standard. To attain the greatest professional success, it is
indispensable to get the highest development which a college training
can give. Chauncey M. Depew says that three-fifths of the lawyers are
unfit for their profession from lack of ability or training. The
people demand abler and better lawyers. The requisite qualities of a
good lawyer to-day are not only knowledge and a good judgment, but
patience, industry, honesty, and certain other aptitudes for his work.
He must be ready to compete with a trained and talented rival. Special
training is of great value. A lawyer of several years' standing at the
bar in New York, in a recent conversation, remarked: "I studied law in
a lawyer's office. My brother, here, several years younger than
myself, went through the law school, and he has so much the advantage
of me, in consequence of that training, in the studious habits he has
formed, in being brought into immediate contact with the best legal
minds, in being held to the highest standards, that this fall I shall
enter the law school and take the entire course."
In facing these difficulties, let it be remembered that there are
always openings for young men of superior qualifications. Some one
asked Daniel Webster whether the legal profession was not
over-crowded, and he replied that there was always room at the top. An
ambitious young man of ability can win his way to the front, while
mediocrity will wait for patronage. There is jostling and crowding in
the rear ranks of every profession. It is surprising how few
thoroughly trained men are entering the profession. In 1890 there were
in the various law schools in this country 4,518 students, and only
1,255 of these had degrees in letters or science. In the same year,
1,514 were graduated in the schools of law, which was only 2.4 in
every 100,000 of the population. There is a demand for specialists.
The field is enlarging in the department of patent law, railroad law,
and other legal specialties. The business transactions of this age are
more complex, and the interests more important. Corporation
controversies need to be adjusted by those who thoroughly understand
the principles and practices of equity. "I was a teacher of law to
young men for more than twenty years," says Judge Hoadley, "and have
never seen any reason to discourage a sober, honest, and industrious
young man from studying law. He needs, first of all, absolute
fidelity, trustworthiness, and integrity; secondly, devotion to his
calling--in other words, industry that will not be interfered with by
the distraction of society or pursuit of politics. If he be honest and
willing to work, he will, with reasonable intelligence make a
sufficient success, if he have the patience to wait for success. If,
in addition, he have what I may call the lawyer's faculty--that
God-given power to appreciate leading principles and apply them to
facts as they arise, coupled with ability to reason, and to state
results cogently and persuasively,--he will make a shining success."
Again, the advantages of a thorough medical education are generally
recognized. The sacred work of ministering to the suffering demands
the most thorough instruction in medicine and methods of treatment. In
1890 there were 15,404 students in 116 medical schools in the United
States, distributed as follows: Regulars, 13,521; eclectics, 719;
homeopathists, 1,164. For the same year there were 4,492 graduates, or
7 in every 100,000 of the population. Sixteen of the medical schools
had no students enrolled who had previously obtained a literary or
scientific degree. Only 15 per cent. of all the students matriculated
had obtained a degree before entering the medical schools. There is an
evident lack of thorough preparation in foundation studies on the part
of the students. The medical profession is second to none in
importance, and the students of medicine who will give time to the
more extended culture of a college course will naturally obtain
greater skill and a broader range of thought, which will contribute to
their efficiency as practicing physicians.
It is also encouraging to know that the statistics of each decade
indicate that an increasing proportion of young men entering the
ministry have received a college education. There were 112 theological
schools in 1890, that reported 7,013 students, of whom 1,372 were
graduated, or two for every one hundred thousand of population. This
is certainly not over-crowding.
Of the students in theology enrolled in the schools of the various
denominations in 1890, the proportion was as follows: Baptists, 15.6
per cent.; Presbyterians, 15 per cent.; Methodists, 14.9 per cent.;
Lutheran, 14.7 per cent.; Roman Catholic, 13.4 per cent.;
Congregational, 9.7 per cent.; Christian, 5.5 per cent.; Episcopal,
4.7 per cent.; Hebrew, .5 per cent. Of the total enrollment, 7,013,
only 1,559 students had received degrees in letters or science. The
church demands educated men for the pulpit. A call to the ministry in
these days means that a man should prepare for the work. God does not
honor the slothful, but the man who seeks to make full proof of his
ministry. This is done when a man of piety takes the time to acquire
mental culture and refinement, and to become able properly to guide
and instruct the people. Such ministers, "thoroughly furnished unto
every good word and work," honor the church, and strengthen the cause
of Christ. Their mental endowments command respect and inspire
confidence. There never has been a time in the Christian ministry when
there was such a demand as now for ministers with minds cultivated and
well stored with knowledge, and hearts set on fire by the Holy Ghost.
The old idea that a college graduate must study for medicine, law, or
the pulpit, has attracted a large number of them into these
professions. We have learned, however, that these professions are not
superior to other avenues in science and business. A college training
is only a means to an end. It is giving a man fitness for work of any
kind. The departments opening up to college-trained men in all lines
of work are multiplying and expanding with each succeeding year.
