The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-09-17
THE VALUE OF A
COLLEGE TRAINING
The Man Who Has Had Good 0ue Ism |
to be Dlspised
PRESIDENT THwlNG GIVES FACTS
Half the Members of Congress Are
Men of Liberal Education--Nota-
bic Instances of the Success Of
College Trained Poiiticians--The
Old Prejudice Against Them Is Dy-
ing Out.

A study into the college training of
men prominent in the political life of
the nation, upon which President
Thwing, of Western Reserve univer-
sity is now engaged, has special in
terest at this time. A part of his re-
suits are here given:
1t may as we'll be confessed at once
that the prejudice Is more or less COM
mon against college graduates enter
ing into politics. The usual charge
brought against him is that he is not
practical. His training has been the
oretical. He has lived long within col
lege walls, and knows little or nothing
o. what Is without college walls. 1t Is
constantly affirmed that the judgment
of a practical man upon the tariff is
OF far more value than the judgment
OF one college bred.
Not infrequently is 1t said, too, that
the college man is not fitted to be the
master in national crises. Since the
time of Andrew Jackson this prejudice
has been not uncommon.
The influence of Jackson has inn
pressed certain people with the assur-
ance that the man of the backwoods
with force and common sense was a
better element in American political
life than the we'll bred gentleman of
collegiate learning. This prejudice,
however, seems to me to be dying out.
and also 1t seems to me never to have
been held very firmly. 1t represents
one of those superficial judgments
which even the one holding it does
not regard as a permanent Judgment.
In his heart of hearts everyone knows
hnf l,,l s,.s,. \.
ciplined power are the natural and
normal results of college course. AL
though these qualities in thousands of
men are found developed without the
collegiate method, and although hun
dreds of men graduate from college
without possessing these supreme quail
ties, of which the statesman stands in
particular and urgent need, are pro-
noted through a college education.
INTELLECTUAL NEEDS.
Among the intellectual needs Of the
statesman are the power of interpreta-
tion and the power Of exposition. He
needs to understand the significance of
events and the relations of facts. He
should be able to distinguish what is
transient from what is permanent
what is comprehensive from what is
narrow. He should be able to assess
each fact and truth at it's proper val
ue. Having this power of interpreta-
tion, he also needs the power of ex-
position. He should have the teach
er's quality of making his interpreta-
ton of certain conditions clear to other
minds. A quality which is at once in
tellectual and ethical the statesman
should also posses. 1t may be called
the quality of high mindedness. The
thoughts in which the intellect de-
lights should be noble, and the feelings
which the heart rejoices in should be
pure He should have that same
quality intellectually which the term
gentleman denotes socially He
should posses intellectual conscien-
tiousness. This quality highly de-
veloped in the individual and devoted
to the service of the state is of the
greatest value in the betterment of our
social, political and civil conditions.
Now, these are the qualities which
the college trains. 1t trains the power
of Interpretation and of exposition
through every study pursued, but also
in particular through the linguistics
and the mathematics. That simple
means so largely used in the college,
Of translation from a foreign tongue
| into the English, represents the train
| ing of the power of Interpretation and
| of exposition. Intellectual conscien-
| means, so largely used in the college,
| through the accuracy Of the training
| given in the class room, and also, and
more, by the inspirations and exam
| pies Of noble living set before the stu
| dents in the person of their teachers.
We therefore are prepared to find that
| a large number of those who have
| been concerned in political life have
| been trained in the colleges. We also
| are not surprised to find that on the
whole the abler men in political life
have added to their native powers
through the discipline of the higher
| education.
SOME COLLEGE MEN.
Not far from one-half of the mem
bers of the national senate and house
have received a liberal education. OF
the thirty-two speakers, eighteen have
had the advantage of a college train
| ing. In the executive department of the
National government of twenty-five
presidents, fifteen have been literally
educated, and one-half of the vice
presidents have had the same advant.
age. The larger proportion of the
members of the cabinet have also been
literally educated. OF the secretaries
of state, Harvard helped to train Johr
Quincy Adams and Edward Everett
Yale, Calhoun, Clayton and Evarts
Dartmouth, Webster; Columbia, Jay
Livingston and Fish; Union, Seward
Brown, Massey and Olney; William
and Mary, Jefferson; Washington
Blaine, and Princeton, Madison. Pinck
ney was educated at oxford. And alsC
1t should not be forgotten that in thu
solution of the critical questions which
Seward was obliged to make, he es
peclally relied on a president of Yalt
college and Francis Wharton, grad
uate of Yale in the class of 1889, and
upon William Beach Lawrence, a Co
lumbia graduate in 1918. One canno
forget, too, that the Office of secretar!
of the treasury-that office which, II
obedience to the current impression
that the college man is not practical
has especially been open to business
men, he has often been called to flll.
Yet it Is the college graduate VIII
has rendered most conspicuous serv
ice. Robert Morris, who rendered su
perb service in the management Of tn
financial affairs of the country durini
the revolution. declined the honor of
continuance of his place and pointe'
out Hamilton as the man best quail
fed to arrange the national finances
But Hamilton was a graduate OF Col
umbia. Chase, also called to the ser
vice of the nation in a crisis as grea
as that in which Hamilton served, wa
| - L.. AZ. Z.