and denominational university organizations meanwhile, and of the diffi- culty we have, therefore, in understanding why it has not yet been pleased to put upon this our national measure, to which it so stands committed before the world, the seal of its approval after seventeen years of effort and anxious waiting on the part of a whole nation of educators and a multitude of other friends of the higher learning in all the States. Nor can it be questioned, after this quite full state- ment of the case, that a reasonable efficiency will hereafter charac- terize the discharge of duty by those who, under the rules of the Senate, are able either to forward or hinder a cause so important, and which, considering the efforts and sacrifices made in its behalf by so long a line of the foremost of patriots, should now be regarded as only less than sacred. In view of what is proposed and of the historic record referred to, the Senate would have been fully justified in chartering the Univer- sity of the United States without the formal preliminary of provid- ing a special committee. The known views of the ablest scholars and statesmen of the past hundred and more years of the Republic, sup- ported by no less than eleven of the Chief Magistrates, by the repeated declarations of the National Educational Association during a long period, and by official showings, full and unanswerable, after exhaust- ive studies in the field universal of the higher education — all these would seem to have furnished the amplest justification for prompt action upon the Edmunds bill of 1890. And yet, as already shown, there have been no less than eight Con- gresses without the final requisite action — five of them marked by the Senate's cordial agreement upon affirmative reports, all but one unanimous, and the other three Congresses without so much as a meeting of the Senate's standing committee. Bearing in mind the readiness with which the several institutions known as universities in the District of Columbia have been char- tered, rechartered, and otherwise remarkably favored, one can not but be struck by the contrast ; and we are accordingly left to supply an explanation the best we can. We can imagine how men with more of personal or local pride than love of country, or of learning, might prefer to maintain a 14 PROPOSED UNIVERSITY OF UNITED STATES. fancied supremacy for the institutions with which they may have been or are connected, for we have seen this same spirit manifested by local and denominational colleges toward the rising State uni- versities. Nevertheless, those universities have risen and are now rising, for the great body of the American people are intelligent enough to recognize the value of the amplest possible means of edu- cation, wholly free from the warping influence of any prejudice. Moreover, the opposing institutions have not only not been injured, but Imve greatly grown and prospered under the influence of an in- creasing general interest in education consequent on the new appre- ciation 01 it thus manifested by the State governments and on the growing demand for learning and intellectual discipline, both as qual- ifications for important trusts and as conditions of honorable stand- ing and of greater happiness, whether in private or public life. Just so will it be with the opposing universities in their relations with the national university when once established and in active oper- ation. Besides this, we are bound to hold the general welfare supe- rior to the demands of any mere sentiment of pride or ambition, whether personal or local — most emphatically superior, if such de- mands are clearly opposed to the common good, as is the case with the opposition above referred to, in its relation to hundreds of col- leges and universities which are in full accord with the national university measure, as well as against the recorded judgment of the great body of American scholars, scientists, and statesmen during the entire life of the nation. We are still confident that the interests of the higher learning and of the country would be best promoted by a union of the university forces at Washiugton in one great institution, as but lately was so nearly agreed upon, and are yet ready for such union on terms alto- gether just and most liberal to all. But if the existing institutions here prefer a separate and wholly independent life, let them continue thus, with ever-increasing prosperity. The more they prosper in a useful and honorable career, the more we shall rejoice. For if, in- deed, honorably and patriotically devoted to the advancement of learning and duly concerned for the honor and welfare of the coun- try, they will not stand against the establishment of a university like the one proposed, with very special and important ends in view, both national and universal, but will rather cultivate a liberality of sentiment and seek to strengthen themselves yet more by friendly and even cooperative relations. For, in the first place, since such a university as we ask for is a thing of destiny, there can be no great profit in further delay; and, secondly, inasmuch as its characteristic features will, as we have seen, make it a real help to each of them, while at the same time fulfilling a vastly important mission, pecul- iarly its own and otherwise impossible of fulfillment, it is evidently worse than folly to oppose. Having thus with some fullness brought to the notice of your honor- able body the facts and considerations which most clearly concern the establishment of the proposed University of the United States, be- cause of our regard for the American Senate, as of first rank among the legislative bodies of the world, and of our abiding faith in its high purpose in this great matter, notwithstanding the delays from which the measure has so seriously suffered, we now come to you with confidence. PEOPOSED UNIVEESITY OF UNITED STATES. 15 We come not only in the name of the National University Com- mittee of Four Hundred, which body of competent Americans we more especially represent, but also supported by the emphatic decla- rations of the National Educational Association, many times repeated since the appointment of its committee of promotion in 1869, as well as by the advocacy of the American Association of State University Presidents — all added to the support given to the general proposition by the many illustrious citizens who have so ably championed the cause independently during the past hundred and twenty years. We come, moreover, in the name of the numberless intelligent and patriotic Americans so well represented by a liberal public press, and in behalf of our beloved country itself, nay, of the cause universal of human advancement, and would respectfully present to you this our most earnest and urgent appeal, praying for the Senate's final affirma- tive action at the earliest possible day. And. D. White. J. B. Henderson. Eppa Hunton. Nelson A. Miles. George Dewey. Hilary A. Herbert. Simon Newcomb. John Lee Carroll. Merrill E. Gates. John W. Hoyt. LIBRARV OF CONGRESS ■li 029 479 550 9