The future is bright for those who will take up statesmanship as a
profession. Nothing has a more important bearing on the social
interests of the people than the science of civil government. The
nation is burdened with politicians, but intelligent Christian
statesmen are few. The intelligent people of this nation are asking
for men educated in history, political and social science, who, with
clear heads and loyal hearts, will use their ability for the welfare
of the public. Good citizens have too long held themselves aloof from
the great concerns of our organized society. All civic matters are
worthy of our best thought and noblest effort. The management of our
political and social interests has too often been usurped by
politicians, who, with little self-respect, efficiency, or character,
have worked not for the public good, but on the principle that "to the
victors belong the spoils." Their rapacity and greed have led them to
sacrifice principle to party. They aim to manage caucuses, pervert
elections, override the wishes and defy the moral sense of the people,
and corrupt the sources of national life.
We have come to ask for a remedy. Its answer must be found in the
young men whose patriotism will lead them to thoroughly prepare
themselves for public service and make statesmanship a profession.
Along with a broad and comprehensive knowledge of the science of
government they should cultivate the capacity for effective public
speech, in order to present political and social themes with such
power as to guide public opinion in the right direction. They must be
willing to carry their independent convictions into civil affairs, and
help to ennoble the national spirit, and purify public life, and make
it expressive of the highest intelligence and the best moral
sentiments of the people. Statesmanship is a sacred calling, and the
people are ready to uphold and encourage young men who will dedicate
themselves to this exalted work.
It is an omen of good that chairs of political and social science are
being established in all our high grade colleges to train young men
for this service. They ought to prosper, and will. Milton saw this
need years ago, and said: "The next remove must be to the study of
politics, to know the beginning, end, and reasons of political
societies; that they may not, in a dangerous fit of the commonwealth,
be such poor, shaken, uncertain reeds, of such a tottering conscience,
as many of our great counsellors have lately shown themselves, but
steadfast pillars of the state."
Those who are to be trained for this leadership, and expect to gain a
strong hold on society, should be taught and trained to think upon
complicated questions, and able not only to frame platforms and shape
legislation, but to grapple with modern social problems, and lead the
people to nobler action.
Journalism is another important field for talented young men and
women. The journalists of to-day need breadth and concentration of
mind to meet the demands of a reading and thinking people. They need a
knowledge based on history, literature, and politics in order to
report speeches correctly and to discuss living questions clearly,
cogently, and with a broad knowledge of principles and facts. The
press wields an influence next to the pulpit, and it should be
consecrated to the highest service through men qualified for editorial
work.
The profession of teaching has justly assumed a position in this
country second to none in influence and power.
There are 15,000,000 pupils in the public schools of this country.
There are 364,000 teachers employed in giving instruction to this army
of youth. College graduates are rapidly acquiring a control of the
high positions in these schools. The superintendents, principals, and
the majority of the male assistants are college graduates. A college
education is fast becoming an absolute necessity to secure a position
in the best schools. School boards will rarely select a superintendent
or a principal of the high school who has not received a collegiate
education. There is an increasing demand for thoroughly trained men
and women in this work. Few teachers can hope to attain prominence in
their profession without these advantages.
There is, likewise, a rich and fruitful field opening up to those who
receive a careful scientific education. The application of science to
the arts and industries is rapidly changing the social and economic
conditions of the people. We are unable to conceive of the
ever-widening field in which educated men will be needed to discover
new methods of concentrating and transmitting electrical and
mechanical power, thereby reducing the cost of production, and adding
to the comfort and happiness of the human family. There is a growing
demand for men versed in electrical science, who can take charge of
establishments for the transmission of power. Civil and mechanical
engineers are needed, who can wisely and economically construct our
bridges and highways of commerce, and who can apply the highest
scientific skill to all the constructive enterprises of the country.
"The Swiss and Germans aver," says Matthew Arnold, "if you question
them as to the benefit they have received from their _realschulen_ and
_polytechnicums_, that in every part of the world their men of
business, trained in these schools, are beating the English when they
meet on equal terms as to capital, and that where English capital, as
so often happens, is superior, the advantage of the Swiss or German in
instruction tends more and more to balance this superiority. I was
lately saying to one of the first mathematicians in England, who has
been a distinguished senior wrangler at Cambridge and a practical
mathematician besides, that in one department, at any rate--that of
mechanics and engineering,--we seemed, in spite of the absence of
special schools, good instruction, and the idea of science, to get on
wonderfully well. 'On the contrary,' said he, 'we get on wonderfully
ill. Our engineers have no real scientific instruction, and we let
them learn their business at our expense by the rule of thumb, but it
is a ruinous system of blunder and plunder. A man without a requisite
scientific knowledge undertakes to build a difficult bridge; he builds
three which tumble down, and so learns how to build a fourth which
stands, but somebody pays for the three failures. In France or
Switzerland he would not have been suffered to build his first bridge
until he had satisfied competent persons that he knew how to build it,
because abroad they cannot afford our extravagance.'"
