The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-06-21
1AILROAD NEWS.
The Value Of a College Educa-
tiOn in RaiIrOadfng.
Roberts Walker Of Rock Island
Lines Treats Subject.
is A BIG ADVANTAGE.
If College Man Has Taken Edu-
cation Practically.
Other Items of General Interest
in Traffic World.

The question of the value of a college
training as a qualification in making
good in railway work has been debated
for many years.
The college training which develops
character, and the degree which has
rewarded earnest effort, can be very
valuable to the college man who de-
sires to advance in the railway profess
sion, declares Roberts Walker. himself
college man who is now at the head
of the legal department of the Rock
Island railway, and president of the
Rock Island company Of New Jersey.
Mr.. Walker was recently asked to
express his views on this subject by
the editors of the Yale News, a daily
newspaper chrOnicIing the news and
events of Yale university at New
Haven, Conn
Mr. Walker approached the subject
from a broad standpoint, and pointed
out the advantage which the young
man on the ground at an average rail-
way station has over the average col
lege man, and especially the college
man who has not lived up to his oppor-
tunities at school in gaining a start in
railway work. He points out, however,
that the thorough training received,
equips the man who actually works
and digs (and makes good use of his
college education) or rapid advance
ment when once he has mastered the
fundamentals of railway work.
I have read many opinions on this
question. Most of them, it seems to
me, have proceeded on an erroneous
theory" says Mr.. Walker. 1.-THE under
lying idea has some time been that
railroad work needs no college men, or,
again, that they are seriously handi-
capped from the start. Then an effort
is made to show that in some cases and
dir ST a
man can hope to succeed. Perhaps the
most optimistic view has been that col
iege training is not a positive diSquali-
ficatiOn, any more than curly hair or
large ears would be; that his college
degree won't be quoted against a man
Of full age and ordinary health and in
telligence, save on due provocation-
Now the trouble with this point OF
view is that it presupposes some in
nate pecuIiarities in railroad work and
seeks to determine whether college
graduates may safely be permitted to
tinker with those peculiarities. Right
here is where my train of thought d.
verges. It is the college, not the rail-
road, that ought to be considered The
question really is, what has the col
lege done for the man, and what has
the man done at college%
For the railway is simply hiring Ia
Dor In railway service the upper
branches of education are usually of no
Importance whatever; but these other
qualifi cations are Of the highest irnpor-
lance: Honesty. industry, loyalty.
punctuality. endurance. And so our in
quiry becomes, has college life fur
nished this candidate with these quail
tiles?
Take a concrete case. A railroad is
hiring an assistant station agent at a
small city. The position viii permit
the successful applicant to work his
way up through the operating depart
ment to high executive position, or
through the traffic department to an
equal eminence. The applicants are
two in number: Murphy. a native lad
10 years old with three years ex-
perience driving a grocery wagon, and
Smith of Yale 10, about 81 years of age
The railroad official finds that Murphy
has worked early and late, has cared
for his horses well, has made accurate
deliveries, has stood long hours and in
frequent holidays without grumbling.
can be trusted to make cash colec-
lions. does not gamble and has contri-
buted most of his pay to the family
purse: the local fidelity company
knows Murphy and would willingly go
on his bond. Frankly, the railroad Of
ficer is taken with Murphy. and would
ike to hire him on the spot. But here
is Smith. an older man, of better ad-
dress and better education; what about
hfm2
GS. what ABOUT 0k+INu- w A4etI NAOSS
anybody know about the college man
who asks for a Job? He comes Of good
family He has good stuff in i'm
He stroked the crew. All very gooc,
bat not very pertinent as to his ability
TO be assistent station agent at Eldora,
Okla. A careful employer would wish
to know a great deal more.
This, believe, is a real point of
contact between college training and
railroading. AS a rule, the college does
its full duty. The question in each case
concerns the use that a man has made
of the facilities furnished by the col
lege. Whether a man is going to be
useful employee or q valuable citizen is
foreshadoWed, to q large extent, by his
attitude at college. In hiring law
clerks, for example. We lawyers inquire
into the candidates record at law
morals, diligence, athletics and so on
It is the only record that he possesses
In the same way, any cautious business
man wants to know about a candi-
dates college record. It thus becomes
of supreme personal Importance to
make and keep & good college record.
Not merely for the sake of the record
as an asset in finding work, hasten
to add, but because fitness for any posi-
ton in commerce or banking or rail-
reading will be developed and trained
by proper performance Of college duties.
All the years that Murphy was deliver
ing those groceries, his character was
steadily forming and giving him a rec
oguized position among his fellow men.
If the college man pays too much at
tention to athletics, CANDLES, neglects
his studies, or idles his time away, he
viii emerge from college many laps be-
hind Murphy, and with a character
worse than uniformed. actually deform
ed. To be fit for railroading OF for |
anything else, therefore. mans
work at college must have been such |
as to exhibit those traits of zeal. in |
ltiative, steadfa stness and honor that /
are so eagerly sought for by every en- |
ployer worth working for. A man who |
uses his college career in this way has /
an immeasurab1y better chance to get |
ahead in the world, for nowhere else