Page:The Pacific Monthly volumes 1-3.djvu/239



The McEnery resolution, which was adopted in the senate, February 14, by a vote of 26 to 22, must commend itself to both those who favor "expansion" and those who oppose it. The resolution is a conservative, and, at the same time, a just and equitable solution of a very perplexing problem. It is a statesmanlike document. The text is as follows: "That by the ratification of the treaty of peace with Spain it is not intended to incorporate the inhabitants of the Philippines into citizenship of the United States, nor it is intended to permanently annex said islands as an integral part of the territory of the United States, but it is the intention of the United States to establish on said islands a government suitable to the wants and conditions of the inhabitants of the said islands, to prepare them for local self-government, and in due time to make such disposition of said islands as will best promote the interests of the citizens of the United States and the inhabitants of said islands."

An organized effort is being made in California to free the Stanford University estate from an obnoxious burden of taxation which is so large as to seriously cripple the work that the university is intended to accomplish. One of the purposes of Senator and Mrs. Leland Stanford in donating so freely to the cause of education was to establish a university from which no one would be shut out for purely financial reasons. With this object in view tuition was made free, and the University stood out as a public institution open to the young men and women of the world — a unique monument to the generous philanthrophy of its founders. As a result of this liberal and far-sighted policy men and women from nearly every part of the world went to Californai to attend the University. Then came the death of Senator Stanford and the long-drawn-out government suit. On the top of these misfortunes there was the burdensome taxation which, at this critical period, almost sapped the vitality of the institution. The income was insufficient to meet the demands upon it, and it became imperative to exact a registration fee of $20.00 per year from each student. Through the self-sacrificing devotion of Mrs. Stanford the University has struggled through a season of depression that would have discouraged a less determined and generous woman. The condition is still such, however, that unless the taxation is removed the University will be compelled to adopt a tuition fee such as is in practice at other universities. California is noted for her generosity in matters of education, and her people and legislators are not likely to permit such a blow as this to the cause of free higher education. This is a question in which not only the people of California are interested, but one in which the sons and daughters of other states and other lands are equally concerned, and a decision against the University will, in many respects, be a calamity to the Coast.

Whenever a man becomes great either by reason of statesmanship or learning or accomplishments of any nature and posterity accords to him his just dues, there always rises the profound critic and investigator who undertakes to undermine the belief of centuries and show us that we have been worshipping false idols. Homer, Shakespeare, Napoleon — indeed almost every great man whose name is on the pages of history has been subjected to such investigation. In the light of this modern criticism we are forced to recast our ideas of many great characters, but there is one whose glory time cannot dim nor whom investigation can dethrone from the lofty place which