Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-11-17
College Men In Congress.

Amid the genera gush Of centennial pride,
it Is something Of a surprise 10 find that
Harvard had more graduates in the Congress
which issued the Declaration Of lndepel-
dence than in the one OF 1873, notwlth-
standing the later body was six times as
numerous. Nor can this be entirely ex-
planned by the competition of other institu-
tions. For in l776 all four of the Massachu-
sets delegates were Harvard alumni in
1876 one of her Senators is of Yae; the
other senator and six cf her eleven member,
are not graduates. She has no three llar-
ward men in Congress, and they are the only
Harvard men in that body. In l776, 26 Of
the So members were graduates Of collegiate
institution and universities. Two OF the
delegates Of South Carolina were alumni OF
the university Of Cambridge and many Of
the non-graduate members were highly edu-
Gated privately.
The congressional directory affords US the
means of ascertaiuing the present proper
ton of graduates among the members Of
Congress, by examining the brief biographies
there set down. We find that Of the -
senators 20 are alnmni Of colleges. and o!
the 2gS representatives and delegate, los /;
the two houses together giving proportion
Of colege-edueated men amounting to So
per cent. DR.. Lyon Playfair recently stated
the number Of university men in the House
of Commons to he 225 meaning we presume.
only the graduates Of Cambridge and Ok
ford. This would be 81 per cent OF the
whole House of Commons. In our examina-
tion, we have not reckoned those members
who are said to have been educated at
such college, as they may not have eradu-
ated nor have we included, generally,
those who graduated merely from a profes-
sional school In few cases, where the
aggregate Of collegiate and professional
study seems equivalent to a collegiate course,
We have counted them.
There are some remarkable general con-
clusions which We gather from this study.
The South We think, sends more graduates to
Congress than the North, proportionally.
Alabama, for instance. sends five graduates
out Of eight members Georgia, both her
senators, and seven members ont Of nine /;
Kentucky, five graduates Tennessee, five ;
and Arkansas, three. New York, with %
members, sends only seven college graduates
Pennsylvania, the out of 70 members and
Massachusetts five on Of eleven Illinois sends
ii graduates out Of 10, and Ohio eight out
OF 20. In the Senate, Conkling, Edmunds
and Hamlin are not graduates Morton Is Of
Miami Blaine OF Washington college. Pa. ,
and Booth Of Asbury. In the House,
Alexander IL. Stephens if Of the university Of
Georgia; Ben I'LL, of the university Of
Athens Morrison. Of McKendree college
the late Speaker Kerr, Of Louisville unlyer-
sity Cox, Of Brown Garfield, of Williams
and Lamar OF Emory; Kelley, Knott and
the newiy-elected Watterson are not grad
uates Judge Abbott, W. W. Warren and
George +. Hoar are of Harvard. Another
striking features of Congress, from this point,
is the TACT that it is the greatly despised
small colleges which are legislating for the
| country. The southern men patronIze then
state universities, but the western men are
from rather obscure institutions. The great
New England institutions, except Yale,
make no show at all the university OF Yer
mont is almost as well represented as the
university of Harvard Yale. however,
VIII ich had four or five men at Philadelphia
in l776, has, we think, more than that at
Washington, to-day. Perhaps the ''sma!l
colleges at the West are not entitled to
much credit for their large representation in
I 1uDRItS-s but luCit - tiiAo ~ " SsaAN
that with most OF these men it was ques-
tion of small college or no college at all. In
the discussion of this subject there has been
a gross Ignoring Of the great element OF 10
cality. A small college, planted in new
country, educates tolerably large class ol
of youth who never would have gone few
hundred miles to be educated better. We
recently heard of a prominent clergyman
who excused himself for not sending his boy
to his denominatiOnal college, on the gronnd
that there was college OF an antagonistl'
denomination nearer, and the boys mother
"wanted him home, Saturday nights" D." The
denouncers of the small colleges scattered
over the West forget the mothers apron
strings. Besides, the small institutions
have decided advantages in the amount o
instruction bestowed ON each individuals.