MUNICIPAL COLLEGES AND UNI VERSITIES. The United States.— The pas sion for free public education in the United States has carried well beyond the original in tention. At first only the elementary school was free; tuition was free, and the schools were maintained by public taxation. Secondary education was then conducted by private acad emies and higher education by privately en dowed colleges and universities. But before the free elementary school had become univer sal, free high schools were opened and main tained in the more progressive communities and by the close of the 19th century the free public high school was practically the uniform policy of public education in every State of the Union. Opposition to such free secondary education in tax-supported schools has almost entirely dis appeared. The newer States have gone beyond this and have established universities, sup ported entirely by taxation and offering free tuition to residents of the State. This has strengthened the theory that all education in a free State should be at public expense, college, university and professional education.
The municipal college and university has grown out of the city high school in response to the public demand for higher education. High school work in modern languages, in mathematics and some of the sciences, overlap the college program in the freshman year. It is an easy step, therefore, to add college work to the high school program. Baltimore, Phila delphia, Charleston, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Toledo, New York City, are cities where munic ipal colleges are now in operation. Cincinnati has developed a municipal university with the usual departments of medicine, law, dentistry, education and engineering, in addition to the College of Arts and Sciences. Toledo is de veloping a university along similar lines. New York City, on the other hand, has confined its efforts to the development of the college as distinct from the university idea. This is the
municipal college in its perfect form since it is entirely supported by public taxation and ad mits as students only residents of the city of New York. Its equipment, costing upwards of $5,000,000, was likewise provided out of munici pal funds. Other municipal colleges and uni versities have received private endowments in addition to municipal appropriations. The University of Cincinnati received a large pri vate gift and is less typical of public higher education for that reason. The public high schools, sometimes called the "Peoples' Uni versities," are fitted to develop into municipal colleges at the demand of the people. In the United States, colleges and universities fre quently reflect local characteristics; for ex ample, the University of Pittsburgh, the Uni versity of Chicago, the University of Denver, University of Buffalo, University of Rochester; but they must be carefully distinguished from municipal universities since they are not main tained by the cities where they happen to be located, nor is the student body wholly or even largely drawn from such city.
England has developed a type of municipal college but they are not tax sup ported and therefore are not municipal institu tions in the truest sense. Nevertheless, al though on private foundations and maintenance, many of these English colleges are of local character, reflecting the local industries, local ideals, local pride. Thus the Sheffield College reflects the cutlery interests by its excellent "School of Metallurgy." The College of Leeds reflects the textile industries by its "School of Textiles." Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester have local universities. The University of London has a long and honorable record. A. R. BRUBACFIER.