EDUCATION.
In determining a nation's place and power in the great work of modern civilization, it is not necessary to take into consideration the extent of its territory, the number of its population, the richness of its resources, the extent and prosperity of its commerce, the wealth of its people, the sufficiency of its naval and military defences, or even the form of its government and the character of its political institutions; the decision must mainly turn on the thoroughness, completeness, and comprehensiveness of its educational machinery and work. Judged by this standard the United States may fairly claim to be assigned a foremost place in the great community of enlightened and progressive modern peoples. It is very true that the high schools, colleges, and universities of the country cannot boast a great historic past; that they can scarcely be said to be so completely equipped and munificently endowed as many of the English and German seats of learning; but these disadvantages of a young and growing nation will, in course of time, diminish and disappear, while newer and happier educational methods, employed in a freer and more favorable field, will be sure to produce results not hitherto achieved in this most important department of human enterprise and activity.
The attention of the American nation is being turned, as never before, to the question of education; the wealth of the nation is being literally poured forth upon a scale and with a munificence unprecedented perhaps in the history of the world. "In the single decade, from 1870 to 1880," says Dr. Warren, President of the Boston University, in his report for the year 1884-85, "private individuals in the United States consecrated to educational purposes, by free gift and devise, more than thirty millions of dollars." This fact, taken in conjunction with the truly noble deed of "the Hon. Leland Stanford, who by one act set apart for the founding and equipping of a new University in California the magnificent endowment of twenty millions of dollars," speaks volumes. The educational future of America was never so full of promise as to-day.
HISTORICAL RECORD.
January 15.—Annual meeting of the American Statistical Society, at Boston. Officers were elected as follows: President, Francis A. Walker; vice-presidents, George C. Shattuck and Hamilton A. Hill; corresponding secretary, Edward Atkinson; recording secretary, Carroll D. Wright; treasurer, Lyman Mason; librarian, Julius L. Clarke; counsellors, J. R. Chadwick, Benjamin F. Nourse, John Ward Dean; committee on publication, R. W. Ward, Walter C. Wright, C. D. Bradlee; finance committee, Lyman Mason, D. A. Gleason, Otis Clapp. Edward Atkinson read a paper in which he discussed the question of the cost of living, and showed that the tendency, recent and present, has been, and is, an ameliorating one.
January 16.—The Salem Athenæum proprietors held a meeting to take action on the proposed consolidation of its library with the several other private collections, for the nucleus of a public library. The proposition had already been accepted by the Essex Institute, and a committee appointed to confer with other societies. There was some discussion, and a committee, consisting of William Mack, the Rev. E. B. Willson, John Robinson, T. Frank Hunt, and Charles Osgood, was chosen by a vote of 41 to 10 to carry out the project of consolidation.