Evening star., 1942-12-02
Mail Order Educator
Trains Thousands
Of War Workers
Vocational Schools
Founder Hos Had
AIeer-Like Career
BY KATE HOLIDAY,

Associated PRESS stan correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Dec. al have
tust met Ralph Hemphill a man
who took this country's opportunity
and made the most of it.
At 4S, he is sole owner of about
30 vocational schools throughout
the country. He Is sole owner of
mail-order educational system
which teaches thousands of men
how to make a living. He has out
lets in 81 cities in this country. in
structs an average of 10000 persons
annually, and is branching into
Latin America. And he has only
partial high school educa ton.
He began his endeavors after the
last war. in which he was an air
plane ground mechanic Up to 1917.
he had been an automotive worker
and a salesman.
Mr., Hemphill has plunged three
times into education. He has bet
three times on spheres of industry
which he believed ultimately would
prove valuable to the world, And,
three times, he has hit the jackpot.
Began in 1920.
It began in 1920, when he con-
traCted for a school in Oakland.
Calf. This was one Of many in
a rehabilitation project which the
Government had undertaken for
eX-soldiers. He was 26. knew very
little about schools. but he soon
made 100000 and branched into
larger fields. In the next three
years he investigated the educa-
tional needs of various types Of in
dustrv and. is 1929, opened a school
for instruction in Diesel engineer
Ing IN Vancouver, British Columbia
The Diesel was then in its infancy.
as far as the United States was
concerned. But Canada had taken
to 1t because of its cheapneSs. In
stead of paying 80 to so cents
gallon for gasoline, Diesel users
there paid fraction of this for fuel
to run trucks, mining equipment and
so forth.
Canada needed mechanics and
maintenance men. Mr.. Hemphill
saw that Canada got them. Later
the United States also cried for aid.
So he went to work in this country,
opening schools across the land.
This initial expansion occurred in /
The midst of the depression. But he
reasoned that, with the cheapness of ,
Diesel power. It's sales would benefit f.,
from a lack of money. That 1t did is /
we'll known, of course. and from this /
came the corner stone of the Hemp
hill educational empire.
Entered Aircraft Field.
His next major venture was in the
f1eld Of aircraft. in the manufac-
ture Of planes and the training of
men to build them. This, I'D to
1895, when the first Hemphill .
project went into effect. had never
been touched. Men learned how to
construct planes the hard way, hv
a slow apprenticeship with a skilled
mechanic. They could not get
knowledge out of books.
But Mr. Hemphill changed all
that. He was responsible, to a large
extent. for the quick teaching of
mechanics in the present war. His
courses, or variations of them, are
being used by the Army, Navy, air
craft manufacturers and the Ca
hadlan government. His school at
Glendale, Calf, for instance, has
been taken over completely by the
Army, which now teaches soldiers
the maintenance Of all types of
planes.
Two years ago Mr.. Hemphill made .
his third plunge This time the
sphere was plastics. Through a Du
Pont connection he devised a series .
OF courses in this highly technical /
subject, which, incidentally, is not .
only Of tremendous importance now, /
but which will be the namesake> of .
the postwar era. Hemphill schools /
for plastlcs training are now in
operation in 20 cities.
AS a sideline, he also owns two
flying schools These are the official /
training Centers for the University /
of Southern California and Pasa-
dena Junior College.
Graduates 10000 Yearly.
The figures on his endeavors are
staggering. AS I said before Ralph .
Hemphill graduates about 10000 /
students from his schools per year.
Three thousand of these receive I,
education by mail in the United /