Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-01-28
FROM REPORTER
TO PRESIDENT OF
A BIG UNIVERSITY
Jobn Bowman, Away 10 Years,
Returns to Tri-City Press
Club With Message.
uow HEAD OF IOWA SCHOOL
I'll, sone.hIns Of His Struggles and
=, the Things He Is EneeaVorins
20 Accomplish

lam Bowman. who left the TRICKY
v-... club about 20 years ago as
- reporter. came back TO It las
"a. a. president OF the state Uni
----I.v OF Iowa and told how ne had
- -ood-by hard work Other fac
- 4, his success which Re vas too
80. 10 touch upon we're read be-
- the Iiues-hs had natural abil-
- % begin with and turned l. 20
s,-.c,,ous where Il counted. and ne
- high ideals and did not suffer
=. hard knocks 10 received 70 wreck
,ss-. A young man still, under 3d.
80. one Of the notable figures in the
-srr.-loual world and IS doing things
= ia university that have won 20 his
.-,Dort the people and faculty which
- JEALOUS Of is prerogatives and
,....ted the elevation over Il OF G
-s-a youth who but few years be
tors had been a student in the same
school
Nr- Bowman vas a Davenport boy
"a worked for three years after
Issvfug the university on Davenport
psrspapers. Then he taught at Col
uubia university. became connected
Win the Carnegie Foundation and was
called from there TO the big Iowa
rehooL His remarks before the Press
club last evening were mainly devoted
"a the university and the problems he
las had TO face as its head
Chanainu the Attitude.
When he came back TO Iowa a few
years ago he found the university
bearing the same general attitude
toward its students that other similar
Institutions throughout the country /.
id. Its chief concern lay with the /
Offering OF the opportunity for instruc- /
ton and il assumed no responsibility /
FOR the moral or physical welfare OF .
lie young men and women The new f.
president set out to remedy this. After
thorough study OF the problem and a
long search to find the man he wanted
he brought to the faculty a high school
principal from the northern part OF
he state and installed him IN a ca
sacity unknown IN that school and so
fz- as IS known, IN any other. His
work was not 10 teach classes. but TO
keep in touch with the men students.
70 act as q friend and adviser and TO II
help them meet their problems.
These problems. as Mr.. Bowman
said last evening. are innumerable and Il
% the utmost importance. The raw
material which comes 70 universities
is made up OF mere children. Though
fully grown the average freshman IS
stin In many respects only 4 boy and
Incapable Of carving OUT a career for
himself unaided.
Five Hundred Work Way.
among the students now there are
800 who are working their way, all
putting in long hours and often endur-
Ing severest privations and overtax-
Ing their strength 20 the breaking
POINT. II one had an opportunity 10
Eate9 the cash register in a cheap
university town restaurant in the
morning he would find that the figure
.i'enest rung up IS cents and that
re great majority Of students do not I
pend more than 10 cents for their
1orning meai. The new member of
ne faculty found one boy at Iowa re-
ently who was actually starving.
wen asked what he was doing 10
an MS way he replied he was trap
hs- Inquiry brought out that II was
ls custom 20 rise before daylight in
ne morning and walk miles out Of
0.n to make the round % traps he
20 placed in the Iowlands along the
yer practically all his income at
"a, time being from the sale Of
irzkrst pelts.
Professor Renee IS the man who
''1s after the students When he
-a2 That one IS dropping behind in
: work he singles him out and
as what the trouble Is. II the
.-1snt Is working his way perhaps he
: improvement not suited 10 him
= Il 90 an effort is made TO get for
- work that he can better perform.
me youth 81 discouraged, falling
!. snluess habits or wasting HIS
'-.sles Otherwise he Is given the
we OF real. sympathetic friend. iii
Find Physical Defects. iii
Many students, Mr.. Bowman said. iii
: handicapped By physical defects,
81 a. poor eyes or teeth These are
.sc'sd TO the clinics where they are
'-so after at about one-third the
=. rates II they are able 70 pay and
I0s TIE bill is miElaid. Few know
% study 20 best advantage. the
sof1ty never having been taught 70