Chapter X: Civics in State Universities

A writer in _Christian Work_, urging the importance of action such as the American Institute of Civics is devoted to, says:

With the new way of looking at Government, and with new tasks
imposed upon it, must come preparation for the grave
responsibilities of the present and future. Old ideas linger after
they have subserved their purposes. We are living in an industrial
age. Especially is it true in a country like the United States that
the ordinary pursuits of peace outweigh a hundredfold the interests
of war. Nevertheless, we have our well-equipped academy at West
Point to prepare young men for the army, and our excellent academy
at Annapolis to prepare young men for the navy; but we have no
civil academy to give men careful preparation for the civil
service, which is of inestimably more importance to us than either
the army or navy so far as ordinary, everyday life is concerned.
Even in his day, Washington saw the importance of a national
university which should fulfil many of the purposes of such an
academy. As a part of the remedy for trusts and combinations, and
an important part, the writer would mention institutions designed
to give the most careful training in preparation for every branch
of the civil service. This should go hand in hand with the
enlargement of this service. The progress which has already been
made in the reformation of our civil service is gratifying, but
something far more than has yet been advocated by any
civil-service-reform association is needed. As part of the general
programme of the solution of the problem of monopoly, the
development of the State universities of the country along the line
of civics may be mentioned. Each State university should, in
addition to other things, be a civil academy.