THE GEEAXEfi COLUMBIA.
Pair Buildings to Arise on tlie
Heights -Of Bloomingclalo.
t
The Orcat University llow the
Modern College Kellcti Upon Rich Citl
aeiitt for Splendid Advances in the
Future—Great Center of Culture.
[COPYRIGHT, 1596.]
We are standing on the highest point
of Bloomingdale Heights, New York
city, facing one of the fairest prospects
in the. new world.
Away to the left, beyond the silver
st r oak wh ieh one con Id scarcely belie ve to
be a mighty river u mileand a half wide,
tower the Palisades. Away to the right
beyond a narrower silver streak, which
marks the Harlem's ebb and flow, stretch
the plains of Westchester county, Long
Island und Connecticut. In the fore
ground rises to the left the Cathedral
of St.. John the Divine, the finest fane
in all America. To the right is St. Luke's
hospital, of which the pleasing tale is
told that it was built for one dollar,
given by a poor woman in grateful ap
preciation of the care which she had re- ■
'ceived in a city hospital, this forming ;
the nucleus around which the thou-
r.... _ LIBRARY AND
~7 ■ . COLUCOE BUILDINGS
—— rßon
~~~ U6 T ." STRCCT.
sands of tlie rich gathered to forward so
excellent a work. In the immediate
foreground—not so high as the heaven
piercing spires of the cathedral, yet far
broader than the mighty block of St.
Luke's—there is agrayish-white granite
mass of buildings which seem from this
distance almost without break of green
spaces and airy arcades. Just in the
middle of the splendid pile rises from
the lofty white wall a pure round dome.
It is the dome of the library of Columbia
college, a building capable of holding
3,500,000 volumes, second only to the
congressional library in Washington,
and as big as two of the famed llodleiaii
at Oxford, containing besides many of
the offices of a great modern universi
ty, with $5,000,000, $0,000,000, or $7,000,-
000 invested in site and buildings, with
$30,000,000 or $40,000,000 of endowments,
■with facu 1 ties and t hrongi ug students of
Jaw, medicine and pedagogy, of engi
neering and applied sciences,of political
science, and of the more "human" arts
pursued in a college proper.
JJut we must not anticipate, as they
say in the stories.
This is a pen picture, not of the Co
lumbia college of to-day, but of the
Greater Columbia university us it will
be five years from now, if the brave and
hopeful plansof its friends and trustees
are carried out. For the present the
walls of two or three of the buildings
are rising, while the cellars for one or
two more are being dug; but on the
second day of next month the grounds
will be solemnly dedicated to Ameri
can learning, at the same time that
the corner stones are laid for the beau
tiful library which Is being built with
President Seth Low's splendid gift of
Tnt NEW COLUn&IA W
7 ,
5.1,000,000, and of the science building
endowed with Frederick Schermer
horn's gift of $300,000.
The old idea of a university was a
carefully guarded suburb of some tiny
town, within whose grass-grown quad
rangles, walled away from the burly of
the world, sage theologians paced in
their long black gowns. The modern
ideal university is a many-sided insti
tution planted upon tlie edge of some
big town, which furnishes every advan
tage in tlie way of hospitals, engineer
ing works, railroads, law offices, courts,
art exhibitions and other adjuvants of
learning and culture. The day of Jena
and Oxford is passing—at least so say
the advocates of tlie modern- and tlie
flay is corning of the big city university,
in Berlin, London, New York city and
Chicago.
Jt is upon this theory that Columbia
college, which five years ago, in spite
of its generous endowments, was one
of the second class institutions of learn
ing in this country, is now to secure a
place in the first rank under the presi
dency of Seth Low, who has twice been
mayor of Brooklyn and more than once
mentioned as n candidate for governor
and even for president. In these five
years the endowment of Columbia lias
increased more than $5,000,000. Its in
come from endowments and fees is
something like $700,000 a year. What
the total amount of its endowment
may be it is difficult to tell, as so much
of it is in lauds and buildings of vary-
I
. ing nlue; but the site which will be
I dedicated next month and the new
buildings which are planned to rise
thereon will cost from $5,000,000 to
$7,000,000 without trenching upon the
endowment in any way. Indeed, the
general funds of the college are expect
ed to double even while the fair walls of
tlie new white city of learning on the
brown rock-ribbed hills ore rising.
