whole,
are an educated people. By this I mean the native American, not the
recent immigrants and negroes, but even as regards the latter a
reservation should be made, for some of the negroes, such as Booker T.
Washington and others, have become eminent through their learning and
educational work.

The distinguishing feature of the school system is that it is cheap and
comprehensive. In the primary and high schools the boys and girls,
whether they come from the wealthy or aristocratic families, or from
more straitened homes, are all studying together in the same
class-room, and it is known that a President sent his son to study in a
public school. There is, therefore, no excuse for even the poorest man
in America being an illiterate. If he wishes he can obtain a degree in
a university without difficulty. Many of the state universities admit
the children of citizens of the state free, while their tuition fees
for outsiders are exceptionally low, so that it is within the power of
the man of the most moderate means to give his son a university
education. Many of the college or university students, in order to
enable them to go through their courses of study, do outside jobs after
their lecture hours, and perform manual, or even menial work, during
the vacations. I frequently met such students in summer resorts acting
as hotel waiters and found them clean, attentive, and reliable. During
a visit to Harvard University, President Eliot took me to see the
dining-hall. Many students were taking their lunch at the time. I
noticed that the waiters were an unusually clean set of young men, and
upon inquiry was informed that they were students of the University,
and that when a waiter was wanted many students applied, as the poorer
students were glad to avail themselves of the opportunity to earn some
money.

Honest labor, though menial, is not considered degrading, and no
American of education and refinement is above doing it. In some of the
states in the East, owing to the scarcity of servants, families do
their own cooking and other household work. Some few years ago I was
on a visit to Ashburnham, Massachusetts, and was surprised to find that
my hostess not only did the cooking but also cleaned my room. I was
invited to a formal luncheon by a professor, and to my astonishment his
two daughters waited at the table. This is not unlike what occurs in
some parts of China in the interior. The members of families, alt