themselves; and the same resistance to changed conditions appear. In Escott's "England" is an idealized picture of the typical rector, in which the good man's heroic labors are pathetically set forth in such strains that one is reduced to absolute wonder that men like John Bright can be so perverse as to advocate disestablishment; though indeed he might be excused on the ground that the clergy must be prevented from altogether sacrificing themselves on the altar of their country.[1] And in America a like fact appears in the military and naval service. If the naval officers could have their way, we would at once begin to discount the nations of Europe in building ruinous engines for killing our fellow-Christians; and the soldiers would likewise have an enormous standing army perpetually fighting the air on dress-parade. And now, to come to the immediate subject in hand, the same truth holds with regard to education. The European system was introduced into this country, and, though it has been forced to change very extensively, it has held its ground with wonderful tenacity. The primal distinction from one which would naturally grow up here is not in the subjects offered for study but in the method of maintenance. The European system assumes that people do not know what they need, and that it must be offered to them gratis. In America we recognize the contrary to be true in nearly all the concerns of life—in religious establishments, in the militia, and latterly in most college curricula.
In this paper I propose to pass in review the operation of educational endowments both past and present. Having admitted that the artificial support of education had at one time its social justification, we shall confine ourselves to the inquiry, Have endowments been productive of the progress of knowledge and sound education from the individual standpoint? For it will scarcely be pretended that in these days this mode of education is a necessary means of preserving order. That end is now subserved by commerce and the vast interdependence which complicated and specialized systems of production and exchange involve. The province of education in our day has become narrowed like all others, and—speaking, of course, of higher education—is now simply the bestowal of needed knowledge. We shall address ourselves to the inquiry as to whether endowments are a suitable means for the diffusion of knowledge by a brief examination of the history of the English schools and universities, and by a short study of their present operation in this country.
The history of Oxford is deeply involved with that of the general mass of British society. It is first known as poor and democratic. In the early part of the fourteenth century it is said that as many as
- ↑ The Archbishop of Canterbury, for example, sacrifices himself to the extent of taking a salary of $75,000 a year. Every one must feel sorry for the archbishop; especially when it is considered that he has to live in a palace rent free and to endure the terrific labor of crowning kings and the like.
