THE GIFT HORSE

The question of the advisability of bequeathing scholarships has lately come into prominence due to the growing belief on the part of many that holders of such benefices do not appreciate the ultimate object of the gifts. As an answer to this sentiment which, though its essential truth may be doubted is certainly receiving sufficient publicity to warrant discussion, comes the statement from the Hadmon Foundation of New York. The Foundation proposes that scholarships be granted as loans to be repaid with a low rate of interest by the recipient when he is in a position to cancel the obligation. And the Foundation presumes that such a condition would not be possible until the student had been many years out of college. The only exceptions to the rule of repayment would be "those who plan to use their education for public service."

Omitting the vague point as to what constitutes public service, the objector may counter with other equally salient arguments. Many who receive scholarships fail to attain any great wealth on graduation. This fact, however, has nothing to do with their value as men entitled to the fellowship of educated men. Success, as it has often been pointed out, is more than a matter of dollars and cents. Men who are in every way worthy of scholarships may never be in a position to repay the loan To deprive them of the grant would be to lend an unnecessarily materialistic atmosphere to the world of scholasticism, which of late has made more than enough concessions to Mammen.