but in some towns in the Southern States special schools are provided
for the colored people. Having such facilities for gaining knowledge,
it naturally follows that the Americans, as a 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.