University of the United States ... December 21, 1896

.7?

2d Session.

v.- '

64th Congress, ) SENATE.

I iM

UNIVEESITT OF THE UHTITBD STATES.

December 21, 1896.— Eeferred to the Committee to Establish the University of the

United States and ordered to be printed.

■ i/-' ■

Mr. Sherman, from the Committee to Establish the University of the
United States, presented the following

COMMUNICATION PROM DAVID STARR JORDAN, PRESIDENT OP
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY, TRANSMITTING THE
SUBSTANCE pP HIS ARGUMENT BEFORE THE COMMITTEE TO
ESTABLISH THE UNIVERSITY OF THE UNITED STATES, DECEM-
BER 17, 1896.

[To accompany S. 1202.]

Washington. D. C, December 17, 1896,
Dear Sir: As requested by you, I senf) herewith the substance of
my remarks before your committee this mT>ming on the need of a
national university. The manuscript as here inclosed is for the most
part identical with an article prepared by me foi the January number
of The Forum, to which magazine full credit should be given should
these remarks be printed.
Very truly yours,

DATTD S. Jo^TiN,

Senator Kyle,
Chairman Committee to Establish the University of the Unite

the UNIVERSITY OF THE UNITED STATES.

The most important event in the history of modern German;
been the foundation of the University of Berlin. The uniflcatioA- Oi
the German Empire was a matter of tremendous significance. The
success of the German armies has widened the sphere of Teutonic
influence, while the recent adoption of a uniform code of laws through-
out Germany has been an event of far-reaching importance. But much
more important has been the growth of a great center of human wisdom
in Germany's chief capital. The influence of the University of Berlin
shows itself not only in Germany's preeminence in scientific investiga-
tion, not only in the wide diffusion of liberal culture, but it is felt in
every branch of industrial effort. There is no trade or handiwork in
Germany that has not been made more effective by the practical appli-
cation of investigations made in the great university. There is no line
of effort in which men have not grown wiser through the influence of
the noble body of men brought together to form this institution.

\

: OF THE UNITED STATES. :^ ^JJ^

■J -^
18 ti:* .v.. the university confined solely or even mainly

.he bouii varies of Germany. The great revival of learning in
^erica which has shown itself in the growth of universities, in the
ise of the spirit of investigation, and in the realization of the value of
truth, can be traced in large degree to Germanic influences. These
influences have not come to us through German immigration nor from
the presence of German scholars among us, but through the experience
of American scholars in Germany. If it be true, as Mr. James Bryce
avers, "that of all institutions in America" the universities "have
the best promise for the future," we have Germany to thank for this.
It is, however, no abstract Germany that we may thank, but a concrete
fact. It is the existence in Germany of universities, strong, effective,
and free, and first among these we must place the youngest and great-
est of their number, the University of Berlin.

In the history of our Republic this century has had its epoch-making
events. The war of Union, the abolition of slavery, one and the same
in essence, mark the movement of the Republic from mediaevalism to
civilization. But the great deed of the century still remains undone.
Ever since the time of Washington our lawgivers have had in con-
templation the building of a university at the nation's capital. They
have planned a university that shall be national and American, as the
University of Berlin is national ar d German ; a university that shall be
the culmination of our public-school system, and that by its vivifying
influence shall quicken the pulse of every part of that system. For
more than acentury wise men have kept this project in mind. For more
than a century wise men hai^e seen the pressing need of its accomplish-
juent. For more than a c^n^ury, however, the exigencies of politics or
the indifference of political niauagers have caused postponement of its
final consideration. - '< f^^.^^

Meanwhile, about tlie national capitalTby the very necessities of the
case, the basal material of a great university has been already gath-
ered. The Nation^;! Museum and the Army Medical Museum far exceed
all other similar collections in America in the amount and value of the
'^terial, /ra+bcn^d for investigation. The Library of Congress is our
t public library, and, in the nature of things, it will always
so. The Geological Survey, the Coast and Geodetic Survey,
biological surveys of the Department of Agriculture are con-
engaged in investigations of the highest order, conducted by
university training, and possible to no other men. The United
Fish Commission is the source of a vast part of our knowledge
sea and of sea life. Besides these, are many other bureaus and
,. .ms in which scientific inquiry constitutes the daily work. The
work of these departments should be made useful not only in its con-
clusions but in its methods. A university consists of investigators
teaching./ All that the national capital needs to make a great univer-
sity of it is that a body of real scholars should be maintained to train
other men in the work now so worthily carried on. To do this would
be to bring to America all that American scholars now seek in the
University of Berlin. Students will come wherever opportunities for
investigation are given. No standards of work can be made too high,
for the severest standards attract rather than repel men who are worth
educating.

It should not be necessary to bring arguments to show the need of
a national university in America^//' A university, we may remember, TS^
not a school for boys and girls, where the elements of a liberal educa- I
tion are taught to those who have yet to enter upon the serions side of j

L

4 UNIVERSITY OF THE UNITED STATES.

occupy. In doing so it would furnish a stimulus whicli would
strengthen all like work throughout the land.

