University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1909-04-12

American Review:
The object. the critics and callers
that a newspaper man. must depend
solely upon natural aptitude. or. in the
common phrase. that he must be born
not made
Perhaps the critics can name some
great editor. born fullwinsed like Mer-
curry. the messenger of the gods: 1
know of none. The only position that
occurs to me which man in our Re
public can successfully fill by simple fact
of birth is that of an idiot. Is there any
other position for which Il man does not
demand and receive training g-training
at home. training in schools and col
legcs. training by master craftsmen, or
training through bitter experience
through the burns that make the child
dread the fire. through blunders costly
to the aSpirant:
This last is the process by which the
profession of journalism at present OBJ
tains it, recruits. Its work is by natur-
al selection and the survival of the fit
test. and its failures are strewn along
the wayside.
The born editor" who has succeeded
greatly without special preparation Is
simply man with unll>al ability and
aptitude for hi, chosen profession. with
great power of concentration and sus-
tanned effort. He is one who loves his
work and puts his whole heart and mind
into it. He is i'm the strictest sense an
educated man. but he has merely sub
stituted self-education for educa-
tion by others. making up for any de
ficicncies in his training by the unre-
served sacrifice of strength. energy, and
pleasure. Even in his care might it not
be an advantage to have Il system of in
>truction that would give him the same
results at saving of much time and
labor.
Education begins in the cradle. at
home. with Il mothers teaching. and is
continued by other influence, through
life. a college is one of those in
iurnce> useful. but with no magical
power. \ fool trailing an alphabet
of degrees after his name is still fool.
and il genius. if necessary. will make his
own college. although with painful
waste of effort which might be better re-
served for productive work. | seem to
that Lincoln. whose academy
was Il borrowed book read by the light of
Il Pine-knot on the hearth. studied
Euclid in Congress when nearly forty.
But would it not have been better it
hat work had been done at fourteen:
All intelligence requires development.
The highest profits by it: the lowest is
helpless without 1t. Shake>peare'> best
play. Hamlet" was not his first. but
his nineteenth. written after growth and |
after the hard work. the en-
pericncc. the exercise OF faculties and |
the accumulation of knowledge gained !
by writin" eighteen plays. As Shake
~Prarr WAS Il born genius why did he |
not write Hamlet" first:
john Stuart Mill had natural talents. !
but they We're strained to the last pos |
-ihic limit OF accomplishment by course
n early trainin" that was not only |
borough but inhuman. IIi> father WAS |
hi- college Il great college. better than /
any in England. Like Mill Herbert Spen- |
cr. Buckle. Huxley. Tyndall. and Lpwc>
were without college education. but their
Mental discipline was most severe Cob
len wa- undoubtedly genius born but
i We compare his original >tylr-turgid.
'lum>y the ma>,erlv clearne>>
mi force "f his trained maturity. can
We doubt that his brain wa~ Developed /
~ the hardest work. Just a> Sandow'>
muscles We're Developed:
OF course in every field natural apti-
ude i the key to >umcc->. When the
Experiment. was tried "i turnin" Whist
"r into II disciplined soldier even West
Point had To lay down it, arms. Your
'awmill may have all til, modern i'm
but it vii! not make IL pine
"ard out of Il ba--wond lu. No col
""c can Great" Il good lawyer without
legal mind to work on nor make a
Iiccr>>ful doctor of IL yojInn man whom
latur designed to sell tapr. TaIlryrand
""k holy orders. but thy did no, turn
'im into Il holy man.
The great =, neral. even more than the
:rcat editor. j. supposed To be born not
nadc- Tl" picturesque historian tells
l. that h" fell Ike Il thunderl,olt upon
h" cncmy. ami We imagine u miracle
,"rkin" magician. Eut the truth j..
hat TIA" brilliant general i simply
nan VIII" la~ learned how to apply skill
uliy the na atural law- of force. and who
IA the Hrrve to act On hi knowleduc
ianlIhai. tine greatest of all in nv opin-
on. l. called Il typical example "f nativ.
military genius. But can We forget that
/" was the son "f IIanilcar. the able-,
"ldier "f hi generation. born
" Ia, c1Ipn pny.r Il