University of Washington

“ His visit to Philadelphia secured a generous benefaction from Washington, and at the same time his influence and that of others, so that Congress appropriated $15,000 yearly to "instruct the Iroquois in agriculture and the useful arts."
Washington had now matured his idea of a national university. He was ready to lay it before the country, and to be the first contributor to its endowment. Virginia was taking new interest in its schools and the influence of William and Mary College was widening: there was a demand for more thoroughly equipped academies. ”

“ It is not a matter of one million, or ten millions, or even of twenty millions, but of more, to fulfil worthily the wish of Washington, and I think no one would presume to use that almost sacred name except for a university of the very first rank, established by national authority, as he desired. Be it our part in our day and generation to do what we can to extend the boundaries of human knowledge by utilizing existing institutions. ”

“ The universities for higher education are the University of Washington at Seattle, University of Puget Sound at Tacoma, State College at Pullman, Gonzaga College at Spokane, and Whitman College at Walla Walla. ”

“ Charles D. Walcott, president of the Washington Academy of Sciences and director of the U. S. Geological Survey, as president of the board of trustees; and Professor Nicholas Murray Butler, of Columbia University, as secretary of the board. Under these auspices there will surely develop at Washington a great institution, which will in fact be a national university. It will not, however, be a rival to existing universities, but will coordinate their work; it will utilize the opportunities for study and research in the government departments, without interfering with their legitimate functions ”

“ Several Washington artists have achieved considerable reputations. Paul Morgan Gusten of Seattle, born in Vancouver, Washington, in 1886, attracted attention with his mountain landscapes and Northwestern subjects, and has contributed murals to the University of Washington library, Roosevelt High School, in Seattle, and to Washington State College. ”

“ Leading educational programs at present are sponsored by the University of Washington, Seattle, with lectures on science, home economics, current events, and general topics; and by the State College of Washington, Pullman, which serves eastern Washington with advice on new agricultural methods, farm management, and home economics.
Among nationally known radio artists from Washington are Bing Crosby, Lanny Ross, Mary Livingston, Helen Jepson, and Hugh B. Dobbs ("Captain Dobsie") . "Major" Edward Bowes, famous as a discoverer of amateur talent, was long a resident of Tacoma. ”

“ He was, however, persuaded to accept in 1865 the presidency of Washington College, at Lexington, Va., an institution founded on gifts made by Washington, and at present known as Washington and Lee University. In this position the great man spent his remaining years, joining refinement and dignity to usefulness, and revered by all who came within the charmed circle of his influence. ”

“ The educational element, the high-toned culture which always marks the mental and moral atmosphere surrounding a university is to-day the marked lack of what is termed “society in Washington.” 66The United States Government is doing much for science. There is a greater number of persons actively devoted to scientific pursuits in the National Capital than in any other city of the Union. Washington is already the seat of more purely intellectual activity than any other American city. The scientific library of the Smithsonian Institute is one of the best in the world. ”

“ The assembly cheerfully acceded to his proposition. As the encouragement of education was a subject in which he felt deeply interested, he made over the shares of the James River Company to an institution in Rockbridge county, called Liberty Hall Academy, and those of the Potomac Company he bequeathed in perpetuity for the endowment of a university in the District of Columbia, under the auspices of the general government. Liberty Hall afterward became the flourishing Washington College, but the national university has never been established. ”

“ In the census year 1900, out of a total of 158,245 children of school age, 100,731, or about 63 per cent., were in attendance. Of the population over ten years of age, 3.1 per cent. were classed as illiterate. The school statistics for 1902 gave the number of children of school age as 167,902, and the number in actual attendance as 136,645, or 81 per cent., which is a notable increase over the 1900 figures. The principal institutions of learning in the State are the University of Washington (see Washington, University of) , at Seattle ”

“ Washington came into national prominence by a remarkable speech at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, and after that he interested educators and thinking people generally in the working out of his ideas of practical education. He was the author of several books along lines of industrial education and character-building, and in his later years only one or two other men in America could rival his power to attract and hold great audiences. Harvard University conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts in 1896, and Dartmouth that of Doctor of Laws in 1901. ”

“ Strange after the lapse of nearly a century, the other evening the friends of this feeble and stunted college, including the President of the United Stales, high officials, learned professors, foreign ministers, and gentlemen of the press, assembled in Wormley’s comfortable dining-room, and over an “epicurean banquet” discussed what Jefferson and Washington did in their letters—a National University for the National Capital. The desire of Washington although not yet fulfilled, must in time become a reality. ”

“ Three-fourths of a century have passed since Washington, Jefferson and Adams consulted together concerning the National University of the future. Alas! it is still of the future. The dream of its fulfillment was dearer to the father of his country, probably, than to any other mortal. The explicit provision made for it in his will proves this. That bequest went finally, I believe, to a college in Virginia. Columbia College, feeble, small and old, is the nearest approach to the National University of which the National Capital can boast to-day. ”

