certain extent dependent upon the demand
for men of his profession. Of course he can
pursue original investigations in his line, but
this is not exactly to be desired by one just
out of college and depending upon his own
resources for a living, as work of this nature
requires capital. This should not influence
one in his,selection of a course. Though the
man in classics knows just exactly what he is
going to do after getting out of college, he is
compelled to work a long time before his
worth is appreciated, while a scientific man,
if he obtains a position, upon graduation has
an opportunity of pushing himself immedi
ately to the front. That this is the case is not
only 'proved by the universal demand for prac
tical men, but by the readiness with which the
scientific men who have graduated from our
college within the last few years have obtain
ed and creditably filled high positions.
*
*
WE are very sorry that we did not receive
the Prize Essay Announcement of the
American Protective Tariff League for this
year sooner. No doubt some of our men would
have sent in treatises on the subject (The
Application of the American Policy of Pro
tection to American Shipping Engaged in In
ternational Commerce), but as they were to be
received by March Ist, and we did not receive
the announcement until it was too late for
either the January or February issues, it was
impossible for them to do so. It will be
remembered that Mr. R. P. Swank, 'B9, was
awarded a medal last year for his, essay.
IT is with great pleasure that we note the
interest manifested toward the institution
by those who have become members of the
Alumni in the past two or three years, It
has been said that among the graduates of
this institution an exceedingly small propor
tion possess any interest at all in their Alma
Mater. This was .true at a not very re
THE FREE LANCE.
mote period, but we feel that it is no longer
so. The various organizations of the college
have staunch supporters in the later graduates
if not in the earlier, and while a very small
proportion of those who graduated earlier
than four or five years ago manifest interest
in the college, a very large proportion—in
fact, almost all—later graduates are very
much interested in its affairs. It is not
natural for a man to feel any great interest
in a badly-governed, non-progressive insti
tution and we hardly wonder at the indiffer
ence of earlier graduates ; but now all is
changed, everything about the institution is
growing rapidly, societies and various organi
zations have been formed which fill a long-felt
want in the student's life, and there is
among the students generally a desire to do
all they can to further the institution's inter
ests and not to be constantly antagonistic to
the authorities.
THE FREE LANCE was represented at the
recent meeting of the Inter-Collegiate
Press Association, at Philadelphia, by editors
Walker and Shields. These meetings are
becoming the source of much interest and
instruction to the journals represented in the
Association. The time is spent by the dele
gates in reading papers on and discussing the
various means of improving college journal
ism suggested by the staffs of the different
papers. Intercourse of this kind broadens
the sphere of work and tends to break up the
narrow-minded ideas of individual journals,
which isolation would certainly breed.
The importance of the C. I. P. A. to the
college publications of the Middle States is
appreciated more and more each year, as the
growth of the Association evidences. The
recent meeting was full of interesting discus
sions from which all profited. The steady
growth in the organization and proportionate
rise in the condition of publications interested
show plainly that it is attaining its object
*
**