The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-02

So you see, even before our national independence had been won, colleges and universities had been established which have stood unshaken until this day. No human brain can compute the influence or these institutions In the making of our government and m an her struggles for liberty. No wonder Professor Hexley declared that If a nation could purchase potential watt. or Davy, or Faraday, at a cost Of lOO,- 900 pounds down, he would be dirt cheap at that money
 While important, the material ad- vantage of an education Is its lowest point of study. Too many young men plunge into the busy world unqualified and unfitted for the battle. Some men may have succeeded without colle- giate training. but few can stem the tremendous tides in the years to come. As a rule the more gold man piles up the less he becomes a public good. The tendency of wealth is toward ex- clusfon in every sense. An English tourist returned with this interpreta- tion of American life: "The Ameri- cans ideal is the millionaire How Iow-how infinitely low, if such be our ideal. It is said that Gladstone died comparatively poor. for he was too busy to make money. Henry Clay, in tears, spoke of his disadvantage be- cause of a lack of thorough training. Lord Macau1ey, in one of his resistless speeches before the English Parliament. said: Take the Cambridge calendar, or take the Oxford calendar for 200 years; look at the church, the parlia- ment, or the bar, and 1t has always been the case that men who were first in the competition of the schools have been first in the competition of life
 Professor Hart is authority for say ing that the majority of the members of every legislative body in the Ger man Empire. and three-fourths of the high office holders, and all the depart mental heads. are university men. whol- ly or in part. Do the young men of today know that only one-half of per cent. of the male population in the United States receives a college edu- cation2 r That means only 1 in every 200. Do they know that from this small contingent of college boys are selected one-half of the Senators, Vice Presidents, two thirds of the Presidents and Secretaries of State, and seven eighths of the Justices of the Supreme Court?
 Dr. Wilbur F. Crafts examined the educational records of the seventy fore most men in American politics. They were Cabinet officers, Senators, Con- gressmen and Governors of national reputatfon. fhfrty-seVen or them were college graduates; five more had only part of a college course; twenty eight did not go to college at all. TO this investigation there is but one inevitable conclusion: not more than one young man in every 500 goes to college. This one five-hundredth man belongs to the phalanx that furnishes four sevenths of our public officers It appears, therefore, that a collegian has 750 times as many chances of becoming eminent as other young men. To the reader this research may seem amazing. Pro lessor Thwings will appear even more so. In Appletons Cyclopedia of Amer ican Biography he studied the careers of 15.142 men most conspicuous in American history. Of this number but 5,326 were college men. Tn the various callings the per cent. stood as follows among the 5,326 collegians: