June 26, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



981 



duce the men who utilize and direct these 

 great forces. 



We are peculiarly fortunate to-day in 

 having as one of our speakers a man, a 

 college man, the man whose successful con- 

 structive ability is seen in several power- 

 ful, but legitimate, morally legitimate, 

 corporations, one bearing his name. His 

 gratitude to the college course, his appre- 

 ciation of its relation to the manufactur- 

 ing world, have been evidenced in large 

 generosity and his willingness to serve as 

 chairman of the board of trustees of a 

 great Polytechnic School in Brooklyn. I 

 refer to Dr. W. H. Nichols, who will 

 address us upon 



THE COLLEGE COURSE AND PRACTICAL 

 AEPAIRS 



The dedication to the cause of higher 

 education of this magnificient group of 

 buildings on this superb site, marks an 

 epoch in the history of our city. It is one 

 of the glories of this country that the 

 schoolhouse has always followed closely 

 after the axe of the pioneer. Government 

 by the people is not practicable where 

 ignorance is the rule, or even the state of 

 a considerable minority, and this fact was 

 recognized by the fathers. A good com- 

 mon-school education has always been ob- 

 tainable by a large majority of white chil- 

 dren, outside of that neglected and almost 

 unknown region in the Appalachian moun- 

 tain belt. This city justly prides itself on 

 its public school system, in spite of the 

 criticism of those who do not make suffi- 

 cient allowance for the difficulty of keep- 

 ing pace with the tremendous growth in 

 population; especially of that class in 

 which a tendency towards "race suicide" 

 is not noticeable, and whose children must 

 be educated at the public expense, if at all. 

 No one would venture to raise the question 

 of the value as an investment of that por- 

 tion of our taxes which goes into our com- 



mon-school fund. All realize that we have 

 here a plain instance of duty and self in- 

 terest running concurrently. 



A step upward in the development of 

 our educational system brings us to the 

 high school. Many scholars are so fortu- 

 nately situated that they are not obliged 

 to earn their own living on leaving the 

 grammar school, and the city has provided 

 for them a system of high schools which is 

 exceedingly creditable. These turn out a 

 goodly number of boys and girls who have 

 much more than the rudiments of educa- 

 tion, and are qualified to fill positions of 

 considerable importance. It was found, 

 however, that many of these were worth 

 the cost of still higher education, and 

 financially able to undertake the work. 

 Hence the College of the City of New 

 York, which to-day, after many years of 

 experience in unsatisfactory quarters, 

 dedicates this great plant to this purpose. 

 I suspect that our city fathers in making 

 the investment were not actuated solely by 

 motives of altruism, but were looking for 

 returns in better citizenship. The stu- 

 dents and graduates of this institution 

 must realize that their education has cost 

 the city a large sum, which they should 

 repay with usury in one or more of the 

 many ways of usefulness open to cultured 

 men. 



It is a truism which few will question, 

 that life, from conscious infancy to old 

 age, is a school in which all who will take 

 advantage of experience and mistakes as 

 they occur will receive an education of a 

 certain sort. Only the very stupid fail to 

 profit in this way. It is astonishing to 

 note how much may be daily added to 

 one's store of knowledge by observation, 

 if only we mean business, and ' ' Knowledge 

 is power." After all, is not one of the 

 principal objects of the college course the 

 training of the mind so that it may more 

 surely and logically appropriate knowl- 



