ems, therefore, that the United States Government,
should adequately support the institution and make its appropriations
legally permanent.[529]

Some remarks about the general policy of Howard University may be
enlightening. The idea of racial representation among the
administrative officers and faculty is indicated by the fact that
membership in a particular race has never been considered a
qualification for any position in the University. For many years the
board of trustees has had persons of both races as members. No colored
man has served a regular term as president, however, unless we include
the short experience of Professor Langston already referred to. The
treasurer has always been white but the office of secretary has been
filled by members of both races. Neither the Theological nor the
Medical School has had a Negro as dean although Dr. Charles B. Purvis
was elected to that office in the latter in 1900 but declined it.

The faculties of all departments are mixed, the proportion of Negroes
growing as available material from which to choose becomes more
abundant. The policy of maintaining mixed faculties, however, is not
dictated entirely by the lack of men and women of color competent to
fill all positions on the faculty; for today the supply of such
material is adequate. It seems that the governing body considers it in
the best interest of the University to preserve the racial mixture in
the offices and faculties in order that the students may receive the
peculiar contribution of both races and that the institution may have
its interests concretely connected with those of the dominant race.

Whether or not Howard has amply justified its existence during its
first half century; whether its ideals have been the best for the race
whose interests it primarily serves; whether its administrative
policies have been wise--these are questions whose answers lie outside
the scope of this sketch. As institutions of learning go, fifty years
is a short time upon which to base conclusions. It is a period of
beginnings. With schools of the character of Howard, with its peculiar
duties to perform and its peculiar problems to solve in a field
entirely new, these fifty years make up a period of experiment.
Whatever the future relative to this educational experiment may be,
Howard has given to America nearly four thousand graduates from its
various departments most of whom are now doing the class of work in
all fields of end