reference to a free university, well established for a hundred years, lest by any deviation from that at this critical time the University of Wisconsin shall fail to do its full duty to the state and to the nation. The progress of the nation and the state will continue. The old ideas and ideals will be modified. The human race is ever moving upward and onward; but such movement always involves vexation, strife, dissension, often pain on the part of those who are disturbed in their convictions. No advance has ever been made without suffering; such is the cost of progress. This is alike true of the labor-saving machine and of the forward intellectual or spiritual step. In order that the suffering and pain of advance shall be reduced to a minimum; in order that the benefactions of the advance shall be a maximum; and far outweigh the cost, it is incumbent that the universities play their part in leadership. Times of unrest, of changing ideas and ideals, are above all the times when the university should be most effective in the guidance of public opinion. Times of unrest and change are not the times for the university to trim; they are the times to set every sail from the main course to the sky sails so that all may draw. If at a time of stress the university furls its sails the people will lose confidence in the institution that remains supinely in the harbor when the state is confronted with vital questions in reference to which assistance should be given. The state has a right to demand of the university expert service in valuing a public utility; it has equally the right to demand expert service in politics and sociology. CHAPTER XVII FUNDS AND TAXATION MUCH has been written on the subject of school funds and taxation for public education, but of this literature only a few extracts which are especially illustrative are here reproduced. The three relating to the history of permanent school funds are illustrative of types. The history of the Massachusetts fund is that of a state which received no land grants, but has itself built up a fund of moderate size, and which it now uses to assist only its poorer communities. The history of the Wisconsin school fund is typical of the waste and mismanagement which characterized most of the earlier grants for education. The sketch of the Minnesota fund is typical of the newer attitude toward these grants, and of the efforts now being made by a number of the states to preserve what is left of their grants. But few states will be able to develop so large a fund as will Minnesota. I. HISTORY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL FUND [From the 64th An. Rept. of the Mass. Bd. of Educ. 1899-1900, pp. 16-21.] The Massachusetts school fund was established in 1834, at the close of the first third of the passing century. The Board of Education was established three years later. These legislative acts are the foundation of the present organization of our school system. The purpose of the fund was "the aid and encouragement of schools.' The towns were stimulated to make more generous appropriations for public education, and the statistical returns of the condition and growth of the schools were secured, which enabled the Board of Education to frame intelligently and wisely the legislation that has been the inspiration and the safeguard of popular |