EDUCATION 159

most eager audiences, and this, I think, would
hardly have been the case at home. In these
addresses I would sometimes ask, " What is the
* key-industry * .of the United States ? " and
when I answered my own question by the word
" education," there would always be a rousing
cheer. The impression I have received in these
ways, and found confirmed by personal contact
with individuals of many types all over the
country, is that education is one of the things the
American people believe in, aim at, and are
prepared to make sacrifices for.

This statement may be confidently placed side
by side with current generalizations about
America's belief in the " almighty dollar/' She
does believe in the " almighty dollar "; but she
believes in education as well; and her belief in
the first is not unaffected by her belief in the
second—a point to be borne in mind by those
who accuse American education, especially in the
universities, of being dominated by the money
interest. There is a measure of truth in the
accusation, but—as an Irishman once remarked—
the domination is not all on one side. The
millionaires have done much for the colleges; one
is staggered by the astronomical figures in which
their gifts are reckoned up, and there is no
denying the formidable power implied by these
colossal benefactions. But the colleges have also
done something for the millionaires in giving
them a rather different ** attitude towards life "