The last twenty years have seen these cities broaden their interests, and stand out as centres of education, art, sociology, politics, and religion, till now they are leaders as types of all-round development, including all these and many other lines. Each city claims and has a right to claim an individual spirit and an achievement of its own. But to the student of the past and present of these lake dwellers there comes the evidence of a broader unity under whose general aims and purposes, fostered by similar conditions, the local successes have been accomplished. In education these cities are preëminent. They have been willing to expend large sums on the public school systems, and have adapted high educational principles to local needs with an independence that has made for a departure from many old and conventional methods, but has resulted almost always in greater efficiency. The large proportion of foreign-born children in the public schools has created many problems and brought the opportunity for great success in dealing with them. Nor does state and city interest stop with the usual public school system. Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois have strong state universities, for whose support they give lavishly; and beside them have grown up three other great universities, Chicago and Northwestern in Chicago, and the Western Reserve in Cleveland. There is a widespread enthusiasm for higher education, and these educational centres exert a great influence both as scientific experiment stations, whose discoveries are hailed with delight by the farmer and the mechanic, and as dominant centres of thought. The universities and schools do not wait for the people to come within their walls. They go out with exhibitions and instruction of all kinds. The state legislatures have instituted systems of travelling and branch libraries, and education is being diffused among the people.