Graduate work has yet to be taken seriously by American univer-
sities. Their teachers have carried on original research, if at all, in
hours stolen from their daily tasks of plodding and prodding. The
graduate student has been allowed to shift for himself, and he has been
encouraged to select a university not for the training it offers, but because
of some bonus in the form of scholarships. The free-lunch inducement
to investigation will never build up a university. Fellowships can never
take the place of men or books or apparatusJn developing the univer-
sity spirit. Great libraries and adequate facilities for work are costly, )
and no American institution has j^et gathered together such essentials,'
for university work as already exist at Washington.

If a national university is a national need, it is the duty of the peo-
ple to meet and satisfy it. No other power can do it. As well ask
wealthy manufacturers or wealthy churches to endow and support our
supreme court of law as to endow and support our supreme university.
They can not do it; they will not do it, and as free men we would not
have them do it if they would. As to this, Mr. John W. Hoyt, a man
who has for years bravely led in the effort to establish a national uni-
versity, has these strong words :

WHAT SHOULD THE NATION UNDERTAKE TO ACCOMPLISH f

What the citizen has not done and can not do is our answer. The citizen may
create a very worthy and quite important private institution, some of which may be
named to-day, but no citizen, however great his fortune, and no single common-
wealth, much less any sectarian organization or any combination of these, can create
an Institution that shall be so wholly free from bias of any and every sort ; that shall
complete our public educational system ; that shall exert so nationalizing and har-
monizing an influence upon all portions of our great country ; that shall be always
ready to meet the demands of the Government for service in whatsoever field, and
that shall at the same time secure to the United States an acknowledged ascendancy
in the ever-widening field of intellectual activity.

A university bears the stamp of its origin. Whatever its origin, the
university ennobles it. But a national university must spring from the
people. It must be paid for by them and must have its final justifica-
tion in the upbuilding of the nation. /| Whatever institutions the peoi)le
need the people must create and control. That this can be wisely done
is no matter of theory. With all their mistakes and crudities, the
State universities of America constitute the most hopeful feature in
our whole educational system. Doubtless the weakness and folly of
the people have affected them injuriously from time to time. This is
not the point. We must think of the effect they have had in curing
the people of weakness and folly. "The history of Iowa," says Dr.
Angell, "is the history of her State university." The same thing is
grandly and emphatically true in Dr. Angell's own State of MichiganJ-j-*
In its degree the history of every State is molded by its highest insti-' '
tution of learning.

As I have had occasion to say once before —

Many trials are made in popular government ; many blunders are committed before
any given piece of work falls into the hands of competent men. But mistakes are
a source of education. Sooner or later the right man will be found and the right
management of a public institution will justify itself. What is well done can never
be wholly undone. In the long run, few institutions are less subject to partisan
influence than a State university. When the foul grip of the spoilsman is once
unloosed it can never be restored. In the evil days which befell the politics of Vir-
ginia, when the fair name of the State was traded upon by spoilsmen of every party,
of every degree, the one thing in the State never touched by them was the honor <rf

UNIVERSITY OF THE UNITED STATES. 8

life. A university is not a school maintained for the glory or the exten-
sion of any denominational body. In its very definition, a university
must be above and beyond all sectarianism. Truth is as broad as the
universe, and no one can search for it between any artificial boundaries.
As well ask for Presbyterian sunshine or a Baptist June as to speak of
a denominational university.

It is said that we have in America already some four hundred colleges
and universities, and that therefore we do not need any more. Quite^
true. We need no more like these.A' The splendid achievement and
noble promise of our universities, to which Mr. Bryce calls attention, is
not due to their number. Many of them do not show this promise. If
such were to close their doors to-morrow education would be the gainer
for it. Many of these institutions, as we know, are not universities in
fact nor in spirit. Most of the work done in the best of them is that of
the German gymnasium or preparatory school. The worst of them
would, in Germany, be closed by the police, but in a certain number of
the strongest and freest of these is found in the highest degree the
genuine university spirit. For more of these good ones there is a cry-
ing demand. Their very promise is a reason why we should do every-
thing possible to make them better.

A school can rise to be a university only when its teachers are uni-
versity men — when they are men trained to face directly and effectively
the problems of nature and life. To give such training is the work of
the university. In an educational system each grade looks to the one
next higher for help and inspiration. //The place at the head of our
system is now held by a university oi a foreign land. It is not the
needs of the District of Columbia which are to be met by the Univer-
sity of the United States. The local needs are well supplied already.
It is the need of the nation. And not of the nation alone, but of the
world. A great university in America would be a school for the study
of civic freedom. A great university at the capital of the Eepublic
would attract the free minded of all the earth. It would draw men of
all lands to the study of democracy. It would tend to make the work-
ings of democracy worthy of respectfol study. The New World has its
lessons to men as well as the Old, and its material for teaching these
lessons should be made equally adequate. Mold and ruin are not
necessary to a university, nor are traditions and precedents essential
to its effectiveness. The greatest of Europe's universities is one of her
very youngest. Much of the greatness of the University of Berlin is
due to her escape from the dead hands of the past. It is in this
release that the great promise of the American university lies. Oxford
and Cambridge are still choked by the dust of their own traditions.
Because this is so men have doubted whether England has to-day any
universities at all.

