DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER INSTRUCTION. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, Wednesday, July 13, 1887. The Department of Higher Instruction of the National Educational Association met in Webber Music Hall at 2.30, P. M., Dr. William A. Mowry presiding. A committee, appointed at an informal meeting of college presidents and professors, made through its chairman, President Charles A. Blanchard, the following report as to action desirable in order to secure reduced rates on railways for students : CHICAGO, July 16, 1887. To Western Passenger Agents' Association, Chicago, Illinois, DEAR SIR: The undersigned presidents and professors of colleges and universities beg leave respectfully to represent that the colleges of this region do not, as it seems to us, have from the companies included in your association the consideration which the facts in the case would justify. We are building up institutions of learning attended, in the United States, by more than sixty thousand students. Of these thousands are within the territory covered by your lines. They generally travel over your roads six times each year, and at our anniversary and other public occasions many parents and friends also travel for school purposes only. Thus we hold three great educational meetings each year, attended by many thousands who have no business engagements, but are simply going to and from college. We learn that your association grants reduced rates to church gatherings, military organizations, secret societies, and educational meetings lasting a few days, but to the colleges which are the fountains of the educational systems of the world, which furnish a large share of the professional men who lead society in all lines of advancement and which stimulate every legitimate industry in the towns where they are located, are granted no special rates. We understand that railway companies are organized for the purpose of making money, and that the special rates above mentioned are granted because your association believes that more money can be made on the low rate than on the higher one. It is precisely on this ground that we ask for the favor hereinafter mentioned. Many elements come in to determine where young men and women attend college. Denominational relations, family ties, the purposes of other students, etc, all have their place; but it is doubtful if any of these are more powerful than the question of railway transportation. Students are not money makers. Many of our brightest youths are poor, and excursion rates would enable them to choose their places of study much more freely than they now can. Such rates would also induce many to leave home for institutions of learning, who now remain away and cause those who spend short vacations in their college towns to visit their homes at such seasons. These thousands of students and the greater number of friends who visit them would average longer routes under the proposed than under the present system, and thus the railway companies would increase their own receipts while reciprocating the advantages conferred by the colleges of the country. We, therefore, request that all colleges having faculties of at least six professors, and an annual attendance of at least one hundred and twenty-five students, be allowed a one-half rate for said professors and students in going to and returning from said institutions. We admit the possibility that dishonorable persons should abuse these privileges and the propriety of such checks and guards as your honorable body may arrange, but it seems to us that honorable institutions and students should have the reduction indicated and for them we make the request. Chas. A. Blanchard, W. W. Harsha, W. R. Shuey, C. J. Albert, C. A. Reamer, (Signed.) Pres. Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ills. Bellevue, Neb. Westfield, Ills. Elmhurst, Ills. Hillsdale, Mich. Northfield, Minn. J. C. Hutchinson, L. R. Thompson, Wm. G. Williams, V. Pres. Monmouth Col., Prof. Purdue University, Ohio Wes and University, Monmouth, Ills. La Fayette, Ind. Winona, Minn. The recommendations of the Committee were approved by the department. A committee on nominations was appointed by the chair as follows:H. A. Thompson, of Ohio, L. S. Thompson, of Pennsylvania, and W. F. King, of Iowa. In the absence of Miss Alice E. Freeman and President A. J. Anderson, who were to have presented papers, it was decided to hold but one session of the department the present year. A paper entitled "The Place of Literature in the College Course," was then read by Mr. Homer B. Sprague, of San Francisco, Cal. The paper was briefly discussed by ex-President Andrews, of Ohio, and Principal Ford, of the Chicago schools. The report of the committee on "Requisites for Admission to College and for College Degrees" was then presented by the chairman, President H. A. Thompson, of Otterbein University. After a discussion of the paper by Mr. Jerome Allen, of New York, and Prof. Fischer, of Illinois, it was referred to a committee with instructions to report in one year. The chair announced the committee as follows:-H. A. Thompson, of Ohio, Homer B. Sprague, of California, I. W. Andrews, of Marietta College, Ohio, J. L. Pickard, of Iowa State University, W. F. King, of Cornell College, Iowa. On recommendation of the committee on nominations, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year : President-B. A. Hinsdale, of Ohio. Vice-President-Miss Alice E. Freeman, Wellesley College, Mass. No other business appearing, the department then adjourned. H. H. FREER, Secretary. |