The New York herald., 1921-05-01

M ously big There moments when
il seems even more than that-gi-
gantic and impossible These are the in
evitable moments that come to the young
man. however college bred he may be. who
drifts into town with mild intentions OF
earning his own living.
His ideas may be rather hazy on the
subject. He may have no great ambition
TO reach any dazzling heights of fame and
fortune. He may not even plan to pay all
of his own way the first year or so. for
there is parent In the background ready to
stand few minor deficits such as dentists
bills club dues and summer vacations He
merely wishes the assured prospect of max
ing a decent income so that he can get
married in his late twenties, own a car in
mis- early thirties and perhaps join a golf
club.
AS has been hinted. there are serious mo-
ments when the young college man in New
York feels that all of this is quite impos-
sible Mixed in with a company of stu
pendous successes of streamine limousines
and luxurious displays there doesn't appear
10 be room for one more tiny, little, half
way success.
In the gallant dramas of the screen, in
the romantic adventures of the book and
stage, the swarthy young man from the
country leaves the plough in the half turned
furrow and streaks it for the big city. He
has IL easy. There isn't one valid reason
under the sun why he should make good
and of course he does. promptly and without
exertion.
That is. he Immediately gets a position
with a substantial firm and is complimented
by the department head for the conscien-
:ious way in which he subtracts two from
four. Eventually he is singled out by the
president and sent back to the old home
town 70 bring tidings of the new factory to
be built down by the bridge. The home folks
greet him with flags waving and a brass
hand blaring a joyous welcome. He has
made good on $1,000 a year and the town
will never forget II. He has II easy,
Obstacles on Road to Success
That Only a Few Appreciate
But the man with the college education.
with every advantage and almost no handi
caps ignored by fiction and fact, faces
proposition that the swarthy young man
can hardly conceive. Every one expects him
to make good. Every one will comment II
he doesn't. Yet only a few appreciate that
there are some obstacles he has TO hurdle
that seem mighty big at the time.
Each year the Eastern colleges and uni
versties turn out thousands Of graduates
Perhaps Is OF 90 per cent of these men
head for New York. the town where little
men become big and big men become bigger.
They are all on hand. eagerly and conf.
IDENTIFY expecting to knock triumphantly on
the grand old overrated door OF success.
Looking in on the proceedings impartially
and cautiously. without citing any disturb
ing figures or asking too many irrelevant
questions what chance has the average man
OF joining that golf club at say 80?
Compounding rhetorical interrogations Is
a far easier task than answering them and
one not 10 be gone into lightly. In the
present instance IL would be wiser to main
tain a discreet silence than to go on with
out establishing rather strict eligibility rules
II appears highly pertinent to discover who
is the average college man.
lust as all manner OF men enter college
so do all manner OF men come out Of col
ege There Is no definite type created by
four years Of listening to the same lectures.
poring over the same books and composing
similar 100 page theses. Except for smoking
the same brand OF cigarettes and following
. set system Of haberdashery they come
out Of college still as individuals
There are tho doctors. the lawyers the
ministers and the teachers. They have their
troubles. certainly, their worries, too, but
the lire OF their careers is more or less
marked out by custom precedent and tenn
porary necessity. The young doctors who
come to New York have hospital appoint
ments or affiliations with men already es-
tablished. They don't Just blow into Man
haitian, hang out shingle and start being
doctors. II simply isn't done.
The law graduates have almost as def
mite n programme mapped out for them.
The high standing men in the better known