Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-27
EARNING THEIR WAY AT COLLEGE
Many and Various Means of SefHep Everything
From Scrubbng Floors to Acting for the Movies and Serv
ing Escorts-The Decline of Canvassing
BY FORREST DuNNE

BY FORRl
HNHE report just issued by Columbia Uni
i versty on the activities of students, po-
tential "self-made men," who work their
way through college, is highly interesting to
University of Pennsylvania men in the light
of records compiled at their institution,
which it would appear Columbia has been
studying.
Take the matter of professional escorts"
A Pennsylvania student originated this idea
in 1918. He found other fields too crowded
and had to do something. BY dint of some
industrious self-advertsing in the right cir
cles he managed to build up thriving busi-
ness as a professional escort to women. 1t
made no difference whether they wanted to
study housing conditions in the slums or
to go to a dance other function, he was
ready to make a rate as escort, going and
returning.
Few Rich and Few Poor
The University of Pennsylvania has been
called at times a poor mans university"
Whether or not this title is justified by
comparison with the other large universi-
ties there are no exact records to show.
AS to the number of men who work their
way through college, approximate figures
furnished by the Free Student Employment
Bureau of the University Christian Associa-
ton indicate that Pennsylvania averages
slightly lower than institutions like Column
bia. Student employment, in the absence
of accurate records, cannot be taken alto
gether the barometer of wealth, but the
Pennsylvania figures are interesting.
More than 300 already this year have ap-
piled to the free employment bureau for po-
sitions About 125 applicants have been
placed and nearly all the others earning
something in their spare time. According to
Dana Howe, secretary of the University
Christian Association, the number of appl-
cants here is about the same as at Columbia,
Yale or Harvard. Yet each of those univer-
stiles, it is admitted, is better organized
to find employment for its poorer students
than is Pennsylvania, and it also must be
remembered that Harvard and Yale do not
have labor markets equal to Philadelphia
because OF their location
Such figures as are available, therefore,
would seem to show that the University of
Pennsylvania is not poor mans college"
by any means Not that it is a "rich mans
college," either Again there are no accurate
records available, but the consensus Of
opinion among faculty members who ought
to know is that Pennsylvania has fewer mill
lionaire students than either Of the three
big institutions named.
This does not mean that the -Four Hun
dred" is not represented in West Philadel-
pha. 1t is said that the University of Penn
sylvana has more students socially promi-
nent because they are members of old fam
lilies than because they are exceptionally
rich
The old time, hard-labor recruits have not
been given up by any means. Records in
the Christian Associations bureau show that
one student scrubs floors every morning,
until $780, and washes dishes until s:45
O'Clock Then he has nothing TO do but at
tend classes until late in the afternoon.
This man and scores OF others like him have
taken the advice Of the bureau, thus:
Take anything offered. Don't be fussy
or incky. Then when you have undertaken
a job, try to give satisfaction, not only for
your own sake. but for the sake OF another
Pennsylvania man who will follow you. Deal
squarely with the men who have employed
you, and your conduct will recommend an
other student to take your place when you
have passed on"
Tutors Not Required
There is one student at the University who
acts for the moving pictures ION the side"
lie has been instrumental in securing Jobs
for several others as "supes" now and then
Tutoring Is a fine source of income to the
man working his way through most colleges,
but not at the University here. The authori-
ties take no little pride In this. They say
Pennsylvania men, a rule, work so hard
in classes that they do not find II necessary
to employ tutors At any rate, few students
fnd profit In this kind OF work. The various
boys clubs give employment 10 many, and
as in nearly every institution OF the kind
there are several men who have worked up
a lucrative trade in pressing trousers. Stud
ents, as a rule. are nowadays exceedingly
wary about canvassing. They hnd the field
overworked and win handle nothing but so
called "giIt-edged" propositions.
To be completely self-supporting at the
University It Is necessary for student TO
earn from $500 70 $500 season. depending
on his mode OF life. One man discovered he
could tvrfte rnovlra- plcfure acenarioa ana