scholastic ease and idleness. Their president has said, "The problem of
life is not to make life easier, but to make men stronger."
He accepted the presidency of Stanford University with the distinct
understanding that he was to do nothing that it was possible to hire
another man to do. As a result he has had a free hand, and has devoted
himself to the larger affairs of the university's development. The result
is that Stanford in a short time has been able to push well to the front
as a solid and progressive place of learning.
Dr. Jordan is straightforward in his methods and utterances.
"You can't fasten a five-thousand-dollar education on a fifty-cent boy,"
he said, and that dictum has been his guide in conducting the university.
FATHER OF GERMAN STEEL.
Ambitious Manufacturer Died Poor, but
He Bequeathed His Great Purpose
to His Young Son.
Friedrich Krupp, the founder of the Krupp steel industry, died with all
the work he had outlined uncompleted, but he died satisfied that all he
had wished to do and all he had planned would in the course of time be
brought to fulfilment. This first Krupp possessed a little money, and in
1818 he built a tiny furnace at Essen, in Prussia, and started in to
manufacture steel. His declared intention was to make the little Prussian
town of Essen a greater steel center than Sheffield, England.
In four years he lost all his money and his home. He moved to a small
cottage, borrowed a few thousand marks, and again began operations. In
four years more his health was shattered, the borrowed money was gone, and
he died in absolute poverty.
The heir to his debts and his desire to manufacture steel was Alfred
Krupp, a boy fourteen years old. The only thing else the boy had was the
dilapidated furnace around which his father worked until it killed him.
There was, however, a command from his father that he was resolved to
obey.
"You are to make Essen the most famous steel-manufacturing place in the
world," the dying Krupp had said. "Your mother will help you do it."
The boy and his mother then began to conduct the business. There were four
workmen ready to assist them, and ready to trust them for the future
payment of the wages that could not be paid during the first few months of
operation.
Success came slowly. Every foot of the way had to be fought. Prussian-made
steel was mistrusted, for at that time England was supreme in the art of
steel-working. But the elder Kr
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