We find, likewise, that our industries are demanding men trained in
applied chemistry. The application of the principles of chemical
philosophy to manufacturing steel, chemical fertilizers, artificial
preparation of articles of food, bleaching, dyeing, and printing of
cloths, offers a very inviting field of study. We might multiply
instances, but enough has been said to suggest to our minds the rich
possibilities before educated young men and women. We are only on the
edge of the future of applied science.
We need, also, to carry our culture and training into business
careers. Business is conducted by different methods than in the past.
The management affords a broader field for judgment and thought. Many,
in the future, may succeed without a college education, but they will
work at a disadvantage. The chances are always in favor of the man who
is well educated. It is a common belief that a college education
unfits a man for practical work. He often does appear at a
disadvantage on leaving college, but, other things being equal, he
will distance, within a few years, the man of like ability who has not
been rigorously trained to see, think, and judge. "Experience also
confirms this impression by the decisive testimony gathered from a
multitude of witnesses," says Noah Porter, "that the young man who
leaves college at twenty-one, and enters a counting or sales-room,
will, at twenty-three, if diligent and devoted, have outstripped in
business capacity the companion who entered the same position at
sixteen and has remained in it continuously, while in his general
resources of intellect and culture he will be greatly his superior."
Germany has for more than fifty years insisted that her youth should
not only have the foundation of a general education, but that
opportunities should be given for higher commercial instruction. This
superior education and training is producing its legitimate results.
Notwithstanding the many unfavorable circumstances which have combined
to prevent her growth in commerce and industry, Germany has gained an
amount of skill and experience in mercantile training that has no
parallel in France, England, or America. The advance of German trade
is due to the superior fitness of the Germans through their systematic
training in technical schools.
M. Ricard, in his report to the French Chamber of Commerce, said:
"Every intelligent man must admit that the invasion of our commerce by
foreigners is due entirely to this educational inferiority. The
Germans are taking our places everywhere. They even supplant the
English. Let the merchants of France take warning in time. German
commerce has better instruction, better discipline, and greater
enterprise than French commerce; it is at home everywhere; no
languages are foreign to it; it keeps a lookout over the world; it is
not ashamed to go to school, and if you do not awake from your
lethargy, it will annihilate you."
The London Chamber of Commerce found, on examination, that ninety-nine
per cent. of Englishmen who take to commercial life are unable to
correspond in any foreign language. The comparative disadvantage, on
all commercial lines, of England with Germany, is owing to "a higher
average of mercantile intelligence all round." It is not to be alleged
that the English are mentally inferior to the Germans, but, as
Professor W. G. Blackie said before the Educational Institute of
Scotland: "The question is solely an intellectual one, and must be
solved through educational means. It assumes the aspect of an
educational duel between the mercantile population of this country and
their competitors on the continent, in which the mastery is sure to
remain with those who are the most fully equipped for the contest."
The report on the superior instruction of Antwerp contains the
following words: "Men have seemed to imagine that, in order to
prosper, commerce and industry have only required money and favorable
treaties of commerce. Governments have occupied themselves with the
material side of the future merchant, without taking care to develop
his intellectual capacity, which is, indeed, the spirit of his
operations, without taking care to improve his intelligence, which is
the germ of enterprise in the commercial life of a nation."
Young men and women are often led to believe that there is no chance
for them to have a successful career, and so fail to attend college
and develop their capacity, and, as a consequence, often become
restless and idle. But this is no age for triflers. The world is in
need of educated men in all of the higher walks of life. There is
abundant room for men of ability and culture who can bring things to
pass. The fact that earnest, talented, and consecrated men and women
are overworked in their professions shows that there is a place in the
front ranks of all useful professions and vocations.
The door of the twentieth century swings open and invites the
ambitious men and women of talent and consecration to the service of
humanity, and extends the widest opportunities and the most exalted
privileges ever vouchsafed to man. Will the youth of the land be ready
to enter?
VIII.
OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO COLLEGES.
The American colleges hold the most intimate relation to the whole
community, for which they have done a vast work. They rightly enjoy
the confidence and esteem of the American people, since they have
infused into society some of the most purifying and life-giving
influences. Many of the first settlers were among the best educated
men of England, and they recognized that education was the
corner-stone of civil and religious liberty. Pembroke, Delaware,
William Penn, Roger Williams, the Winthrops, and a large number of
worthy men who settled in the early colonies came from the classical
shades of Oxford and Cambridge, and retained the educational
predilections which were so firmly established in their mother
country. The spirit and principles of our wise and godly ancestry were
early introduced into the colleges, which have conserved and
perpetuated them down to the present day.
