among men as well as among books, in public business as well as in university work, in other countries as well as our own, in other times as well as our own.

Our country has already not far short of four hundred colleges and universities more or less worthy of those names, beside a vast number of high-schools and academies quite as worthy to be called colleges and universities as many which bear those titles. But the system embracing all these has by no means reached its final form. Probably in its more complete development the stronger institutions, to the number of twenty or thirty, will, within a generation or two, become universities in the true sense of the word, restricting themselves to university work; beginning, perhaps, at the studies now usually undertaken in the junior year of our colleges, and carrying them on through the senior year, with two or three years of special or professional study afterward. The best of the others will probably accept their mission as colleges in the true sense of the word, beginning the course two years earlier than at present, and continuing it to what is now the junior year. Thus they will do a work intermediate between the general school system of the country and the universities, a work which can be properly called collegiate, a work the need of which is now sorely felt, and which is most useful and honorable. Such an organization will give us as good a system as the world has ever seen, probably the best system.

Every man who has thought to much purpose upon this mass of institutions devoted to advanced instruction must feel that it is just now far more important to strengthen those we have than to make any immediate additions to their number. How can this best be done? My answer is, that this and a multitude of other needs of the country can be best met by the foundation of a university in the city of Washington.

But let me say, at the outset, that what I now advocate is not a teaching university at the national capital. That would be, indeed, of vast value, and the day is not far off when some publicspirited millionaire will link his name to the glory of his country by establishing it. He will find the eight or ten millions it will require a small price to pay for the glory which it will bring to

the nation and to him; he will see that the number of men distinguished in science and literature who live there or go there; the scientific collections streaming into that center from all points in our vast domain; the great national library and the precious special and private libraries accumulating there; the attractiveness, accessibility, beautiful climate, and increasing salubrity of the place; the facilities of every sort for bringing the best thought of the world to bear upon the political center of the nation; that all these constitute an argument than which none can be more cogent for the establishment of a teaching university, in the highest sense of the word, at Washington. Such an institution could be united perfectly well with that which I now advocate; but it is not now of such a teaching university that I am to speak; that I may discuss in a future paper. In the present article I shall sketch a plan for a university in that city with no teaching body of its own, but using the teaching bodies of all our preparatory schools, colleges, and universities already existing, and making them all, from Maine to California and from Alaska to Florida, better and stronger. It is a plan which involves, indeed, large outlay; but very little of this would be incurred for salaried officials, and still less for brick and mortar. Without farther preface, then, the part of my plan which I now present may be sketched as follows:

I will suppose, first, that some American shall have appropriated the sum, let us say, of from three to five millions of dollars as a basis for the institution. That this is not a violent. supposition is seen by the fact that we already hear of intended gifts in one place of from six to eight millions, and in another of from ten millions to a much greater sum. I would have the donor select a board of trustees from men of high character and suitable attainments, using the same care which was taken by Mr. Peabody in choosing the trustees of his various institutions; by Mr. Johns Hopkins, Mr. Cornell, Mr. Tulane, and Mr. Clark in selecting trustees of their universities; by Mr. Slater in selecting the trustees of his fund for education in the South. Of this board the donor might well be the first president.

This body of trustees, having assembled in the city of Washington, should select a head of the proposed institution, who

might be called its chancellor or president, and who should be, ex officio, a member of its board of trustees. To the acting head thus elected would be added such clerical force as he may need, with such local habitation and center for the proposed university as the trustees may think advisable. Such local habitation may be a plain suit of rooms in any building already existing, or it may well be a noble edifice, which shall adorn the capital of the United States and be the worthy outward and visible sign of the institution, indicating to all who visit the metropolis that this is the center of a vast provision for the higher education in the nation at large.

