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 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 PJk ESIDiiJIS T’S OFFICE. 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 by 
 
 THE HONORABLE JOHN BARRETT 
 
 No. 4. 
 
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY MOVEMENT. 
 
 Extracts from Address of Hon. John Barrett at the Fifth General 
 Meeting to Promote the Interests of The George Washing¬ 
 ton University with Reference to the New Site, held at the 
 New Willard Hotel, Monday Evening, March 25, 1907. 
 
 When President Needham honored me with an invitation to ad¬ 
 dress this gathering, I was impressed with the necessity of making 
 some practical suggestions. What I have to say, therefore, will be 
 along lines of accomplishing actual results for the benefit of 
 George Washington University. Naturally my observations will 
 be based upon my experiences. Having been a United States 
 Minister in many different countires, I have, of course, listened 
 to a great variety of comment on American civilization, American 
 institutions, and our American capital, the city of Washington. 
 
 It is remarkable, in view of the present movement to promote 
 the interests of George Washington University, that everywhere 
 in foreign lands I have heard surprise expressed that there was no 
 great National University in the capital of the United States. We 
 have little idea how well known this city is among foreign peoples. 
 In many parts of the world where the name of New York, Boston, 
 and Chicago are never spoken, there is knowledge of the capital 
 city named after the first great man of this country. 
 
 The name of George Washington is one with which to conjure 
 in all portions of the world. It carries a magical significance not 
 only in Japan and India, but in Africa and South America. A city, 
 therefore, and an institution, that are named after the Father of 
 his Country, are expected to be the best that the country in which 
 they are located can produce. 
 
 If once I have heard a foreign King, Prince, or potentate express 
 the opinion that education and civilization in the Unted States 
 should reach its highest point of consummation in the city of 
 Washington, I have heard it said a score of times. Were you to 
 travel around the world and ask the leading men of foreign nations 
 where they would expect to find the greatest University of North 
 America, they would say that it would surely be in this city. 
 
 How vividly do I remember that one of the leading Princes of 
 India, during the time I was attending the great Durbar at Delhi 
 in the winter of 1902-3, asked me about Harvard University and 
 remarked that he intended to send one of his sons there in order to 
 get the advantages of a university that was located in the capital 
 of the United States. The one institution of learning associated 
 with America of which he had heard was Harvard, and the one 
 city that he recognized as typical of our culture was Washington. 
 He consequently assumed that Harvard was here. When I told 
 him that it was located near Boston, several hundred miles from 
 Washington, he expressed surprise and doubt as to whether after 
 all he would send his son to Harvard. This is not told as any 
 reflection on Boston, but as showing what is expected of the National 
 Capital. 
 
All over South America which is famed for its devotion to edu¬ 
 cation, the great universities are located in the national capital, 
 and during my stay as United States Minister in this part of the 
 world, I was asked repeatedly by representative statesmen, educa¬ 
 tors, and learned men why it was that Washington, the capital 
 city of the United States, with all its unequaled advantages, did not 
 have a national university that would attract students from all 
 over the world. It was impossible, in short, for these men to 
 conceive how the American people had neglected such a splendid 
 opportunity. More than once, moreover, I was reminded by 
 South American students of our early history that George Wash¬ 
 ington in his will had provided for such an institution, and they 
 thought it strange that our people had never carried to completion 
 the mighty conception of our Liberator. 
 
 Again in China I heard more than once men, who stood for the 
 highest thought in Asia, express profound astonishment that our 
 national capital did not have in its limits a great national institu¬ 
 tion of learning which would invite graduate students from all 
 over the earth. Both in what these Chinese gentlemen said and in 
 the remarks of the statesmen of South America and India, I 
 gathered the impression that hundreds of young foreigners would 
 attend such a university if it were located in the capital city of a 
 country which to them typified modern and successful progress 
 in education as well as. in material accomplishment. 
 
 I venture to say, therefore, that were George Washington Uni¬ 
 versity today an institution known far and wide, it would have 
 among its many thousands of students no small proportion from 
 Asia, South America, Europe, and Australia. What better influence 
 could there be to strengthen our prestige and standing abroad than 
 to have in attendance at George Washington University representative 
 young men from all the leading countries of the world and especially 
 from those which are looking to us to set them an example? Let 
 us, therefore, though the hour is late in the history of the United 
 States, make up for the deficiency of the past and provide the 
 opportunity for higher education that is expected in other parts 
 of the world. 
 
 Having spoken of the foreign view of this question, I desire now 
 to bring the issue home, as it were, to our own people. George 
 Washington University should have the interest and support of 
 every state of the Union. The people of Oregon, Texas, Minne¬ 
 sota, Florida, and Vermont should be inspired alike to support 
 here an institution where the graduate students of their various 
 colleges could come for completion of their educational work and 
 take advantage of the unrivalled opportunities offered by this 
 capital. 
 
 I hesitate to say it, but I must tell the truth and remark that, 
 on account of the great aggregation of wealth in Washington and 
 of the attention that is given here to the social pleasures of life, 
 there is a growing feeling, especially in the West, that the city of 
 Washington is not in touch with all the country. One of the 
 dangers that confronts us today is the increasing conception in 
 other parts of the land that Senators and Congressmen who come 
 here are getting out of touch with their constituents. Many sec¬ 
 tions of our beloved land feel that Washington is only the capital 
 of the country in name, and that the red blood that flows through 
 the veins of the American people loses its purity in a city where 
 pleasure and. the enjoyment of life consume so much of the time 
 of its inhabitants. 
 
Nothing would do more to offset this tendency of opinion and 
 this class of criticism than the establishment and maintenance 
 here of a great national university in which every State would have 
 a particular interest and to the support of which the people of every 
 State would contribute their quota. Then the Pacific Coast and 
 the Central West would feel that they had a direct concern in the 
 advantages offered by the capital city as much as those who live 
 permanently here. The George Washington University would 
 then be a strong tie between the rising generation of our citizens 
 in all parts of the country and the city in which the capital of the 
 land is located. 
 
 In conclusion, therefore, I have to suggest that we should effect 
 a national organization for the purpose of securing subscriptions 
 in every State of the Union for the endowment of the George 
 Washington University. Born in Vermont and going later to 
 Oregon to take up my residence, I stand ready to do all in my 
 humble and limited power to make sure that these two commonwealths, 
 respectively near the Atlantic and the Pacific, will do their share in 
 this program. In Washington there are scores of distinguished 
 men that represent their States and sections in the Executive and 
 Judicial divisions of the government who can lead in this move¬ 
 ment. The States of the Union are not represented here merely 
 by Senators and Congressmen. In every Department there are quali¬ 
 fied men from each State who can interest their constituencies and 
 who have the ear thereof. Let these men organize and awaken 
 the people in different parts of our country to the advantages of a 
 great national university. Mr. President Needham, I appeal to 
 you to consider this little suggestion and put it into practical opera¬ 
 tion if you see best. If you do, I pledge you my cooperation.