I'resident Low lias shown how this
may be done, and other wealthy citi
zens have taken the hint. Besides the
Schcrmerhorn building already provid
ed for, the closer association of the
medical school of Columbia lias brought
to it $500,000 from the Vanderbilts and
Sloans, and the erection of the Sloan
Maternity hospital, which is proctical
i ly an appendage of Columbia univer-
I sity.
I If any wealthy citizen of New York'
wishes to build a gymnasium or an aca
demic theater, or a school or a chapel
or a dining hall, or anything of that
kind, at a cost of from $200,000 to s.'{,-
000,000, lie is quite, at liberty to do so.
Meanwhile the funds of the college will
be used strictly for its educational pur-'
l>osos —and in providing for instruc
; tion Columbia deals with instructors
, with no niggardly hand. Realizing tho
cost of living in a great city and in such
style as befits the man of culture and |
refined taste, the salaries of Columbia's
professors are perhaps the highest in
the country.
Columbia is not worrying at all about
money,but is going straight ahead with
the confidence thai now as in the past
whatever is needed will be. provided.
In the development of tlie Greater
Columbia, President Low and the trus
tees first obtained the finest sijc in tin
city of Xew York, IS undivided acres, j
high on the breezy rocky hill ten miles
from the trade center of the. city. Here
a space twice, as big as Madison Square'
has been bought. Columbia has a pull
with the legislature, and has secured an
act forever guarding this site from
being cut up by streets passing through
it.. The buildings are to be laid out
in a formal way befitting the classic n
pose of their architecture, the library in
the middle with its white dome domi
nating the group, the various school
and halls arranged about it, the acad
emic theater in the rear.
About one-half of the site will ulti
mately be covered with buildings, the
remainder left in broad, well-shaped
spaces between them. For the present
the magnificent groves of oaks and
chestnuts, perhaps the finest in the city,
wil be preserved. The larger build
ings, except the library, will generally
be built about grassy quadrangles as
sunny and quiet as those of Oxford it- j
self.
Just across the street, north of the eol- -
lege grounds, already stands the teach
ers' college, affiliated with Columbia j
university; and to the west across the j
boulevard will he placed the new build- ;
ing of Laniard college for women, j
named in honor of the president of Co
lumbia.
The students have caught the fire of
emulation, and have arranged to build
at the foot of One Hundred and Fif
teenth street, quite near the site, one of
the finest boat houses in the country;
and with the athletic alumni they are
expected to provide funds for the gym
nasium which can be erected at a cost of
; $200,000.
Columbia's curriculum was long ar
range on the old line of compulsory
Greek, Latin and mathematics. In the
new Columbia the utmost liberty of
choice of subject will be given to the
student, and every facility will be af
forded for advanced study by men and
women of mature age. The degree of
bachelor of arts can hereafter be gained
there ly any student who is such an
iconoclast as to believe that modern lan
guages arc ns valuable to him as Greek;
but he can get the Greek if he wants it,
I and all lie wants.
The new Columbia and the new Chi
cago university, two great urban centers
j f culture, will be worth watching for
the next few years.
JOHN LANG DON BEATON.
Not Qualified to Riprfiu an Opinion.
! "Don't you think," said MissSimfoni,
I "that Theodore Thomas is tlie bestcon-
I ductor in the country?"
I And old Mrs. Flat replied, thought
fully: "Well, I dunno as I ever rid in hit?
j cur."—Boston Bulletin.
LIVE QUESTIONS.
A Serlen of Articles Contributed to These
Columns by Advanced Thinkers.
