Polytechnic School.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 348, 24 February 1902, Page 4

Polytechnic School.

The new Carnegie Polytechnic Schoo', whose buildings will .soon be erected in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, will bo more richly endowed than any oilier educational institution in the world : it will contain room for the instruction of over one hundred thousand students, on the broadest and most practical lines of industrial science and art, and commercial law and practice, and its professors will 1)0 men of the highest rank in their respective fields of learning, ft is to be complete in its curriculum of practical instruction, and will be worid-wide in its scope of educational usefulness. It will be the large st

training school for artisans ever known, and will make Pittsburg noted as the centre of advanced practical education. This is the comprehensive idea of Andrew Carnegie, its founder. He announces that he will donate .£6,000,000 to place the school on a working basis.

The plan now approaching completion was conceived years ago. Mr Carnegie has fostered and cherished the idea, until what ho at first looked upon as merely a dream has not only become definite in his mind, but has also assumed such tangible shape that, before another year shall have passed, it will have become a reality. Already the new institution has an endowment fund of ,£'Boo,ooo, while the donor has" agreed to defray all the espouses of erecting the buildings and providing their equipment. According to tho first plans drawn to guide the committee in charge of its work, the site, buildings, and equipment of the institution will cost not less than X 1.000,000. All this money is available as it may be needed, and the new school has practically X 2,000,000 to start with, something unequalled before in polytechnical schools. Some idea of tho magnitude of the operations which the school will be enabled to undertake, through its large endowment, may bo gleaned from the fact that Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, recognised as one of tho leading one, possesses an endowment fund of only £400,000, while the buildings and equipment cost only about X 174,000 additional. 'While X 1,000,000 may now bo used for site, buildings, and equipment of the Carnegie school in Pittsbutg, it is not certain that this amount will bo tho limit. Mr Carnegie,

during a recent visit to Pittsburg, examined the plans prepared, and approved them as far as they went. Then he announced that lie was ready to go ahead with tho erection of tho buildings at any

cost, requesting that no expense be spared to make the institution what he intended it should be, —namely, tho greatest and finest soat of learning of its kind in the world.

That Mr Carnegie is desirous of making

Pittsburg noted not only as a manufacturing city, but also as one of the greatest centres of learning, is certain. To accomplish this ho has already spent very largo sums of money. Beginning with the gift of a public library, followed by that of a museum and art gallery, ho has constantly and consistently added to his contributions to assist in the furtherance of his ideas, until his benefactions to the public institutions of Pittsburg amount to the vast total of X 5,140,000. Astute in business affairs, Mr Carnegie had long thought that the United States Steel Corporation was inevitable for tho preservation of many great rival interests involved in steel production ; and, confident that the merging of interests must come before many months, lio prepared, a year or two-ago, to carry out his longcherished project of providing tho finest technical school on tho globe for tho benefit of young people who find that one of life’s greatest necessities is a practical education. With this in mind, ho visited Pittsburg in November, 1900. Ho said that ho had a surprise in store for the people. They anticipated an announcement of a handsome gift for the enlargement of tho branches of the institution. To afford tho great steel king a suitable opportunity to make his plans known, he was tenderod a banquet, at which he said that ho was willing to spend £6,000,000 for a technical institute, provided Pittsburg would give the site for tho buildings. Libraries tire negative; schools are positive. Mr Carnegie will accomplish most for tho education o£ the people through his latest gift. It is the proper application of his groat wealth, which he is giving with but one view in mind, — the betterment of tho whole people. The majority will be glad to note that Mr Carnegie has turned from library work to the living issue of schools. His new polytechnic institute promises to fill a groat void in the educational world, notwithstanding tho upward trend of modorp technical education. It will n;" 1 " "‘ co widJ-B^-worJ-- 1 "Tin the fullest sense. The new Carnegie Polytechnic Institute, elaborated after very aareful consideration by experts, has one definite aim. It is to

be a college where young workmen may be trained to carry on the battles of peace, using machinery, trade, and commerce in tho struggle of nations for supremacy in •wealth. It will build up all of the growing industries of tho United States by fitting out skilled laborers, good foremen, great mastor mechanics, artist-artisans, and engineers. The entire country, with such a school in operation, will never lack for thorough men who understand the principles whereby cheapness and excellence of output are attained, new markets conquered, and the general trade interests of the country upheld. This new school will supply a comprehensive plan of education, inasmuch as it will train people for modern industries. Mr Carnegie believes that tho one thing strongest in its favor will be its adherence to modern standards in machinery and

the arts. It will send into the world young men who will succeed those ol' the old system of apprentices and journeymen now passing out of date. The growing scale of modern industry • plainly shows the necessity for such a school. He is wise in establishing the school where the greatest number of pupils for such an institution will live. Pittsburg is the centre of the iron manufactures of America. Its present condition is due, in a largo measure, to Mr Carnegie himself. In the bewildering figures which represent the recent growth of the United States as a financial power, it is possible for one to lose sight of the interesting statistics which show the spread of higher technical and scientific education among the people. The latest figures, for instance, state that there is in this country one properly equipped technical school to every one hundred and twenty-six thousand of the population, while tho students of these institutions at present number one hundred and forty-seven thousand. The property owned by these institutions for higher practical education is valued at £39,000,000. Their endowment funds aggregate £-11,000,000, and their annual income for educational purposes is £6, 000,000. As purely technical schools are institutions of comparatively recent date, it is impossible to give authoritative figures which will properly show the growth of this branch of education alone, within the last thirty years. In 1870, ihero were, in the United States, but three hundred and soventy-three college students to every million people. There are, to-day, no less than one thousand, one hundred and ninety-six to each —million, more than twice as many as thirty years ago. In this large increase, the students at tho technical schools represent by far the largest percentage of growth, and the greatest tendency is in favor of a further increase as compared with the purely classical students.