These are the great strategic centres and
strongholds of the new democracy. A little way back from Cadillac's fort
on the Detroit River is one, the oldest, the University of Michigan--
founded in 1837--with 5,805 students. A few years ago I addressed there,
at commencement, over eight hundred candidates for degrees and diplomas in
law, medicine, pharmacy, liberal arts and science.
A little way from the Fox-Wisconsin portage is another, the University of
Wisconsin, with 5,970 students. A few years ago I sat in that beautiful
seat of learning among men from all parts of the world offering their
congratulations at its jubilee. And they sat in silk gowns only less
ornate than Nicolet's when he came over the rim of the basin to treat with
the Winnebagoes--whom he had supposed to be Chinese mandarins. I heard,
too, the graduates receive their degrees on theses ranging from the poetry
of a lesser Greek poet to the "pancreas of a cat." I spent a month in its
library at a later time and found it superior for my purposes to any other
in America.
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