COINAGE CONFUSION—FIRST PRINCIPLES
AND COMMON SENSE APPLIED—THE
MONEY QUESTION DIVESTED OF TIIE
BEWILDERING ARGUMENTS WHICH BE
SET IT.
What is money? Simply a conven
ience. In itself it cannot be used as food
or clothing. It is but a means to an end.
Man invented money as an accommoda
tion in the exchange of necessary com
modities. Ho did not do this until com
merce between people, distantly sepa
rated, made it a valuable convenience.
Money is not a nocessity in the exebaugo
of the produce of neighbors.
The first money was not gold, silver,
copper, nickel, metal of any kind or
even paper. As money itself is a mere
convenience, so is the selection of the
substance from which it is made.
Moneys play tlio same part in com
merce that railroads, wagon roads and
rivers do. They facilitate exchange.
Several means of transportation have
been found desirable; so have several
forms of money. Each is a convenience.
All help mankind.
There is no form of money that is a
measure of value. A day's labor is the
measure of all values. The amount of
labor necessary to produce a given
amount of any substance necessary to the
wants of man is alone the measure of its
value. This is another indisputable fact
and is the arch which supports all finan
cial systems. It is the basis of commerce.
If it takes five days' labor to produce ten
bushels of wheat, that wheat is equal in
value to the amount of silver or of gold
that can be produced by five days' labor.
This is nature's measure. It is tho only
measure. Any system of finance or com
merce that does not recognize this inex
orable law is faulty and must prove a
failure.
Tho substances that have boon used
for money have beeu changed from time
to time as man has found the one moro
convenient than the other. Convenience
contemplates value, durability, etc.
Gold, silver, nickel and copper aro now
W. 11. LITTLE,
the most convenient of the metals from
which money can be made; hence they
are used. They occupy the exalted posi
tion of money metals alone on account
of their convenience.
The element of their convenience
which causes disturbance is value. Their
values change. Man has attempted to
prevent this fluctuation by statutory pro
visions with invariable failure. Why?
Because in his legal enactments ho ig
nored nature's measure of value. If a
man produces 32 bushels of potatoes by
ouo day's labor and but ouo bushel of
wheat by a day's labor, the value of the
ouo bushel of wheat is equal to tho 32
bushels of potatoes and double that of 10
of thorn. No statutory law can change
this relative value.
To say that the supply of silver has
increased is but to state that there is a
good crop of silver; that for a givon
number of days' labor, delving in tho
bowels of mother earth, an increased
number of ounces of silver have been
produced. To say that the supply of gold
lias decreased is but to state the reverse.
A statutory provision cannot control
the relative value of two commodities
or the value of any single commodity.
It is possible to lix a unit of measure by
statuto, but a unit of measure cannot bo
made from two different commodities
the relative values of which inevitably
fluctuate.
A unit of measure of intrinsic value
composed of two substances is not a ne
cessity, but is a mathematical and log
ical absurdity. It is no more ridiculous
than it would be to try to enact and
enforce a law that, there being four pocks
in a bushel of wheat weighing GO pounds,
therefore there are four pecks or sixty
pounds of oats in a bushel. Neither prop
osition is truo. No difference which
money metal is taken as the basis of tho
unit, the decision should be based on
convenience, stability of value and du
rability the essentials. The unit fixed,
all monoy metals can bo freely used ac
cording to their real value, taken by na
ture's measure—a day's labor. Nothing
elso can bo done. Much disturbance can
be made by attempting to do something
different, but it will end in failuro and
loss, perhaps financial disaster.
If silver is made the standard metal,
gold will bo no less valuable, and vico
versa. Tho trouble is not that gold is
the standard, but that silver is not un
limitedly accepted us monoy. That it is
not unlimitedly accepted as money is
because its friends insist on its being
unlimitedly accepted at more than its
value, measured by nature's measure
(by tho only possible measure).