“ Butler's analogy; political economy; chemistry; natural philosophy. By comparing even the latest and most advanced of these courses of study, one will see that the best high schools of the present day are nearly the equivalent of the institutions from which Washington could have drawn his ideals, and that a university that now begins where the best colleges of his time left off, would surely be the equal of all that he could have hoped to see in his national university. Such institutions we now have in every state and in almost every city. ”

“ In conferring the honorary degree of Master of Arts upon the Principal of Tuskegee Institute, Harvard University has honoured itself as well as the object of this distinction. The work which Professor Booker T. Washington has accomplished for the education, good citizenship, and popular enlightenment in his chosen field of labour in the South entitles him to rank with our national benefactors. ”

“ In 1857 the title of Washington University was assumed, and the first college degrees were granted in 1862. A Law School was organized in 1867, the School of Engineering and Architecture in 1870, the School of Fine Arts in 1879, and the School of Botany in 1885. The Saint Louis Medical College, founded in 1842, became a department of the university in 1891, the Missouri Dental College in 1892, and the Missouri Medical College in 1899. The university now consists of these departments, with the addition of Smith Academy, a preparatory school for boys ”

“ The university which took his name was inspired with the Harvard ideal, and, while recognizing religion as one of the great essential phases of human thought and life, gave and continues to give equal opportunity to all sects.
Another instance of the same spirit is Washington University, which began under Unitarian auspices, but soon developed into an entirely undenominational institution. Members of the Unitarian church in St. Louis secured a charter for a seminary, which in 1853 was organized as the Washington Institute. ”

“ Of the two plans of his mature years and ripened experience, one has been realized, the West Point idea, which brings together, from every State and Territory of the Union, young men to be trained for military service; that other plan of a National University, with schools of administration and statesmanship, is yet being considered. ”

“ The Washington University Club, on the corner of Twenty-ninth and Locust Streets, is a splendidly appointed club-house belonging to the university and managed by a committee composed of the dean, one alumnus and one student of each department. Membership is open to all officers, to all male professors and instructors of the university, and to all male students and graduates of the college, the schools of engineering and law and the medical and dental departments. ”

“ And though the nations of the world will never be brought under a single government, the desirability of removing national prejudices is as great now as was a century ago the elimination of state jealousies. The logical conclusion therefore would be that the 'spirit of Washington' moved forward a hundred years, would call for an international or world university. ”

“ Washington is, in this respect, like a German university, in which all the citizens make their living by the students and the professors, and on that account must do what the latter like, instead of holding out inducements for them to desert the path of duty. ”

“ There should be a free exchange of professors and students between all parts of the country. Then there should be a great national university at Washington or elsewhere frequented by advanced students and professors from all parts of the country and all parts of the world—men who would gladly learn and gladly teach. Harvard, Columbia and Chicago, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois may be secondary centers, but they should cooperate to establish a super-university, which would have the same relation to existing universities that these should hold to the colleges. ”

“ When a national university is established at Washington, it would be well for its faculty to consist in part of men from other institutions who should spend one year in five or seven at the central university.
It is difficult to find the right man; and it is particularly unfortunate when the wrong man has been selected. Academic rights and academic freedom are troublesome problems. It seems that an opportunistic policy must be followed rather than definite rules. A university can not be conducted as a factory; and even a factory does not entirely ignore the human element. ”

“ Leading Washington out of account, a laboratory for research might perhaps be best established in connection with some good university—like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Michigan, or Cornell. It would then be already provided with a library and a building-lot, some apparatus at least would be ready to hand, and a strong social element would aid in the attraction of scientific men. Moreover, with such affiliations, the laboratory would often be able to secure good volunteer work from advanced or post-graduate students; an advantage by no means to be despised. ”

“ It is certainly a hopeful indication of the ambition and lofty purpose of Methodist youth that one-eighth of the whole number of students of the Johns Hopkins University are Methodists, seeking the broadest educational facilities. A church with such a record will not lose her hold upon the intellect and scholarship of the age.
Methodism has wisely undertaken to establish the American University in Washington City. The founding of such a university was the dream of Washington and other great statesmen. This is the most strategic educational center in America. ”

“ Washington shared neither the least nor the most of the educational advantages of his colony. The elder brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, had realized their father's hopes, and had been sent to England for their schooling as he had been for his, but the early death of the father defeated that plan for George, so he obtained the early preparation for his life work from the "home university," over which Mary Washington presided, a loving and wise head. At times George was with his brother Augustine at Bridges Creek, to be near the best parish school, and then he was at home ”

“ The entire Carnegie bequest would be exhausted before Harvard or Columbia could be reached, and the University of Pennsylvania would be barely passed. It is thus apparent that even when supplemented by the opportunities for study which Washington affords, the advantages in a material way would not exceed existing institutions by an amount sufficient to overcome sentimental or other reasons that attract students elsewhere. ”

“ Andrews has so little confidence, inasmuch as it has given us all the sciences and arts, and created civilization, and brought the primitive man through the route of development up to his present status of intelligence and cultivation, ought not, we think, to be too lightly discarded in behalf of a university at Washington, although chartered and even endowed by the American Congress. ”