Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-16


that ordeal VI. - . =. &
, VI SOi SAMUEL REA
leges are not inclined to bestow m. 4.
gree without a close scrutiny ~ ,..
scholarship that seeks its reward. nj
therefore, all the more striking a par.A.,
that the even higher degree Of III. n.
Doctor OF Laws-is given to 40 mas.
men who have never been to collepa. y.
some who have never been to schooI
Within the last few days, Samuel R.,
president of the Pennsylvania Railro.a
has added two to his growing list Of 4.
grees. He Is now Doctor of scIsne.
Pennsylvania and Princeton, and poc,o,
of Laws, Lafayette. Yet all aooo,r..
agree that "he had very little schoolin,r
He left school, in fact, at the az. u
fifteen. But at that he did better ~,
Mr., Edison, whose record in Who's WIS.
is thus set forth:
Edison, Thomas Alva, electrician
born at Milan, o., February IL. isl7,
son of Samuel and Nancy 4. receIv.s
some instruction from his mother,
honorary Phi. D., Union College is7s,
d. Sc, Princeton University. 1916
Received some instruction from NJ
mother! And then, from that, the Ne
jump to Doctor Of Philosophy But VI,
all know how the gap in this remarkably,
education was filed. Mr.. Edison was
after all, intended to teach the college,
rather than to be taught by them. In al
least one course he should be giving an
occasional college degree, instead OF rs
celv;ng one occasionally from college
In his case, at any rate, the wild state
ment of Mr.. g. X. Chesterton seems to
have been fulflled-that after man has
been taught by his mother there is moth.
ing of much Importance left for anybody
else to teach him.
Keeping Up With the Self-taught
The colleges, of course, are constantly
striving to keep up with the barefoot
lads whom they have nothing to teach.
New courses are added; research work 4
constantly widens its scope so that
facilities for developing Ninventors ara
provided. When Mr.. Rea, in 1871, at
sixteen, took up his first work for ths
Pennsylvania Railroad, as chairman and
rodman on the Morrison's Cove. Will =
iamsburg and Bloomfield branches. he
was starting in a better school Of
engineering than any he could have found
at that time. For at that date the pioneer
Massa achusetts Institute of Technology
than six years and, In view Of the rapid
changes In railroad science that were 70
take place during Mr. Rea's youth and
early manhood, was at that time not to
be compared with the great openAf
school OF practical endeavor into whit
he had matriculated as a laborer. Hb
advance was so rapid that, at an ass
when many young men are leaving col
ge-twenty-four-he was in charge Of
and of the reconstruction OF ths
Western Pennsylvania, under the late j.
NJ Du Barry, who was afterward vice
president of the Pennsylvania Railroad
The chief weakness of the non
college education has always been that
man who got his training in the sehcol
Of life was usually compelled by forcs o.
to become specialist IN
developing the knowledge of detail neces
sary to business success he would neg
ect the larger view, the study OF re'a'Oa
subjects. But Mr.. Rea did not fall inP
his error He became a student OF nnAp'
cial questions generally, of railroaa y
counts and reports and their analysis 1na
this, coupled with his additional e1pz
-ience in the organization OF corporauons'
and his familiarity with laws. ranks nun
rs an authority. He was for ten yeas
4 member of a banking firm. In lns
literature of engineering he is the au'hs'
IF "The Railways Terminating In l0s
ion," work evidencipg much sIudy ~
aborlous personal investigation ol -
physical and financial condition ol -
English railway systems. 1t is thus s.
something more than mere success 1nes
ne is honored.
"Doctor Twain's" Scholarship
The common-sehool education Of
frontier town in the 4Os = =.
considered the best OF pfeps1s
ions for the taking of higher osslsf
rom one of the great Englisn
yerslties. But this was all Mark lFss
,ad to recommend him. OF courss. :
lad written those books and had sons'z
made the whole wovld laugh; and oohss.-
rave no courses which teach man
write books and make people iausn.
lever will have. The giving OF osss ..ss
o Twain should absolye the
rom that haekneyed charge tha'
,ften foolishly made against theni7z
hey have no sense of humor.