In view of the fact that all of these countries must needs go through a long period of reconstruction, industrial and otherwise, it is a pity that the sacrifice of its best youth had needlessly to be made. As a matter of fact, we see now that no university, college, or technical school that can possibly avoid it should permit its faculty or student body to be scattered or its energies dissipated. All concerned should redouble their energies and concentrate them upon those things which will be of the most service in the progress of the war and will prepare the students for the most effective service when the war is over.
President Wilson, three months after the severing of relations with Germany, in response to a request for an opinion on the continuance of a college or a technical-school education during the war, wrote this letter:
The question which you have brought to my attention is of the very greatest moment. It would, as you suggest, seriously impair American prospects of success in this war if the supply of highly trained men were unnecessarily diminished. There will be need for a larger number of persons expert in the various fields of applied science than ever before. Such persons will be needed both during the war and after its close.
I have therefore no hesitation in urging colleges and technical schools to endeavor to maintain their courses as far as possible on the usual basis. There will be many young men from these institutions who will serve in the armed forces of the country. Those who fall below the age of selective conscription and who do not enlist may feel that by pursuing their courses with earnestness and diligence they also are preparing themselves for valuable service to the nation.
I would particularly urge upon the young people who are leaving our high schools that as many of them as can do so avail themselves this year of the opportunities offered by the colleges and technical schools, to the end that the country may not lack an adequate supply of trained men and women.
It must be said that while students were restless and anxious to perform a service, the college authorities themselves adopted a very hopeless and helpless attitude toward the war in so far as it reacted on the internal economy of these institutions. Commencement exercises were abbreviated and shorn of their customary festivities. College presidents and executive committees of alumni associations began to "talk poor" and to wax lugubrious over the small senior class of 1918. These men even wanted to drop athletics, which, to the facetious layman outside, constitutes the main reason for a college's existence. The general action of the colleges in this matter of abandoning so many athletic and other activities drew from President Wilson a letter deprecating such action and advising that the colleges maintain all their usual sports if they did not detract in any way from the military purpose of the nation. In an address at Princeton University, Major General Wood deplored hasty action of students in enlisting for service in the army and navy, urging them to complete their school work for the year, and that they mark time pending the carrying out of provisions of the selective-draft law.