i finished preparatory school in june, 1891, and was in debt. i taught a district school during the following season, paid the debt, and then taught another year in the preparatory itself. in the fall of 1893 i had accumulated about $150.

i had previously decided to enter the university as soon as i could, and in september i went to iowa city with what cash i had and became a freshman. at that time i did not know how i should be able to sustain myself during the year, but proposed to remain there as long as i could and not to leave until i was compelled to do so by physical necessities. in those days board was a good deal cheaper than now, and clubs furnished the necessaries of life for $2.50 a week and the room cost us $6 a month, which sum was divided between myself and room-mate.

along toward christmas the necessity of purchasing a number of things that i could not figure on before, in the way of clothing and supplies, made it obvious that my funds would be exhausted long before the spring vacation of my freshman year. i had previously been looking around for a place to 84 earn part of my expenses and finally secured a job as a waiter at a restaurant. in this manner i cut off the weekly expense for meals, as my meals were furnished at the restaurant as compensation for my services. aside from this my expenses remained the same.

i finished that year with some money to spare and invested something in an outfit to enable me to earn money in the sale of stereoscopic views. the summer of 1893 was exceeding dry and times were very hard and this venture proved an expensive failure. at the end of three weeks from the time i started my money was gone and i had to get back home and start into something else. i finally got a job of looking after the insane patients at the poor farm at $25 a month and went back to the university with about $50. the second year was the hardest i had at the university, and, in fact, i had to borrow $100, which i secured from an old gentleman to whom i was a stranger, but to whom i was recommended by several students.

i had realized the necessity, from previous experience, of looking ahead for employment, and so when the spring vacation came i had got a job in the university library which i think paid me $2.00 a day, and in addition thereto i was janitor for the y. m. c. a. building and also for one of the churches. the janitor work i did at night. this work i carried through the summer, managing still to do the work at the restaurant, which was light 85 during the summer, but which paid for my meals. this gave me ample funds to begin my junior year. in the fall of that year i found an opportunity to write editorials for a local paper, which paid me $5.00 a week, so that i was able to quit the restaurant work. i was able to pay something on the loan that year, although not very much. this work on the newspaper i continued as long as i was in the university and it finally was the means of my finishing there in 1897.

i was a little in debt when i finished the course, but had another year yet in school before i could be admitted to the bar. i concluded to go to the city where i could get some business experience in a law office aside from training in school. so i went to chicago and got a job in a law office at $5.00 a week, and attended a night school. previous experience had taught me that the bare necessities of life do not cost so very much. i refunded the loan that i had secured while at the university and got $50 more. by securing a room that was large enough for three of us at chicago, and which in addition had an alcove with a gas stove in it, where we could prepare part of our meals, i found living inexpensive.

after finishing the law school there, i remained a year working in a law office during the day and in the crerar library at night, until i had sufficient funds to pay all of my debts and to come back to iowa and pay a few months’ rent for an office. i 86 began business in my present location in that manner and have continued there ever since.

in 1906 i went to the state senate as a representative of this district, and there found as colleagues five boys whom i had known at the university. two of them had supported themselves while at the university by work similar to mine. one of them was janitor of a church and the other had been a waiter at a restaurant. i cannot say that i regard the experience as involving any great hardship. i never felt at any time, while i was at the university, that this employment which was obligatory was of any disadvantage to me, except that it took more time than i wished to devote to work. my experience is that there is more of a democratic spirit in universities and colleges than is found elsewhere in the world. such work as i did could have been done by any able-bodied student, and i am quite certain it never would prove disadvantageous to his social standing. i believe that if i had it to do over again i could do the same thing to better advantage. while expenses are now higher than they were, compensation for labor is also a good deal higher and employment is much more easily found than during the years from 1893 to 1897. the question as to whether a collegiate education is available to every young man in this country i think is entirely dependent upon the question as to whether it is desired. i have no doubt that the experiences of many whom i knew at the university, which experiences 87 were similar to mine, could be duplicated in almost any of the larger institutions of the country.

ottumwa, iowa.