Is not coinage unnecessary and tho
cause of confusion in the minds of
many? Tho ourlier moneys did not pos
sess intrinsic valuo. But a very small
portion of tho present circulating me
dium has any intrinsic valuo. This
could not be otherwise.
There is not enough of the precious
metals to supply the money for tho com
merce of tho world. It is not probable
that there ever can be. If there was,
the elemeut of convenience would pre-
vent their serving all the requirements
of exchuugo. A money of superior con
venience is a greater nocessity to com
merce than a money of absolute intrin
sic value.
Primary money or money of intrinsic
value is comparatively little used. The
business of tho world is practically done
on paper. Banks are but corporations,
their drafts being based as much upon
tho checks of individuals, firms and
manufacturing and mercantile corpora
tions as on currency.
The check of an individual, firm or
corporation passes current not so much
apon general knowledge of tho bank ac
count as upon the knowledge of the
whole wealth of tho issuing party,
which in morals and law is a guarantoe
of tho payment of the check.
The fiat dollars of tho government
arc not taken unhesitatingly at par bo
cause of a knowledge that there is in
the treasury gold, dollar for dollar. Ev
ery one knows that there is not $1 in
gold in the treasury for every $lO of tho
government's promises to pay. All
know, however, that there is behind ev
ery fiat dollar of the government the en
tiro wealth of tho nation.
Tho powers of taxation of tho govern
ment are unlimited. It can take from
one and all within its territory their last
atom of property, if necessary to re
deem its promises to pay. That fact,
and not tho comparative paltry amount
of gold and silver stored in tho troasury,
is what keeps the government's promises
to pay at par. In this respect it is no
diiferout from an individual. A man's
checks and promissory notes remain at
par so long us it is known that his total
wealth, not his hank account merely,
exceeds them in amount.
As to the actual value of paper money,
it makes no difference whether it is sus
tained by individual or governmental
fiat. Tho test is tho real wealth that is
its guarantoe. That the government fiat
is the better and more desirablo is bo
causo tho government's wealth is tho
greater and its amount is moro accurate
ly and universally known. This latter
is what inspires tho necessary confidonce
that makes it acceptable.
This matter of confidence is tho weak
feature in all fiat money systems. Bo
fore postofliccs and post roads, ships and
railways, telegraphs and telephones, the
means of communication were so slow
that dynasties were overturned weeks
before tho remote portions of the empire
knew that new emperors rulod. Banks
failed, and it was months afterward be
fore their bills became worthless in dis
tant provinces. Tardiness in the dis
semination of intelligence created mis
trust in the value of all money that did
not carry its real value within itself.
Coin consequently has attained a firm
position in the commercial world as tho
only safe money. Its inconvenience,
however, prevents its becoming tho only
money. It is, in truth, but final money.
It is not a circulating medium in tho
large or the popular transactions of com
merce. The subsidiary silver, nickel and
copper coins are the only niintings that
freely circulate. Silver dollars are too
largo and heavy. Gold coins are too
scarce.
Final settlements between largo finan
cial houses and between governments
are effected in bullion. You doposit in
any of the largo banks or with the
treasury of any nation a quantity of gold
coin, and you are credited with its
weight value only. This was once true
of silver coin also. It would still be true
had not the flat in a silver dollar become
so large a portion of its stamped value
that any deficiency in weight is now ot
no more consequence than would bo a
deficiency in the weight of paper in a
treasury note.
Now, if coin is but final monoy, and
as such it is treated only as bullion,
what is the sense of coining it? Why not
have the government stamp each brick,
pig or ingot presented with its weight
and purity simply? If the party present
ing the bullion desires to store it with
the government and wants a circulating
medium or certificate of deposit in ex
change, give it to him. The government
treasury, as far as gold is concerned, is
but a warehouse, for it takes it in and
pays it out as bullion value.
The government's gold warehouse
certificate would pass as current us the
bullion itself, as the bullion could al
ways bo secured when it was desired.
