agricultural colleges in the United States. [Illustration: THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, LAWRENCE.] =The University.= The University of Kansas was established by an act of the Legislature of 1864, and its object, as given by this act, is to “provide the inhabitants of the State with means of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the various branches of literature, science, and the arts.” The university idea is hundreds of years old, and so there was nothing new in the thought of a university in Kansas. The University of Kansas was built on the flat-topped hill in Lawrence where the first party of free-state settlers pitched their tents. It was opened in 1866 with forty students and three professors. To-day there are twenty great buildings on Mount Oread. The central department of the University is the college, which provides a liberal education in languages, sciences, mathematics, history, and kindred subjects. Besides the college there are schools of engineering, of fine arts, of law, of pharmacy, of medicine, and of education. Ours now ranks high among the universities of the United States. =Control of State Schools.= Altogether, the University, the Agricultural College, and the Normal Schools employ about seven hundred instructors and enroll between eight and nine thousand students each year. The total annual cost to the people of Kansas is nearly two million dollars. These schools, together with the School for the Blind at Kansas City, and the School for the Deaf at Olathe, were, in 1913, placed under the management of a board of three members called the Board of Administration. In 1917 the Board of Administration was reorganized and the penal and the charitable institutions of the State were placed under its control. =Denominational Colleges.= In addition to the State institutions Kansas has more than thirty denominational colleges. A few of the largest of these are Baker University at Baldwin, Washburn College at Topeka, Ottawa University at Ottawa, Friends University at Wichita, the Southwestern University at Winfield, and the College of Emporia. There are also a number of business colleges and a few independent schools. =Other Provisions for Education.= Besides all the schools where the people of Kansas may obtain an education, every effort is being made to provide other educational opportunities by means of extension work, public and traveling libraries, and night schools. The State Normal School, the Agricultural College, and the University all do extension work, which means that they offer correspondence courses, send out lecturers, and in various other ways carry their work to those who can not attend the schools. Many communities maintain free public libraries and the State maintains a traveling library.[20] Night schools are now provided in several of our larger cities. An education is now possible to any one who really wants it.