1907] Diplomas for Foreig?i Consumption 



other sons are Darwin, Huxley, and Kelvin, "a 

 galaxy of science," as the proud father observes.' 



Among Australian scholars I found a general tend- Sa/. 0/ 

 ency to criticize the custom, alleged to be American ^°^«^ 

 of selling college degrees. Moreover, it was at first ^'''"' 

 hard to convince my friends that these ''American 

 diplomas,"^ mostly issued by a pretended "National 

 University" in Chicago, were not recognized by us, 

 and were indeed virtually unknown, such "degree 

 factories" coming to public attention only when occa- 

 sionally closed by the police. Furthermore, it is 

 mainly in Britain and her dominions that degrees not 

 purely honorary are legitimately granted on examina- 

 tion without residence, for which reason fraudulent 

 diplomas find little market elsewhere. According to 

 American custom, the degree is a certificate of at 

 least one year's successful work in actual attendance. 

 In one of my talks at Sydney, therefore, I made refer- 

 ence to the so-called "National University," the 

 agents of which had peddled its spurious degrees in 

 foreign countries among persons desiring a title never 

 earned and never legally received. Afterward I was 

 advised not to speak so frankly in Australia, where 

 the hbel laws are very stringent. Of this warning I 

 took scant heed, feeling sure that no representative of 

 a pretended American institution would invite further 

 publicity by any attempt at defense. 



In addition to my addresses on Education, I gave 

 an illustrated lecture on Japan, in which I tried to 

 dispel the dense ignorance regarding that country 

 tostered by interested militarists. Australia bars the <• The 

 immigration of all "colored" people, and the idea i-P-^^^^ 

 that Japan was planning future expansion in the unin- '''''"'"" 

 habited tropical north of Australia had been very 



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