New-York tribune., 1907-09-07

,,,aa States not so long ago that the ques-
,on of How does college distinguish its grad
a,a from his fellows?" would have awakened
~ answer in the mind of the general public.
NJ .rs,ver would have been readily fOrthcom-
-: had II suggested itself to that mind but
.he distinction Of the college man, almost uni
-caTry favorable, was so generally recognized
.,o, the question had not the irritating way Of
rassiug itself forward for solution that il has
to-day.
Esffv wears ago and less the equipment of
college education was considered a practical es-
ort;al 80 even n fair achievement in the lines of
hrnan activity which were universally regarded
as the province Of the college man. Great sue
C.ss might be attained by him whose font OF
,oa-ning had been located in less sheltered spots
than those shaded by buildings whose history
and associations had meant standing and sue
cess for decades or even centuries but he was
+5e exception who without university or college
training won a pre-eminent place in the uni
versally recognized learned professions.
A DIFFERENT VIEW.
To-day there is a difference in the aspect #
tt,e value Of a college education, both from the
inside and from without the institution. from
chose who have been enabled to obtain il and
from those without the gates Yet every autumn
almost every college and university all over the
United States records a larger entering freSh-
man class than that Of the year previous and
say that almost every year in this country
marks the establishment of at least one more
institution Of higher education
Times have changed in the United States par
ticularly in the way in which college educa-
tjon and its value are looked upon, within the
last half century, and especially within the last
TWENTY-FIVE wears. The United States has forged
10 the frcnt as a commercial and industrial na-
ton With this evolution has come q revolution
in the standards of the colleges themselves and
q definite alteration Of their relation TO the edu-
cational scheme from what might perhaps he
termed the national point OF view
SPREAD OF THE COMMERCIAL SPIRIT
The spread of the commercial spirit has quick
ened the desire for success, in the sense that
success wins its widest acknowledgment The
college is no longer primarily the training school
for the clergyman. the physician, the lawyer, the
teacher. To-day the student does not select the
particular institution which he thinks or others
think is adapted to give him the best equipment
for one of the learned professions-a term that
Is fast losing its special significance neither
does he matriculate with the practically fore
gone conclusion that he will sooner or later earn
his livelihood in or other OF them The
range of occupation from which the college
graduate may now choose without carrying
about with him a ready query apology for
his action is practically lintless and it includes
almost all the fields which not so many decades
ago were barred to the properly tempered
alumnus.
The attraction Of business and industrial life
and the rewards which the portion OF thoSe
who distinguish themselves in 1t has led many
college men TO enter il and has changed radi-
caIly the valuation which is put upon college
education.