The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-15
AN ILLUSTRATION
souciance.'

| Chancellor Brown of New York Uni
 versity, In the North American Re-
 view
 l N MAN of business met e. college l A president away from home and engaged in his custom ary avocation. The president told of a great crowd of young men clamor- ing for admission to college. The man of affairs replied, When your pen is full, why don't you shut the gate?"
 There we have the shortest and easiest way: other features of Bishop Hatto's method are not modern. An easy way for a single institution on a private foundation, but what about the country at large? And not alto gether easy even in the case of sim gle institution, for the questions in- volved, both academic and financial, are nowise so simple as they seem. A tree that ceases to grow in a for est of growing trees has troubles of it's own. But for the country at | large, as President Angel has recent ly shown with startling clearness, a new problem of college attendance lutions fail to solve.
 A bulletin recently issued by the federal bureau of education (No. s4, for the year 1920, prepared by MT. H. R. Bonner) presents the statistics of the situation with instructive an- alyses. It shows the numbers of stu dents in universities. colleges. and technological schools in this country as follows (using only the thousands in the published tables):
 One hundred and fifty-six thousand l in 1890.
 One hundred ninety-seven thousand in 1900.
 Two hundred seventy four thou sand in 191o
 Three hundred seventy-five thouA sand in 1918.
 While the population of the coun- try had increased 6S per cent, and the wealth per capita had increased 105 leges and universities had increased 13s per cent. The figures for 1918 were greatly reduced by the war. Even so it appears that the rate of increase has been accelerated in the later years of this 2s-year period. The incomplete returns for the brief period since the war show still more rapid increase. an accelerated accel, eration; and recent estimates for the year 1s2021 run for over the half million mark.
 From all over the country comes the same story. The violent are talk ing this kingdom of education by force. Their importantly will not be denied. Already, according to well studied estimates, one person in every 61 of our adult population Is found to be a college graduate, or one in 116 of the total populations. It is a proportion more than twice IS great as that in the Massachusetts Bay col ony which is commonly placed at one in 250. What the seventeenth cen tury graduate would think of the twentieth century graduate is another story, or what the twentieth century graduate would think of the seven teenth century graduate. if he really knew him.
 We must note at this point one oi our national characteristics whicf tends to keep open the channels lead ing from these middle schools to tht colleges. The American people are incurably devoted to the doctrine formulated by Huxley just 50 years ago, of an educational ladder. "tht bottom of which should be in the gut ter and the top in the university We cannot abide a blind alley whicf may not open out to something higher. And the widening of courses and departments of teaching in oul universities Is development which