Columbia University begins its spring term with an attendance exceeding 31,000 and apparently entitling it to the distinction of having the largest student body in the history of the higher education. The traditions persist of the great number of students at the mediaeval universities, the throngs at Bologna, Salamanca and the University of Paris. But Salamanca at its most flourishing period, around 1600., had a student roll of 5,000. And here is an American university of a size to compare with the population of thriving cities and with a faculty larger than the student population of many important colleges.

Columbia has grown with New York's growth but with a rapid expansion of recent years which makes its present proportions a cause of surprise even as measured by other aspects of metropolitan development. It is claimed for its student body that it is "undoubtedly the most widely representative of any in the world today," its members coming from all quarters of the earth. It is a civic asset in which New York takes a just pride--a pride, indeed, which dates from the days of the King's College of old.

But no doubt the peculiar distinction of Columbia University is that it has met the educational demands put upon it and expanded as the pressure of students required it to expand, enlarging its facilities as became necessary. It has not had to turn away youths seeking a college education, and its policy of preparedness is to its credit. --New York World.