April 6 If the power to do hard work is not a skill, it’s the best possible substitute for it. James A. Garfield, 20th President, 1881- From "College Education", An Address delivered before the Literary Societies of the Eclectic Institute at Hiram Ohio, June 14, 1867- Garfield, a former educator, was at this time a member of the House of Representatives from Ohio after serving as a General in the Civil War. The nation was re-organizing and Garfield had been asked to speak about education in the changing nation. Garfield states, "The nation, having passed through the childhood of it its history, and being about to enter upon a new life, based on a fuller recognition of the rights of manhood, has discovered that liberty can be safe, only when the suffrage is illuminated by education...You, young gentlemen, are now confronted with the question, "What must I do to fit myself most completely,...for being 'all that doth become a man,' living in the full light of the Christian civilization of America?"...In general, it may be said that the purpose of all study is two-fold: to discipline our faculties, and to acquire knowledge for the duties of life...In brief, the student should study himself, his relations to society, to nature, and to art-and through all these, should study the relations of himself, society, and nature and art, to God, the Author of them all. In the next place, I inquire, what kinds of knowledge are necessary for carrying on and improving the useful arts and industries of civilized life? This generation is beginning to understand that education should not forever be divorced from industry; that the highest results can be reached only when science guides the hand of labor...I beseech you to remember that the genius of success is still the genius of labor. If hard work is not another name for talent, it is the best possible substitute for it. In the long run, the chief difference in men will be found the the amount of work they do... and finally, Young Gentlemen, learn to cultivate a wise self-reliance, based on not what you hope, but on what you perform.