The national university should not be an institution of general
education with its rules and regulations, college classes, good-fellow-
ship, and football team. It should be the place for the training of
investigators and of men of action. It should admit no student who
is under age and who has not a definite purpose to accomplish. lA has
no time or strength to spend in laying the foundations for education.
Its function lies not in the conduct of examinations or the granting of
academic degrees. It is not essential that it should give professional
training of any kind, though that would be desirable. It should have
the same relation to Harvard, and Columbia and Johns Hopkins that
Berlin University now holds./ it should till in with noble adequacy the
plaoe which the graduate departments of our real uuiversities partially

UNIVERSITY OF THE UNITED STATES. 6

the University of Virginia. And amid all the scandal and disorder which followed
our civil war, what finger of evil has been laid on the Smithsonian Institution or
the Military Academy at West Point? On that which is intended for no venal end
the people will tolerate no venal domination. In due time the management of every
public institution will be abreast of the highest popular opinion. Sooner or later
Ihe wise man leads, for his ability to lead is at once the test and proof of his wisdom^

! i Some of the half-hearted friends of the national university have^
been fearful lest partisan influence should control it. They fear lest it
become a prey to the evils which have disgraced our civil service;
that the shadow of the "boss" will darken the doors of the university
with the paralyzing influence which it has exerted on the custom
ofQce. I believe this to be a groundless fear. All plans for a national
university provide for a nonpartisan board of control. Its members
ex officio are to be chosen from the ablest jurists and wisest men of
science the country can claim. Such a board now controls the IS'ational
Museum and the Smithsonian Institution, and no accusation of parti-
sanship or favoritism has ever been brought against it.

A university could not be otherwise than free. Its faculty could
respond only to the noblest influences. No man could receive an appoint-
ment of national prominence in the face of glaring unfitness, and each
man chosen to a position in a national faculty would feel the honor of
his profession at stake in repelling all degrading influences. Even if
occasionally an unwise appointment should be made, the action would
correct itself. To a university men and women go for individual
help and training. A pretender in a university could not give such
help. His presence is soon detected by his fellows and by his students.
The latter he could not harm, for he could not retain them. By the
side of his fellows he could not maintain himself. //Ko body of men is so
insusceptible to coercion or contamination as a university faculty. A
scholar is a free man. He has always been so. He will always remain
so. The danger that a body of men such as constitute the university
faculty of Harvard, or Columbia, or Chicago, or Yale, or Cornell would
be contaminated by Washington politics is sheer nonsense/ Such an
idea has no basis in experience. It is urged only for lack of oetter argu-
ments. Such opposition to the national university as has yet appeared
seems to rest on distrust of democracy itself or on the concealed hatred
of secular education. To one or the other of these influences can be
traced nearly every assault yet made on any part of the system of pop-
ular education.

The fear that the university should be contaminated by political
associations is therefore groundless. But what about the hope from
such associations'? /^.n educated politician may become a statesman,^
and we may look for tremendous results for good from the presence of
trained economists and historians and jurists and scientific investigators
at the national capital. It would in itself be an influence for good legisy
lation and good administration greater than any that we know.// ''The
worth of educated men in purifying and steadying popular sentiment,"
says President Cleveland at Princeton, "would be more useful if it
were less spasmodic and occasional. Our people readily listen to those
who exhibit a real fellowship and friendly and habitual interest in all
that concerns the common welfare. Such a condition of intimacy
would not only improve the general political atmosphere but would
vastly increase the influence of our universities in their efforts to pre-
vent popular delusions or correct them before they reach an acute or
dangerous stage."

The scholars and investigators now maintained at Washington exert
an influence far beyond that of their official position. //If the Harvard

6 UNIVERSITY OP THE UNITED STATES.

iaculty and its graduate students met on the Capitol Hill; if their influ-
ence were felt in the departmental work and their presence in social
life, Washington would become a changed city.// To the force of high
training and academic self-devotion is to be traced the immense iutiu-
ence exerted in Washington by Joseph Henry, Spencer F. Baird, and
Brown Goode. Of such men as these are universities made. When
such men are systematically selected from our body of university pro-
fessors and brought to Washington and allowed to surround themselves
with like men ot the next generation, we shall indeed have a national
capital. By this means we shall create the best guarantee of the per-
petuity of our Republic; that it shall not, like the republics of old, "go
down in unreason, anarchy, and blood."/! In the long run, the voters >
of a nation must be led by its wisest menl' Their wisdom must become
the wisdom of the many, else the nation will perish. A university is
simply a contrivance for making wisdom effective by surrounding
wisest men with the conditions most favorable for rendering wisdom
contagious. There is no instrument of political, social, or adminis-
trative reform to be compared with the influence of a national univer-
sity .-p-(From The Forum, January, 1897.) -^
i. David Starr Jordan,

Leland Stanford Junior University^ California,

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

0 029 479 545 5