Treat silver the same as gold. Accept
all that is offered, stamp its weight and
fineness upon it, and issue warehouse
certificates against it.
Make one class of those certificates
legal tender. It makes no particular
difference which. This would change
the money nomenclature, but names are
only conveniences. Wo would not have
dollars and fractions thereon, but the
unit would bo a grain and its multipliers.
Hence transactions would bo made in
grains of gold, or according to the
metric weight system. An individual
promissory note would read: "Thirty
days from date I promise to pay John
Doe 10,000 grains of gold (or 5120,000
grains of silver, if silver is made the
standard), with interest at (J per cent
per alimim. Value received." Prices of
all articles would be reckoned in grains
instead of cents.
The fluctuation in the market value
of the metals is as well provided for in
this proposed system as now and as
Well as it is possible for mau to pro
vide. When you agree to pay $5 now,
you really agree to pay so many grains
of gold or of si Ivor, and tho payment
is so made, for if you liquidate tho in
debtedness with a treasury bill tho
payee can step into the nearest bank and
secure his gold or silver coin which con
tains the requisite grains of bullion.
Tho unlimited use of each metal and
tho fact tlmt there is not enough, both
taken, to supply tho demand for money
would hold their values as steady as is
possible. Tho chance of fluctuation ex
ists in every business transaction, and
experience has proved that it is less in
gold and si Ivor than in any other com
modity which is convenient for money.
Between these two it iH less in gold;
hence to that extent gold is tho prefer
able standard. W. H LITTLE.
St. Louis.
COUNTRY SCHOOL YARD.
Uo-.v It May He Converted Into n Thing
of ilcauty.
An energetic country school-teacher
for wishing to make the yard more at
tractive has, according to the Orange
Judd Parmer, to contend with the fol
lowing conditions: The yard com
prises oncsquare Herewith the road run
ning along two sides. The views to be ob
tained are not particularly desirable,
being simple rural scenes. The build
ing is a neat wooden structure 30x50
feet.. Not much money or time is
available so the trees and shrubs must
be inexpensive, and some of them ob
tained from the neighboring woods.
The idea is to cheaply and tastefully
ornament the grounds without impair
ing their usefulness as playgrounds, to
give the children a knowledge of plant
growth, and to teach them to appreci
ate common trees and shrubs.
First lay out the walks. To insure
their being used make them perfectly
straight. A gravel walk is cheapest
and is fairly serviceable in all kinds of
weather. A neat fence Is an absolute
necessity to keep off stray animals.
The school is a home for the children
for a large part of the day, so the play
ground ought to be ample. Let the.
general playground for boys and girK
occupy the space east of the school
house. The part marked lawn, is de
signed for a stretch of velvety turf as
neat and well-kept as possible. This,
if beautiful, gives character to the
whole. \\ hile no keep off the grass
signs need to be placed there, playing
on that part of the yard must be re
stricted. The space marked girls is to
he separated from the remainder by
shrubs and trees. A secluticd spot is
thus provided where the gentler sex can
keep their treasures, and can play house
and other games suitable for young
girls. As costly plants are out of the
question most of them must be small
and common. Native trees and shrubs
are generally about as attractive as
foreign ones, and are infinitely hardier
and easier to make live. It is well to
have a good variety of trees, though the
grounds need not be made a sort of
museum. Maple, oak, elm, beech, wal
nut, linden and tulip are all desirable
.deciduous kinds. Oaks and walnuts
arc best grown from the seed. For
evergreens, spruce, white pine and hem
lock in the order given are most suit
able. There are other desirable kinds
but those named should by all means
predominate. In the accompanying
plan, places for the various trees are
indicated. Other varieties, however,
may be substituted. For the slirub
l>ery, lilac, barberry, snowball, and
syringa taspine can be used to good ad
vantage. Among native shrubs, osiers,
sun uc, dogwood, witchha/.ed, june
berry and ha/el nuts may be planted.
