Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-10-02
BY BISHOP w. A. GAMBLER.

BY BISHOP W. A. GAMBLER.
Dean Holmes, of the Pennsylvania
state college, has been making care
tul computation of facts and figures
from which he reaches the conclusion
that college education is worth IN
money $200OO. He says that the aver
age non-college graduate earns 1918 n
year. while his brother, the college
graduate, earns $1,187. Estimating the
working period of mans life as thirty
years. and multiplying the difference
between 1918 and 81, 1877 by thirty. the
result is S20,070.
The calculation of Dean Holmes is
interesting, and while il cannot be &C
cepted q" perfectly accurate, of course,
nevertheless, it does not overestimate
the momentary value of education. The
stimulating and informing power of in
tellectual culture naturally and inevi-
tably increases the productive power
of a man. Hence the mental develop
ment of a young man by his collegiate
training increases his earning capacity;
he is worth more because he is, by his
education. enabled to produce more.
1t follows from these facts that the
most valuable resources of any people
is found in their children, and that the
development of human resources mus:
precede the development Of all matc-
rial resources.
New England perceived this obvious
truth early in her history. and pro-
ceeded to establish and endow colleges,
and the policy of providing first of all
for the education of her children has
enriched her out of all proportion to
her material resources. She cannot
claim superior agricultural resources.
In her hills she mines no gold or silver
or iron or copper. She is without vast
coal deposits. and has no oil wells Her
f1ocks and herds are inconsiderable;
for her pasture lands are restricted and
her winters long and severe.
But Notwithstanding all these disad-
vantages. New England has grown
rich, and is growing richer.
Massachusetts has only about one
seventh the area of Georgia, and her
material resources are far inferior to
those of Georgia. But the assessed vaf-
uation of property in Massachusetts, rs
1924. or s2,237 per capita.
while the assessed valuation of prop
erty in Georgia is s951,763.472, or $34O
per capita. why this difference?
Allowance must be made for the eff
fects of the war. perhaps. But the war
is fifty years and more behind us. With
Georgias superior resources, she ought
to have gained on Massachusetts far
more in these fifty years
There may be some difference in the
methods employed in ascertaining the as
sessed valuation of property in Massa-
chusetts and Georgia.
But when every explanation is made
that can be justly offered. Georgia is far
behind and Massachusetts, is far ahead
in the matter of material possessions.
Why?
The main reason is that the people
have been educated more generally In
Massachusetts than in Georgia.
The colleges and universities of Mas
sachusetts are worth more than all the
institutions of higher learning in the
entire south.
If We were to follow the West Point
railway from Atlanta to the Alabama
line, and thence follow the Alabama line
northward to the Tennessee line, and
thence follow the Tennessee line east
ward to a point near Knoxville, and
thence follow the Louisville and Nash
VILE railway back to Atlanta, the start
ing point, we would inclose an area
slightly larger than Massachusetts. But
within such restricted area in Massa-
chusetts are Harvard university, BOs
ton university, Williams college, Tufts
college and Amherst college, for men.
and all these institutions are rich and
growing richer. For our purpose no men,
ton need be made Of the technical
schools. the strictly theological schools
and the institutions for the higher edu-
cation of women in Massachusetts, al
though in these institutions are invested
millions of dollars for buildings,
grounds, libraries, apparatus and endow-
mentS.
These institutions of learning in Mas
sachusetts have developed the people.
and her skilled people. with enhanced
productive powers, have made the vast
wealth of the Bay state.
Such would be the case in Georgia If
our educational enterprises were as
strong and effective as those of Massa-
chusetts.
But Georgia has been afflicted by
some blind leaders who have committed
the egregious blunder of taxing college
endowments for the last forty years,
during the period when it was most i'm
perative to encourage the upbuilding Of
our educational institutions. These men
have done nothing for the higher educa-
ton of our people, and they have dis
couraged others from doing anything.
Happily they are losing their leader
ships as they richly deserve to lose it,
The have forfeited the confidence of the
people by opposing enlightenment ana
progress A new era has opened
And in this new era II behooves us to
make progress with all speed in order
that we may retrieve as soon as possible
the injury inflicted upon the state by