The American people owe much to the colleges for training capable and
worthy men to fill the posts of honor and power in the nation. The men
who have given shape and character to the early political
organizations and spirit have been mostly collegians.
These institutions for higher education have trained men in history,
philosophy, and the principles of government, who have become the
right hand of strength to the nation. Their extensive knowledge and
thoroughly disciplined and comprehensive minds have been largely
instrumental in perfecting our system of government, and in elevating
the nation to the rank of one of the greatest political powers.
The colleges have trained the intellect and conscience of the
majority of students so that they have gone forth as leaders, and have
exerted a prodigious influence among the people for right thinking and
right acting. They have not only disciplined the powers of the
masterly statesmen, but have fostered among them a sense of fraternity
concerning our civil destinies. The students that have been gathered
into the colleges from the different portions of the nation have
become imbued with one sentiment, and entered upon public life linked
together by the bonds of a common intellectual life and strong
friendships, which have resulted favorably for the republic.
Some of the colonial colleges have richly repaid the nation for all
the effort and sacrifice it cost to found them. William and Mary
College has sent out twenty or more members of Congress, fifteen
United States Senators, seventeen Governors, thirty-seven Judges, a
Lieutenant General and other high officers of the Army, two
Commodores to the Navy, twelve professors, seven Cabinet officers; the
chief draughtsman and author of the Constitution, Edmund Randolph; the
most eminent of the Chief Justices, John Marshall, and three
Presidents of the United States.
Harvard has furnished two Presidents, one Vice President, fifteen
Cabinet officers, twenty Foreign Ministers, twenty-nine United States
Senators, one hundred and four Congressmen, and nineteen Governors.
Princeton has beaten the Harvard record in everything except the first
and fourth items. It has given to the country one President, two Vice
Presidents, nineteen Cabinet officers, nineteen Foreign Ministers,
fifty-five United States Senators, one hundred and forty-two
Congressmen, and thirty-five Governors.
The collegians have ranked among the principal leaders in the
political life of the nation. Fifty-eight per cent. of the chief
national offices have been filled by them. Thomas Jefferson, author
of the "Declaration of Independence," was a college man. Hamilton,
Madison, and Jay, who took such a prominent part in the framing of the
Constitution of the United States, were college-trained men.
Three-fourths of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were
college graduates. These and other superior men in public life, at
this period, were educated and possessed a scholarship that was in
compass and variety more than abreast with the learning of the time.
George Washington was a self-made man, but he had recourse to
America's greatest statesman, Alexander Hamilton, a graduate of
Columbia College, in preparing his state papers.
The counsellors of Abraham Lincoln, during the stormy days of the
Rebellion, were men of trained minds. "All the leaders," says
Professor S. N. Fellow, "in that Cabinet were college-trained men.
William H. Seward, the shrewdest diplomatist, who held other nations
at bay until the Rebellion was throttled; Salmon P. Chase, whose
fertile brain developed a financial system by which our nation was
saved from national bankruptcy, and made national bonds as good as the
gold in foreign markets; Edwin M. Stanton, that man of iron, who
organized a million of raw recruits into an army equal to any in the
world; Gideon Welles, who, almost from nothing, created a navy
sufficient for our needs,--each of these, and every other member of
Lincoln's Cabinet, save one, was a college graduate. So, also, in the
army. It was not until thoroughly trained and disciplined men filled
the chief places in command that the Federal forces overwhelmed and
destroyed the Rebellion. We repeat, the law is, and it is believed to
be universal, that the higher the rank or position, the larger per
cent. of college graduates are found in it."
Education was an important factor in deciding the issues of our Civil
War. Thoroughly trained and disciplined men filled the chief places
in command in the Federal Army. The Northern soldiers were better
educated than those of the South. It has been said that "in the German
Army that fought the battles of the Franco-Prussian war, those who
could neither read nor write amounted to only 3.8 per cent., while in
the French Army the number amounted to 30.4 per cent." According to
the admission of the defeated, the universities conquered at Sedan.
Perhaps it is not too much to say that the great number of colleges in
the Northern States conquered at Appomattox.
A large per cent. of the leaders in the American Congress, during the
trying period of our country's history from 1860 to 1870, were either
college graduates or had taken a partial course in college and gained
its inspiration.
The college graduates have furnished 33 per cent. of the Congressmen,
46 per cent. of the Senators, 50 per cent. of the Vice Presidents, 65
per cent. of the Presidents, 73 per cent. of the Associate Judges,
and 83 per cent. of the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of the
United States.