. . . .
6 'Che Conservative.
lishmeuts , requiriug skilled workers , nro
now found in all towns of considerable
size or importance. Moreover , I think
that the business of publishing news
papers , whether dailies or weeklies , in
the smaller towns , is getting upon a
legitimate business basis , and that pro
prietorship of such a business , which is
both honorable and lucrative is within
the reach of any young man of good
capacity and saving habits. Such a
young man may start in the business of
journalism with confidence that if he
chooses for his wife a woman of like
economical and tlmfty habits they mny
maintain a home and rear a family in
the utmost comfort if not in luxury.
That it is questionable whether our
young man and woman of these essential
qualities of economy and self-denial
may often be found , is the fault , if faxilt
it is for in these days of rapidly chang
ing social conditions and ideals we may
not freely dogmatize not of our indus
trial , but of our ethical condition.
So much has been said , and it seems
to me so very stupidly said , of late , about
the education which is desirable , or ,
rather , undesirable , for business men ,
that a remark on that point seems pert
inent here. If a man is abnormally
strong in respect to certain qualities ,
such as the commercial facility , for ex
ample , this is apt to bo at the expense of
other desirable qualities. There are few
examples of trusts or monopolies in the
making of men. "For Nature hates
monopolies and exceptions. Men seek
to be great ; they think that to be great
is to get only one side of Nature. But
pleasure is token out of pleasant things ,
profit out of profitable things , power out
of strong things , the moment we seek
to separate them from the whole. " Ac
cording to this philosopher's principle of
compensation , when Mr. Schwab , who
is commercially competent to draw the
enormous salary of two dollars per
minute , essays to appraise education ,
should we not expect the wisdom of a
parrot and the moral insight of a prize
fighter ? And Mr. Ooler , of New York ,
must also be very great from some single
point of view ; for in a long and labored
article in the Saturday Evening Post he
has demonstrated the vanity of educa
tion with such a genius for fallacy , such
comprehensive sophistry , such an un
fathomable depth of shallowness and
such an over-capitalization of misappre
hension as I am quite sure had never
been crowded into any previous literary
endeavor. These unique deliverances of
Messrs. Schwab and Color demonstrate ,
beyond a peradveuture , either that they
missed college breeding altogether , or ,
if it was tried on them , it didn't take.
In none of the fulminatious against col
lege education for "business men" has
it been shown why or wherein the pre
liminary mental and moral training of a
college course , and the general knowl
edge it imparts can be good for one
class of business men , such as lawyers
and physicians , and bad for another
class , such as merchants , manufactu
rers , or trust promoters. If these anti-
college crusaders are rightit follows that ,
the many uneducated rich men who
persist in endowing these baneful insti
tutions for higher education , are
not philanthropists at all , but
"enemies of society. " No hard and
fast rule applies to this question , but
discriminating common sense , rather.
It may not be advisable or fairly practi-
ALBERT WATIUNS.
cable for every young aspirant to jour
nalism to acquire a college education ;
but it is safe to say that he will be a
better and more successful journalist
with than without it. The man who in
the business of medicine or of merchan
dising , of the ministry or of manufac
turing is able to rise superior to the ad
vantage of a college preparation is the
exception which tends to prove the rule
in its favor.
Lincoln , Neb. , July 10.
FRED L. LUCAS.
Electrical Engineer.
It will always be safe to assume that
great possibilities for preferment are
open to young men in those branches of
learning and industry that serve the
growing necessities of the world.
To those then whose hearts , heads
and hands are devoted to electrical and
mechanical engineering there ought to
be no doubt of a highly useful career.
It would seem reasonable , too , to be
lieve that overcrowding was not to be
considered in this generation , at least , for
the uses of electricity and applied me
chanics have multiplied with wonderful
and increasing rapidity , especially in
the last decade. Great numbers of
young men who have no adequate con
ception of the noble part engineers in
these lines are talcing in the world's civ
ilization will doubtless continue to en
cumber the progress of the true engineers - |
neors as they have in every profession
in every age , but this will not seriously
affect the demand for good men.
The field has grown so broad , however -
over , that there are many lines that
may be followed individually to success.
To the boy who can have the advant
age of a college training there remains
an unexplored region in electricity , the
possibilities of which are simply beyond
conception at this day. Possibilities lie in
the development of a primary battery.us-
iug coal for the active principle ; in an effi
cient insulator for very high voltages , or
better utilizing high potentials without
the long distance transmission line , so
that the water power of the laud , now
dormant , could be economically distrib
uted and perhaps , at the same time ,
solve the problem of profitably storing
the waste waters of our great water
sheds , saving the damages of floods , and
conserving a great supply of water for
power and irrigation.
Many lesser problems await the work
of the untiring enthusiast , especially in
telephony and the various applications of
the electric motor to power necessities.
In planning the works of large indus
trial establishments , there is a demand
for engineers to provide for their opera
tion on the most economical basis. The
electric motor has been the greatest boon
in this field and has provided a career
for many young men , the benefit of
whose labors has been widespread.
Special preparation for this work is al
most certain to be amply rewarded.
The possibilities of the telephone are
vastly greater than the realities , great
as these are , and many more such patient .
workers as Prof. Puppin are needed.
But to him who has not the possibility
of a college training there are good
openings for a useful occupation , if he
will but give it his time and energies.
There is a fast increasing need for
skilled electricians and machinists.
Simple explanations of the underlying
principles of electricity and mechanics
are now obtainable at low prices , besides
the correspondence schools , some of
which are efficient educational agencies ,
and there is no excuse left for the young
man who runs strings of wires , mechan
ically , or the mechanic who does things
as his predecessor did without knowing
why.
Every electrician should know the
whys and wherefores of sizes and kinds
of materials. The mechanic should
know the actions and qualities of the
different metals and materials used in
his work under varying conditions , the
simple laws of force and in short the
scientific data which bear directly on
his Hue of work , which are easily ob
tained where the will is present.
It is not expected that the artisan will
follow into the details of complicated
mathematics , but he should be able to
use the results arrived at by our best
engineers , with intelligence. To such
young men there is the broadest possible
opening in mechanical and electrical
engineering pursuits and on him depends
much of the civilization of the future.
Pontiac , Ills. , July 80 , 1901.
