The historian is the hinge linking the present to the past. His office is not only a useful, but a sacred one. Scholarship is like womanhood--one of the most holy and sacred things in the world. But, like womanhood, when prostituted, it becomes the most debased. He who muddies with error and personal prejudice the fountain of pure truth is an enemy to his race. But let us not attempt to blame nor censure individuals. We know that wealth has been the friend of learning; that in all times past those who have devoted their time to the pursuit of truth or beauty have been dependent upon the support of the rich and powerful. You say that if wealth has been the friend of learning, it is only natural that learning should be the friend of wealth. Yes, this is exactly the fact in the case. Learning is the friend of wealth for two reasons: One, because she feels grateful for past favors; the other, and greater, because she is hopeful for favors to come. It is well known in educational circles that any college found propagating "heresies" like "free silver" or "government ownership of the railroads"--in other words, any institution which does not distort and curtail its teachings so as to bias the student in favor of the single gold standard and the eternal reign of monopoly--will be cut off without a dollar by plutocracy and doomed to a future of comparative impotence and uselessness for lack of funds. THE RESULT. What is the result? The president of a large private university, knowing that his reputation for success or failure depends upon the growth of his university as compared with that of neighboring universities, continually trims his sails to secure favors of those who have money to dispense. It is a common thing for a college president to make what he calls a "begging tour." He endeavors to show to those who are supposed to have money to bestow that his university is in great need, and can make the best possible use of "sound" money in propagating "sound ideas." A good illustration of this is the tour which Brooker Washington, the famous colored orator, the President of the Tuskegee Institute, made in 1896, through the North and East. He is a man of intellectual power. He is, no doubt, thoroughly devoted to the enlightenment of his race; but the way he flatters and cajoles the rich, advocates the gold standard, overlooks and keeps silent about their corruption and crimes, and assents to their plans for further aggrandizement, is a lesson which every patriot can study with profit. He has become a pet and fad among the wealthy classes of New York and New England. Even Harvard in 1896 conferred upon him an honorary degree. He has doubtless gotten heavy endowments for his college, but he has had to fawn and flatter and stultify his manhood to do it. And he has given a striking example of what almost every college president must do to a greater or less extent.