The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-13

i Iner esteem perhaps, which is the ac-
encouragement of successful administra-
tive service for the public.
MIR. Low departed from the office of
mayor splendidly equipped for any public
service, although it was felt by those who
knew him best that his capacity was in
tne direction of executive rather than leg
islative work.
OPENING OF NEW CAREER
upon his retirement from the mayor
ally ne resumed active business, but was
not with the house very long before it
was made apparent to him that the con-
oltlons OF the China trade with the United
STATES mad become 50 materially altered
thaI there could be no longer profit or
justification in maintaining such bust
ness. de therefore telegraphed to his
agents IN China to return, decided to
hquldate the business and to bring the
great nrm OF A. A. Low & Bros to an
honorable termination. After this was
zone Mr.. Low went with his family to
Europe, taking for the first time in his
lie prolonged period of recreation, and
when he returned he knew not in what
direction his energies were to be spent.
PRESIDENT OF COLUMBIA.
Mr.. Low was elected president in the
fall of 1889, and he was inaugurated in
February of 1890. The offer of the place
came TO him as surprise. At first it
seemed to him as though almost any other
man OF college education was better fitted
by training ana inclination for that post
But he learned that the trustees expected
Jnat The new president would be a man of
AFFAIRS; that he would reorganize the
university; that he would undertake i'm
portant business matters in connection
with 1t; that his work was to be con-
structlve, and that while the pedagogy of
the institution, so to speak, would be alb
soIutely under his control and direction.
and that the energies of the college in
that direction very widely extended,
nevertheless in other and more purely
business directions the Immediately
greater work of the president would be
engaged.
So then this young man turned his face
away from those things which seemed to
be waiting for him in the future, and to
other things association with which
neither he nor his friends had ever
dreamed to be his part in life.
GREAT ORGANIZER
After Mr.. Low became president he
spent some months in thoroughly master
ing all the details, both of instruction and
of financial and other administration, and
when he had done that then began to be
revealed the power and bility of the
organizer. 1t seemed to him that Column
bia should become a university in fact as
well as name; that the great professional
departments should be brought under one
controlling cabinet or council, and he be-
gan this work by bringing the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, the greatest of
its professional schools, into direct, rather
than remote, assoc iation. lie formulated
a great plan of reconstruction with the
School Of Arts, or the college proper, as
the foundation stone. OF this work he
said recently: 1T has been such that
Columbia passed from the condition in
which its life consisted of the activities
of number of unrelated schools into the
well organized univ efsity having a com
mon life which ami mates every part"
And again speak, lg of this pur-
pose, he said: Great as New
York is, Columbia should never yield
to the temptation to be satisfied with the
metropolitan sphere" And he meant by
that that although within daily reach of
the institution there live 100000 people,
nevertheless Columbia should not be sat
istied to serve such noble constituency
alone, but should be cosmopolitan in its
purpose and aspirations.
VALUE OF COLLEGE TRAINING.
Columbia has an unequaled opportu-
nifty by reason of its position IN New York
city, for there is no such thing as the
world of letters apart from the world of
men. Learning is only weapon in wise
mems hands, and is of no account when
followed merely as an end -
In this strain President Low continued,
saying: I can think of no finer supple
ment TO the liberal culture which Column
bia aims to bestow than that which may
come from mingling in a fearless fellow
ship with the many kinds of men to be
met with in New York The real world
is never found in books"
Speaking again of the value of col
lege education, he said: IF a man can
spare the time, he is throwing away part
of his life and part of his power in the
years to come if he does not submit at
the beginning to the disciplinary training
which cultivates the mind before he
begins to plant the particular seed which
he wishes especially to grow"
TWO EDUCATIONAL CURRENTS.
In two years after he had taken hold of
the university Mr.. Low revealed how, in
spite of prodigious administrative duties
both of reconstruction and of finance, he
had come to an understanding of the later
tendencies of higher education He said
then: Speaking in a general way,
should say that higher education in the
United States during the last twenty
years has felt the influence of two strong
currents, one of which | should describe
Tor want OF DebGeE J6rIlS as a WOIlu cur
rent and the other as a national current.
What refer to as the world current is
the demand felt everywhere for the recog-
milton of new studies as of equal intrinsic
value with the old humanities. This
pressure has come from two directions;
from the modern languages and from the
many new developments of science. No
country has been exempt from this pres
sure"
Again he said "In my judgment the
elective system reflects what I have re-
ferred to as the national current. and it
doubtless represents in part as parallel
courses seem to me to reflect altogether
the effort of our colleges to adjust them
selves to these new demands. 1t seems to
me that the elective system represents in
part and perhaps most importantly the
simultaneous pressure of what referred
TO as national current.
GROWTH OF PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS.
For that reason Mr. Low has said else
where that lit seems TO me clear that at
some point or other in the students ca
reer the elective system is not only de-
sirable but essential" Again he said:
t'The American colleges have not them
selves made great scholars, but they have
produced in great numbers broad minded
men of large views. high ideals and lofty
patriotism: scattered all over the land,
they have been everywhere as salt
among the people, an influence at once to