them properly are presenting openings for the best type of college men and the spirit of public service entering the business should fully satisfy their ideals. On the other hand, the profession of law is either a finished vocation, judging by its love of precedent, or is in for a thoro overhauling. There are many vocations that either have experienced, or will enjoy, changes similar to the milk business and it is the object of our bureau to know the facts.

Again, it is essential to study the types of men who succeed or fail in various lines of work, and the new development in these lines that will permit men of different type to succeed in them. Our bureau should know the vocational politics and the type of vocational organization, all of which will finally aid in developing a judgment upon the real vital question. What are the modes and locus of entry into the vocation?

There are different ways of entering professional or business careers. Sometimes influence is required, sometimes ability, sometimes a man may drift into success, sometimes it is best to start at the very beginning of a business, at other times better results are obtained by approaching it indirectly; sometimes a bookkeeper or stenographer comes into such confidential relations with employers and managers that this method of entry seems a good one; again many lives are ruined by beginnings of this kind which terminate in grinding, laborious labor with no recognition and poor pay.

It can not be contended that an inquiry into this phase of the case will present a perfect picture of the situation. Its reliability must be dependent very largely on the judgment and ability of the investigator, but certainly more can be accomplished by intelligent inquiry and actual observation than thru hearsay.

With these facts collected, they should now be analyzed, classified, tabulated and made available for the use of patrons of the college.

Up to this point there is nothing essentially new in these suggestions. All of these facts have been observed hereto

fore, even if they have not been carefully correlated, but how to use them is another question which involves a study of the personal equation.

It now becomes the function of the bureau to exert all its powers in intelligently, tactfully and diligently collecting all the facts relating to the student, i. e., his history should be obtained from the cradle to his college entrance. His family history for several generations should be traced, and the measure of success that has been attained by his forebears ascertained. No matter what the history of his immediate predecessors, somewhere along the line will be found the courage and initiative that have brought him in touch with the college. The previous educational history of the young man should be ascertained, his tendencies indicating type, his previous social position-not the artificial position that has been created by his parents, but his popularity with former fellow students and the degree of respect in which he has been held by them.

Upon the student entering college life, immediate steps should be taken by the Director of the bureau to gain his confidence. That part of the personal relationship which is denied to both the President of the college and the student should now be supplied as far as possible by the Director of our bureau. The friendship with the student based upon the desire of the college to help him personally thru the Director of the bureau should be cultivated. His personal tendencies and ambitions should not only be studied as they naturally develop during the college course, but steps should be taken to create occasional situations that will develop these points. In this field the Director of our bureau may render the greatest service to the college by bringing to his task a proper combination of dignity, tact, human interest and sympathy. From one to four years of this kind of relationship will certainly develop facts enough to make the bureau a real guide for the parent and student. With the facts in hand, the abilities of the student should now be appraised, compared with the successful types in the various vocations and finally the student

should be classified and charted. The bureau is now in position to dispel any delusions of either student or parent.

But before this is done the parents' ideals for the son should be carefully considered and weighed as well as his ability to extend help and influence.

Most men who have spent a lifetime in a business or profession and have achieved success therein are apt to think that there are many more objections to their own line of work than exist when relatively considered. These ideas are apt to be known in the family and oftentimes the parent neither wishes his son to follow in the same line at which he has worked, nor does the son desire to follow in his father's footsteps, altho there are many good reasons why that particular line of work would be best. The reputation of a successful father, his friendships and the good-will created by him in his business or profession, the opportunities for rapid advancement make the father's calling often the logical one for the son to pursue. Therefore, the plans and abilities of the parent as well as of interested friends of the young men become important factors for the bureau to consider.

The Director of the bureau is now in a position to give the most intelligent advice both to the son and to the parent and if the advice is offered in a tactful and sympathetic manner there is no reason why there should be any conflict between the bureau's ideas and those of the ones most interested. Certainly no one is so well equipt to advise. A great deal of the advice that is given to young men by the wiseacres of every community is generally analyzed by the young man himself as of no real value by reason of its opinion character; not so the facts and estimates made by our bureau. Nor should the dissemination of this information be confined to lectures or formal discussions altho there might be a number of general conclusions that could well form the basis of an occasional lecture. General discussions of such matters without a personal relationship established, confidence gained, and respect won will be worse than futile. It is the sympathetic.

talk, confidential in its nature, in which the one party is in possession of the facts and the other party recognizes his knowledge and real ability to guide, that will accomplish results.

There is yet another side of the work of the bureau where all the money that is spent in bringing the proper type of judgment and personality into work will repay the institution that makes such an investment tenfold. The work of the bureau will fail indeed if it has not awakened the feelings of the deepest gratitude towards the institution in those who go forth into the world to become the future alumni of the institution.

Thru such men as alumni, the college can in later years wield a tremendous influence. But without waiting for the men to mature, the older alumni of the college should be organized by the bureau on a theory of helpfulness to the scheme in hand, with the guarantee that if these older men can be interested in our plan, the opportunity for contact with the modern college life and personalities will make them more deeply interested in the school for all other purposes.

The method of organization to be adopted here should comprehend the use of the personal element as much as possible. First a complete directory of the alumni should be compiled thru the media of blanks designed for the purpose and sent to known addresses. Unknown addresses should be ascertained and carefully followed up. The questions should dwell in detail upon vocations. The acquaintance of all alumni possible should be made, their confidence gained and their types, abilities and degree of success appraised. With this information digested, an advisory council from among the alumni should be organized both to advise the Director and to increase their own interest in the project by giving them something to do in connection with it. A system of individual patronage should also be developed by which the bureau could extend its advisory and protective functions to the young alumnus at the beginning of his career when counsel will be of greatest service to him.

The types, tastes, and personalities of the young alumnus and his patron should be harmonized as far as practicable. The same theory of organization can be applied to those outside of the institution who are able by reason of their positions in business and professional life to help our plan along. By eliciting their interest in guiding the output of the college and furnishing them with properly selected men as representatives of the college a great deal of interest in the entire work of the school may be expected from this

source.

Some colleges already have secretaries who perform some of the functions outlined for the bureau. In such institutions, especially, the additional expense of inaugurating the above-outlined department would not be great, for their functions could be harmonized and merged into the more comprehensive scheme. It is doubtful whether the work suggested for the bureau should be disregarded in any college, whatever its size, if its administrative policy contemplates a progressive and influential future.

It is not presumed that the suggestions herein contained are final and should be adopted without modification or careful adaptation to the size and general characteristics of each particular school, but it is hoped that enough has been said to illustrate the idea meant to be conveyed, that of constructively and efficiently organizing all the resources of the college in behalf of those young men who place in the hands of the institution such important factors of influence on their future destinies as the four chief formative years of their lives.

NEW YORK

IRWIN G. JENNINGS