The first main duty of this head of the new university should be to select every year, subject to confirmation by the trustees, a small body of examiners, and the first main duty of these examiners should be to prepare proper examination papers on the leading subjects required for admission to the first year in the various departments of our American colleges and universities of a worthy grade. There would naturally be different sets of these papers, adjusted to the needs of various sections of the country and to the best standard which instruction has reached in each of those sections. On these papers examinations should be held at central points in these various sections of the United States, the simple methods being used which have been for some time employed by several of our larger universities, as in the local examinations conducted by Harvard, Yale, and Cornell in some of the greater Western cities.

The answers thus obtained to the examination papers, with proper certificates as to character, health, and physical strength of the candidates, having been forwarded to the examiners at Washington, a certain number of the persons showing the highest ability and giving proper guarantees of moral earnestness and sound health, shall each receive a scholarship, bearing the name of the founder of the university, to the amount of, say, three hundred and fifty dollars a year, and good for four years, with the right and duty of expending it in securing instruction at any college or university in the United States which such successful candidate may select. select. The principal further condition would be one requiring such scholar from time to time during the four

years' course to furnish proper certificates and reports, satisfying the officers of the proposed university at Washington that he or she is making worthy progress as well as maintaining a good character and satisfactory physical condition.

The immediate result of such a system of scholarships would be to give to young persons of small means but of high character and talent, in all parts of the country, an opportunity, which they at present cannot have, and to stimulate all such to high endeavor in developing their talents for their own honorable ambition, for the prosperity of the communities in which they live, and for the good of the country. How valuable this result would be every one engaged in advanced instruction knows. In every part of our land there are many youth of great talents, whose small means debar them from a suitable education and the country from their services. As a rule great talents and small means go together in American students. The quickness of thought, fertility in expedients, closeness of attention, willingness to save and sacrifice, and all the other qualities so frequently fostered in poverty, naturally develop intellectual strength. This honorable combination of poverty with ability is the richest treasure which any nation possesses; and the first effect of this plan would be, I believe, to unlock the treasure-house and make this treasure more available to the country.

The next result would be a great service to all preparatory schools and academies, public and private, in the United States. It would interest boards of education and trustees to improve their courses of instruction and to elect teachers for merit; it would incite teachers to select the best methods and devote their best energies to their work; it would stimulate communities to bring into the schools and keep in the schools the best of their youth. To increase this feeling I would have the names of such preparatory schools and instructors as contribute especially to the success of any candidate published in the annual reports of the central university at Washington.

Another great effect for good would be exerted upon the various existing colleges and universities. It would become an ambition with them to attract the youth of talent and character who have secured these scholarships. Every college and uni

versity in the country, not completely deadened, would feel proud to have its course of instruction thus marked for enlightened public approval. The institutions doing this in their various sections of the country would have an honorable preeminence, and all would seek to present the highest inducements. Men of wealth attached to these institutions would be led to strengthen them by gifts, trustees would watch closely for the best professors, and professors would be spurred to do their best work.

Another good result would be that, as regards the preparatory schools, colleges, and universities, there would be afforded a method of comparison between the work of various institutions of the same grade, a method of comparison of very great importance, but which does not yet exist. Two pieces of cloth turned out from two different looms can be placed side by side, and their strength and texture compared. We can thus choose between them, and between the looms which wove them; but between the results of work in our hundreds of institutions of learning no comparison is at present possible. Each puts forth high claims, but no present tests exist. The establishment of these scholarships would afford such tests. The question between various systems and methods of instruction, so important to the country, the question between the practical results of various institutions, so important to parents in the interest of their sons and daughters, would thus be fairly tested.

So much for the first part of the plan—the system of university scholarships. I turn now to the second part, the creation, with another portion of the income from the proposed fund, of fellowships. Of these I would have the university distribute, each year, a certain number, each of the annual value of, say, seven hundred dollars. These should be bestowed in the various fields of learning, as determined from time to time by the trustees at Washington. To select the incumbents I would have the president of the university nominate to its ooard of trustees each year examiners in the various subjects required for the taking of such fellowships; these examiners being selected from the foremost experts in their respective fields, whether literary or scientific. The candidates should be sought in the graduating classes of the various existing colleges and universities. The