The Herald

To Train Engineers

Interesting is the announcement that John D. Hertz, who rose from a penniless immigrant Hungarian boy to an American millionaire, is allocating most of his fortune, which may run into "many millions of dollars" to a scholarship fund for training young men and women as mechanical and electrical engineers.

Mr. Hertz, who is now 78 years old and a partner in Lehman Brothers, investment bankers, became disturbed by newspaper reports that the Russians "are turning out 100 per cent more engineers than we are." To offset Soviet advances in training engineers, he has made available enough money to subsidize more than 100 students a year. The trustees of the fund, which will be called the "Fanny K. and John D. Hertz Engineering Scholarship Fund," will have full discretion in the administration of the money. However, Mr. Hertz has made the following stipulations:

1. There must be no discrimination in giving aid with regard to race, religion, or sex.

2. All those receiving aid must take a course in American history. They must pledge themselves to serve the United States on request of the Government in time of national emergency.

In explaining the aims of the fund, Mr. Hertz said: "I simply want to contribute in the interest of defense the fortune the United States has allowed me to accumulate." And, later, he said he was interested in "the poor boy or girl who really wants an education but can't get it."

This is the gesture of a grateful man, who never himself went beyond the sixth grade, to provide for other young people the opportunities he was denied.