The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-06-18
The College Man and the Church
(By w. A. Harper, President OF E1on Collc1c.)

This is the day of the college man.
Never before has SO large a percent
age Of our nations young people been
found seeking equipment for life in
the four hundred colleges OF our sew
eral States. Between the ages Of
fifteen and twenty four. covering IN a
rough way the years of college life,
the country over there are about z0.-
000,000 persons and $751; 700 of these
are actually In college. This is one in
sixty. II only one in ten graduates.
the next generation will fnd every
six-hundredth man a full graduate
and every sixtieth with some acquaint-
ance with college life and ideals. The
college man Is thus O force to be
reckoned with. He IL usually born
and trained leader at once Of his
fellows. The church that fails to reach
these leaders might we'll ask itself
why.
The church's relationship to college
express itself in discovering. conserv-
ing, and utilizing these splendid lead
ers of our times.
1. Discovery.
The church, the local church I
mean in this instance. owes 1t to the
Kingdom of Jesus Christ TO discover
thc youHS pNoPiC VI
who show signs of being profited by
college education. There are young
people in every congregation who
would give earnest and splendid ser-
vice to their day and generattvp. II
only they could get the Yision of life
which II Is the privilege of the college
TO quicken. Many of them are Born in
humble homes Most of them are un-
aware of the methods by which col
lege education may be had. Many do
not know the value of such edu"a-
ton Very few are abto to detect thor
own tt'cats. 1t is the privile xe--nay
n 1T spesk my heart ana say -, is
the d Its ~ the church 10 discover
these embryonic leaaers--discover
their talents, discover them 10 them
selves, discover for therl tho way ny
W !ch they may arrive At graduation
from college
And this the church as whole Is
doing. The percentage OF church
mem bers In the student bodies OF our
colleges varies from ninety-tive nthe
denouirat,rnai colleges to about fly
la tl't State uriveif ~. ani privately
,nh'v ed institution The pe-"eitare
OF rhurch members ~ the xtu3ent
lcdy at the University 81 Norta Caro-
lima is SIS: at the University OF vir-
Einia T2s, at Harvard about so; at
Yale 5o2 These institutions are fair
ly representative. think We would
be safe in concluding that. taking the
country over. fully rs per cent OF our
college students are church members.
or from Christian homes. But only
one-third OF our population is Chris
tian. This means that child born in
a Christian home has six times as
many chances of attaining college
degree as one born In a non-Christia n
I home. This Is splendid compliment
+ TO the foresight and wisdom Of the
church, foresight and wisdom first
displayed when the church becam e
the pioneer in higher education and
evidenced still further by the fact that
she even to this day maintains about
900 colleges for her sons and dauEh-
tiers and in them educates more than
half OF the asi 27o students in ali coll
! leees OF all types in our country.
But while the church as a whole
makes for itself splendid record In
respect TO the number OF It's young
people In colleges and universities,
many local churches are losing their
opportunity and so falling 10 do their
duty 10 their young people. Some
pastors are afraid for two reasons TO
advise their young people TO 20 to
college. They have known in the irst
place some young people TO lose all