PACIFIC UNIVERSITY 11
study in all the leading colleges and universities in the land.
If Garfield's conception was a true one, that Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and himself as a student on the other end was all that was needed to make a college, then must it not be true that the value of a college must be measured at least as much by the devotion and learning and character of its instructors and the fine quality of the young men and women which it turns out, as by its costly equipment and size of its student body? Pacific University at least does not think she has lived altogether in vain.
Her growth has been slow partly because the population of Oregon has never been great. When Dr. Atkinson came to Oregon there were not more than 7,000 people in the state.
In 1870 Oregon, Washington and Idaho combined had only 130,000.
The rush for gold in '48- '49 drew one-half or two-thirds of the able-bodied men from Washington County. And yet in 1912 Oregon ranked third in having the highest percentage of students in college or one to every 150 of the population. Kansas stood first with one to 112, and Utah second, 1 to 121.
In 1915 Tualatin Academy graduated its last class and passed out of existence. The increasing number of standardized high schools seeming to make secondary schools of the academy type unnecessary.
Twenty-five years ago there were only three high schools in the state. Today there are 200 of the standard variety.
While being in some sense the child of the churches, Pacific University has never been sectarian or under denominational control. Her aim has always been "to make it possible for the young people of the Pacific Northwest to obtain a thorough education under Christian influences." The name "University" has always been somewhat of a misnomer. It reflects the high aims and worthy aspirations of its early founders rather than actual achievements in the shape of graduate courses and pro- fessional schools.
