The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-23
IN HALLS OF FAME
MAJORITY OF C0NGREssMEN ARE
COLLEGE GRADUATES.
SELF-MADE MEN IN EVIDENCE.

hou. amos CunhthSs "rites Oh fts
Colleagues, Representatives Kahn,
Loud, Miers, stark and Polk, Who
Have Been Heard to Advantage in
Some OF the Debates of the Pres
ent Session.
Copyright, 1902. by Amos ]. Cum
mings.)
Washington, Feb. 22.-It may aston
ish many a theorist to learn that there
are 203 graduates from colleges and
universities in the House of Represen-
tatives. You always hear of the self
made men in Congress, and very little
of the college bred. Every barefooted
boy wandering along a country lane
on his way to school knows that
Abraham Lincoln was a fiatboatman
and a railsplitter; he is familiar with
the fact that James A. Garfield drove
a mule along the towpath of an Ohio
canal. You would never surprise him
by telling him that Ulysses S. Grant
sold wood by the cord and worked at
his trade as a tanner; but this was
seventy-five years ago, when district
schools were the nurseries of education,
and the teacher boarded around with
the parents of his pupils. Nowadays
the academy is usurping the place of
the district school, and the teacher
wears piccadilly collars and is known
as the master or the professor Col
leges are nearly as numerous as were
district schools years ago. In no place
is the change more apparent than in
the halls of Congress. More than half
the senators and representatives are
men who have finished their education
in colleges and universities. The White
House may be termed an educational
thermometer. President Roosevelt is
a graduate of Harvard; William Nc
nirley was a student at Allegheny
College: Grover Cleveland received his
educational training in the shadow of
Hamilton College; Benjamin Harrison
WAS a graauate of Miami University,
and Chester A. Arthur matriculated at
Union College. This brings us back to
the bareIooted boy who used the CAD
or a canal mule, became Campbellite
preacher. was elected to both branches
,neI ess. and finally was sworn in
as President of the United States. The
man with a classical education is slow
ly but surely striding to the front in
IRE. the colleges are strongly
represented in the House. The MEM
bership includes fourteen Yale gradu-
ates, nine from the University of Vir-
ginia, seven from Harvard. four from
-....LeUCl, three lrCm Amherst, five
from Dartmouth, three from Bowdoin,
two from Hamilton, two from Union,
two from Williams. two from Cornell,
and one from Oberlin. The self-edu-
Gated boy, however, is still a strong
feature in the House of Representa-
tives. He takes a leading part in leg
isla ton, and he leaves a clear impress
sion upon it's pages. Although he has
'eassical education, he is
unusually well versed in the classics.
..e.l have unconsciously absorbed
'-fr --ratio- necessary to a success
ful career. and often are far better
:, 4..e. 20 night the battles of life
than these blessed with collegiate hon
ors.
St9nd here In the south wing of the
Capitol near the elevator leading to
the hall of the House of Representa-
tives. A steady stream of self made
men is pouring along the corridor and
ascending to the realm above. Self-re-
lance is indelibly stamped upon their
features. The step is firm, the man
ner confident, the courtesy American
and not Partisan, and the conversation
suggestive of early days on the farm
and in the shop or foundry. Each is
on the way to his committee, where
he aids in kneading the dough of
legislatio AT high noon, when the
steam whistles in the District of Co
lumbia are calling other workmen from
labor to refreshment, they enter the
House and start the orchestrion of
defamation. Let me call your atten-
ton to the robust gentleman awaiting
the arrival of the elevator. He is
clean shaven, and has a clear COM
plexion, a bright hazel eye. and hair
as bushy as was that of Beethoven.
He wears the proverbial frock coat,
and has the air and confident swing
of statesman This is Congressman
Julius Kahn of San Francisco. He is
real knight of the buskin. You can
heardly realize that fifteen years ago
: he was supporting such stars I'm the
Thespian~ armament as Edwin Booth,
Joe Jefferson and Clara Morris. Mr..
Kahn secured an education in the pub
lie schools of San Francisco. Ten
years ago he was a barn stormer in
Sacramento. He played a part in the