The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-22

uation. and ono which struck deeply into
 the roots of the entire Rhodes situation
 at Oxford.
 The Rhodes scholarships are the high
 est paying scholarships in the world.
 The highest paying scholarships at Ox- ford, outside of the Rhodes scholarships.
 rae worth $500 a year. The highest pay ing scholarships at Harvard are worth S75O.
 When the Rhodes scholarships were first announced in the United States sev- enteen years ago the S1 500 a year which accompanied them was enough to pay the holders railroad and steamship fares,
 to keep him at oxford during the terms and to give him a modest trip to the
 European continent during the long vaea-
 tion
 But the high cost of living, after the armistice, brought the Rhodes men at
 oxford to the verge of poverty.
 They went to w. s. Wylie, who is sec retary to the Rhodes trustees at Oxford and the father Uf all Rhodes men, and
 asked him to take up their difficulties
 with the Rhodes trustees in London. As
 a result the trustees made a ruling
 which holds gooo for one year that,
 war bonus of s250 is to be added this
 year to the s1 800 which the scholarship
 pays. So that this year. and this year
 only. the Rhodes scholarships are worth
 Sl ,750, the highest figure which any or
 dinary postgraduate scholarship is like
 ly to touch for a good many years. At the same time, the trustees issued the
 following statement for circulation
 throughout the United States and the
 British empire:
 WARNING FROM TRUSTEES Before the war the sum of $1.5o0 was
 enough to cover to cover the expenses of a full year, taking into account vacation
 as well as terms. It is difficult as yet to estimate exactly how far $1,500 will go under the conditions created by the war. What is certain is that S1500 will no longer meet all expenses, and that, even
 with economy, a scholar must be prepared to supplement his scholarship from pri- vate sources, possibly to the extent Of $250 year"
 This is a warning directed to all pros- pective Rhodes men, Whether Rhodes men who have already been selected but have not yet reached Oxford, are to be denied the present war bonus and made to pay their deficit out of their own pock- cts. the trustees have not yet decided, It is apparent, however that the war bonus is purely a temporary measure and that, whatever the cost of living does in the future, Rhodes scholarships will continue to pay S1,500 a year and no more.
 There are those in England who be- | mately change the very basis of Rhodes scholarship selection. Heretofore, Rhodes men have been chosen for their physical and mental qualifications and their quail ties of leadership. Sheer merit has been the basis of selection. The element of 1 financial status has now been introduced, I however, and some think that hereafter Rhodes men will be chosen on basis of 1 merit plus means. The man who has tn money will get the scholarship, these people say, while the man who has not 1 the money even though he may excel in all other qualifications, will be denied the great boon of three years at Oxford | The Rhodes trustees are taking no steps | to aviod this prospect There are some among them who say that the American habit of looking on the Rhodes scholar ships as matters of charity, has not brought to Oxford the type of American who is most welcome. They say that if Amercican Rhodes men are required to possess private means of their own, OK ford will receive Americans anxious to reap the social. as well as the scholastic, advantages of the famous university.
 Coupled with the expression of these
 views. comes plea from the Rhode trus-
 tees that university men throughout the United States, of whom two are selected from each state in alternate years, shall
 no longer regard the Rhodes scholarships
 as a form of charity. The trustees point out that they are a distinction to be cov
 eted and not an intimation of poverty to be looked down upon. They say that Lord Bryce, Lord Milner, the present prime minister of England. and other Englishmen of distinction have not been above accepting scholarships at Oxford,
 worth far less money than the Rhodes
 scholarships. They ask that the Rhodes
 scholarships be looked upon as the finest
 in the world and be sought by the very
 finest type of university men in the United States.
 NEW FORM OF EXAMINATIONS
 The qualifying examinations which were held before the war in each state to
 choose Rhodes men are now done away
 with.
 State selection committees, composed as far as possible of former Rhodes men,
 now make their decisions without quail lying examinations. Candidates whose names are submitted to these commit
 tees by their universities, must be Ameri- can citizens, unmarried, between the ages of 19 and 26, and must have completed their sophomore year at an American college.
 These selection committees, which are directed by Prof. Frank Aydelotte of the Harvard Institute of Technology, Ameri- can secretary to the Rhodes trustees, are now engaged in holding elections of schol- arship holders for 1918 and 1919, whose
 salaction was pOStnOned bv the war Thus