It would be a pleasing combination to
plant wild flowers, liepatica, wakerboin,
y\(Jets, adder tongues, etc., in these
v{.d shrubberies, By all means set
out nothing but hardy plants which
will take care of themselves from year
tn year. Flowers and foliage beds need
too much attention, and besides are
hare a good share of the year.
A great many plants can lie found
in the woods which may be had for the
digging. Virginia creeper, green briar,
bittersweet, virgin's bower and wild
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PLAN OF IMPROVED SCHOOL GROUNDS,
a, Evergreens, b, Shrubbery, c, Decidu
ous trees, d, Ornamental trees, cc, cut
leaved birch.
grapevines can be made to produce fine
effects on fences and outbuilding*, or
on rubbish or stumps in the yard, bet
t.lie children experiment somewhat
wit.li plants, as it is not desired that the
yard be a stiff, formal affair suitable for
a large city. Carefully set out and
trim everything* Some one who has
had considerable practical experience
should be secured to assist in this part
of the work. The object in arranging
the plants should be to secure as natural
on appearance as possible. Much must
depend on the teachers who have charge
of the school, though it is desirable to
luivo an enlightened and energetic
school board..
The foregoing may not be exactly ap
plicable to every school yard, but it
gives suggestions which if adapted to
local conditions will convert barren and
unsightly school yards into things of
beauty. The moral influence upon the
children of such surroundings is worth
all the improvement costs. Having
gained the committee's consent, the
teacher should talk the matter up with
pupils and parents, and get tliem to
donate trees and shrubs so that the
cost for purchased slock may be light.
Then liavo a field day, when llie work
of setting out the plants shall be done
by parents and pupils, the ladies to
furni: ha little lunch after the work is
done, followed by appropriate exercises
from the children. This will add inter
est to school, and be of value as an edu
cator to the children. In Germany this
idea is carried to the extent of school
gardens or orchards in which the pupils
ere taught the rudiments of practical
horticulture, grafting, budding, etc.
Color of Man's Hair.
Dr. Beddoe said that there was a dis
tinct relation between man's pursuits
and the color of man' 3 hair. An unusual
proportion, of men with dark, straight
liair enter the ministry; red-whiskered
men are upt to be given to sjiortingand
horseflesh; while the tall, vigorous
blonde men, lineal descendants of the
still contribute u large con
tingent to and emigrants.
THE
UNIVERSAL
30 E. Broad street, 29-31 E. Mine street, Hazleton.
A GREAT MONEY-SAVING SALE
OF NEW SPRING GOODS!
Mail SuFDrises Avail
The Economically Inclined.
A Grand Opportunity to Supply Your Wants
from the Best Stock We've Ever Opened
at Prices that will Prove a
Veritable Surprise.
i: rnvillO' Knln we bave been
iictv i iiih naie rummag ing
through the markets for the
111 V lOV last month, picking up here
and selecting there, just
such goods, as by experience, we knew you
would appreciate. That we have been emi
nently successful you will concede when you
examine the mountains of goods which are
ready for your inspection—and the prices
will fairly take your breath away. You never
dreamed of such values.
ANDREW J. HA IRE.
WHEELSI WHEELS!
Bicycles for Everybody!
High Grade and Low Grade!
High Price and Low Price!
W heels for Men!
Wheels for Women!
Wheels for Hoys!
Wheels for Girls!
THE LATEST AND BEST!
A large assortment of Wheels of the best
make constantly on hand. We are pre
pared to do the largest Bicycle busi
ness in Freeland in 1896. Wev'e
got the best Wheels and the
best terms. We give you
both. Can you get as
much anywhere else?
A HANDSOME NEW '96 WHEEL,
CHANGEABLE SPROCKET ATTACHMENT, v
—at tho lowest figure you can possibly be asked
to pay for a high grade wheel.
Repairs of All Kinds In Stock.
C. D. ROHRBACH,
HARDWARE DEALER,
Centre Street, Below Luzerne, Freeland.