Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-03-20

universal decision and agreement upon
subject
On the very evening when received the
invitation OF your committee to respond
to this sentiment, ana even while the
committees letter was In my hands. !
took up copy of a fresh magazine and
read three or four paragraphs giving
specific instances Of the distinguished sue
cess of college men i'm various lines of bust
ness. These. Of course. are instances that
might be indefinitely multiplied. One
| would only need sufficient time to collect
In every city and town similar examples.
1t Is interesting to observe the change
| Of theory and practice in the relations be
tween the colleges and the business world
that has taken place within the last 30
years. Horace Greeley is reported to have
said once that he had no use for college
man in his office Yet think am cor
rect in saying that before his death he
fully equipped the Tribune offices with
college men. His successor In the man
agement of that great daily is con
spicuous example Of college man In
business. And what is true OF the New
York Tribune Is true also OF the Times,
the World, the Press, the Post the Mail
great metropolitan daily Is an enterprise
demanding, beyond doubt, the highest
business ability.
Probably no more able business men
can be found than the corporation counsel
which manages the affairs of the great
corporations of the country. / am in
formed that the collector of the port of
Boston and the collector of the port of
Whitney of Mr.. Cleyelands first cabinet
Daniel Lamont and Mr.. Olncy, are ex
lamplcs In point. One has only to run
over in mind such names as A. Il. Stewart,
| Sloane, the great carpet dealer of New
York, Abram Hewitt and Chauncey
! Depcw, to be ready for the conclusion that
the business Of the world is practically
dominated by college men.
| When we speak OF the college man in
| business, OF course we have in mind
realm oontrasted to those Of divinity, art,
medicine investigation. literature. | do
not think, however that we can regard the
realm of business As excluding the
realm of law since as | have already
limited, the greatest business enterprises
Of the country have their affairs shaped
and controlled in a very large measure by
men Of that profession and to them these
enterprises look for wise and safe guild
ance.
| Much has been said regarding the self
made man, and probably there is no dan
ger that too much will be said in favor of
| him, provided It il wisely said. Ameri
cans. OF all people, should speak respect
fully of the selt-made man. In no eoun
try has he accomplished such magnificent
\ ~ 4. -
much 10 him IS America. But what dos
the self made man prove; In every case.
the s,lf-made man who arrived at dis
tinguished success is a man Of extraordi-
nary ability, ard by his abiit es he sue
| ceeds, not because Of. but in spite of the
| lack of other aid
In Illinois knew Of one-armed man
who was one of the most successful farm
ers in the region. This fact, however,
would not warrant the generalization
| that prerequisite for a successful farmer
was to lose one arm. Place 100 men, with
ont the training of the schools, bsfore the
problems and contests of life, and where
one of them by his own efforts succeeds,
80 unusually fail. heard of a boy who
with an old broken knife and a block Of
wood made a graceful model of the
i'Sltbuti. AHeUr oUblt we rely
upon our unframed powers and discard
all tools, If you saw that boy at work,
you would say. He Is a genius - The
old knife did not do the work. And if you
give that boy tools and training, you know
that be will accomplish splendid results
| The college never made men. The lack
of the college never uumsde man But
if you have man of great gifts to start
x1-tt hn
puts him IN position to do his best Ono
OF our citizens most pertinently said, the
other evening: AN educated man has
a sharp axe; and uneducated man dull
axe. But, of course, if the man with
the sharp axe does not use 1t the man with
the dull axe may surpass him.
There is great significance in the att
tude of business men toward the colleges
and universities Upwards of $40, 600. 600
have been given within the last year to
| these higher institutions of learning In
this country, and in many cases these gifts
have come from men who themselves have
not enjoyed tho advantages of the schools.
but who are determined that their sons
and the sons of other men shall receive
that-the lack of which they themselves so
keenly feel.
change in sentiment regarding the rela-
ton of the college to business 1t must
he confessed that the college is much more
broadly and nationally conceiving its own
function than it once did Time was
| when the college education was deemed
| important for those alone who were look
ing forward to a career in medicine, law
or theology. Now, however, it Is under
stood that every work. whether of teach
ing, or preaching, or building, or mining.
demands the best trained men and be-
slows its rewards upon none other.
'Once the college undertook to care only
for the intellectual, and even narrowly
conceived that said President Butler.
Now 1t is understood that the realm of
college work must embrace the physical.
the social and the spiritual as well as the
intellectual; that the man must be
thoroughly trained in all of his faculties
and sent out into the world or into the
great graduate schools man in every
sense of the term
In an article in the current number of
the Forum. President Thwing has given
us the testimony Of a vast number of col
l