Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-15
HIS CHANCES N LIFE
What a Former Cabinet Officer
Says on a Vital Point.
COLLEGE MEN LEAD
BECAUSE EDUCATION AND Elk
PERIENcE ARE NECESSARY.
He Who Secures These Helps First Has
Best Opportunities Of
fered Him.
COLLEGE MEN LEAD
Copyright. 1909, by T. L. Jamesa

| Copyright. 1909, by t. l. Jamesl
| Written for The Evening Star.
Given equal natural ability push, nerve.
determination and ambition the college
1 graduate has big advantage, of course.
over his fellow who has not enjoyed the
advantages of the schools
| But college training alone will not insure
| success. whatsoever would win must be
| educated, but 1t Is one of the easiest things
| in the world to spend certain number of
years at college. to pass the examinations
! creditably and to get document which
| certiies that you have done these things
without really becoming educated. And if
you are not educated in the true sense you
| cannot accomplish the things that are
| really worth doing in this world.
| The first problem for every young man,
| then, is education. He should go to col
| lege If he can manage it, but there Is no
| reason for him to despair IL the college
| course is beyond his reach. America is
| crowded. as everybody knows. with men
| who have made their marks in business, in
| high finance, in politics, in rairoading and
| manufacturing in Journalism, art and liter
| allure, in nearly every walk of life, who
never have seen the inside of college save
as visitors. Most of these men are proud
! of what they have done in spite OF their
handicap. but there are few among them
| who do not regret the handicap; who do
not believe in their hearts that they could
l
| they been able to get the training that the
| college course gives
This could be shown in no more conclu--
| sve way than by the liberalfty displayed
| toward the higher institutions OF learning
| by certain non-graduate princes of indus
| try, of finance and of transportation. No
| for the maintenance and endowment of
| semnaries, colleges and universities as
| John D. Rockefeller. whose education was
completed without the help of any school
| ne 40 iut,n han IA CT
! No other man has given one 1.-THE as much
| to place the means Of self-education in the
| form of free libraries, within the reach of
| those who cannot go to college as Andrew
| Carnegie, who was graduated into the
| world Of affairs from the telegraph key.
| and whose education included practically
no schooling at all. A long list OF non
| college men who have given with muntfi-
| cence to e1uca tional Institutions might be
| made, bat mention of the two best known
| for their liberality in helping others to en-
| Joy the advantages of which they were de-
| prived in youth Is enough to illustrate my
| point Probably more than half of all the
! money that has been expended In America
| for the founding and the maintenance of
colleges and universities has been contrib
| uted by men who were not college grad
| yates.
The College Mans Great Advantage.
One Of the important advantages enjoyed
| by the college man over the nom graduate
| lies in the fact that by reason of his college
| course the former virtually belongs to a
vast and growing club. with members in
| practically every city Of his own land and
| many cities Of the great world outside.
| A graduate of Harvard, for instance, go
| ing from an eastern city to San Francisco
| to engage in business or professional life
| has a big lead over a non-college man in
| the same circumstances. There are many
| Harvard graduates in San Francisco and
| every one of them will be quick to extend
| such social courtesies as he may to any
| newcomer. who. like himself. received his
training from the beloved alma mater on
| the banks of the Charles. 1t is the same
! II he be graduate of Yale or Princeton, Of
| Columbia or Cornell-of any of the colleges
| or universities. great or small, east or west.
Though, of course, the graduate or one or
! the bigger colleges stands chance to find
| more brother alumni in his new home than
| the graduate Of a smaller institution.
With the non-college man 1t Is different.
| He is alone. stranger, in the new city. He
| has his own way to make in far greater
degree than the other If he has character
( ability and address; he makes his way, as
! matter of course. but 1t is slower, more
difficult. Often, to be sure, he wins
higher prize than the graduate. for his first
| advantage is only temporary. when all is
said After he has established relations
| with his brother alumni in his new field of
| action it remains for him to make good;'
| Il he doesn't his lead doesn't last, and. in
| the long run, he is worse off than IL he had
| no lead to begin with That he had decid-
| oNly the pest VI II dl int Sldit. tuouSH
| one can doubt.
| What is Education.
| After all. then. success depends upon
brain. character and industry. One who
| has these qualifications will become an ed
| ucated man. whether he can go to school
much or not He will begin his education
when he begins to earn his living He will
| find means for carrying it on in whatever
he does and wherever he goes. The world
will be his university, and whether con-
| sciously or not, he will force every one he
| meets to play the part of instructor.
And this brings up the question, What
| is educatfon?" The answer is simple. Edu-
cation is training that will enable its pos
SCISSOR to use correctly the tools that every
| man possesses-his hands. his eyes and his
brains To make your mark in any calling
you must have this. whether you go to col
| lege or net.
| The standard college education CT other
| days took little stock in the education Of
| the hands,or Of this workaway worlds prac-
teal requirements. In the main 1T amount
| ed to the study of the Greek and Latin
| classics with dash of mathematics thrown
| in. The college education of today may or
may not include as the student elects, the
| training of other faculties than those which
| are developed by the classics
1t Is the glory of the American college
| and university that they now afford their
| students opportunities to secure training of
almost every possible sort. Today our great
|
| leges give as much attention to mechanical
| training, to instruction in practical chenis-
| try and electricity and dozens of like sub
! jects as to Greek and Latin.
| The workshop and the laboratory are
] important departments of these modern
! educational institutions as the lecture rooms
| of the professors who devote Their atten-
| ton to the topics which made up the CID
1 fashioned course. A complete locomotive in
| perfect working order is provided by Co
| lumbia University for the study Of these
| who make mechanical engineering their
| speciality. The workshops of various sorts
| provided by Cornell are famous the world
/ over. This same university instructs it's
students Of civil engineerin and surveying
| by sending them out to make practical sur
veys OF the country round about, and In
| this way a large portion of the state OF
! New York has been actually surveyed
| Only the universities of Germany rival
| those of America on the practical side.
| England's great schools appear to be
| awakening slowly to the necessity of fur
| nishing their students with practical train
/ ing. but they have made little Roadway as
yet. and British educational authorities say
| 1t will take years for the schools of their
| country to catch up in the race There is
an important element in Great Britain, and
| smaller one, relatively. in this country.
| which objects to the ''pract.caiization'' OF
! ~. 81,