The awarding of a license to practice law is an unusual and important occasion to our professional men. All Greeks in this city must greet this news with enthusiasm and congratulate the brilliant young initiate of Themis, the Goddess of Justice.

Mr. Nicholas Kyriacopoulos is the pride of the Greeks of Chicago and we all know that he will go far in the legal profession.

The notorious lack of university trained and competent Greek lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers, priests, etc., not only in Chicago, but in the entire United States has been acutely felt, because almost all the Greeks that established themselves in this country did not have the opportunity or the good fortune to acquire even the rudiments of an elementary education.

Nevertheless, they deserve the highest praise for the amazing progress which they have made thus far in the world of industry and trade. Notwithstanding their lack of the proper intellectual equipment and training, our people have made considerable progress in types of work on a higher level than ordinary labor and menial tasks. It is only natural that our people should be handicapped by the lack of an elementary education since they left their homes and fatherland when they were young.

Whatever the Greeks have accomplished in America they owe to the innate and characteristic Greek desire to progress and strive for a better life. But, when natural gifts are not developed and properly exploited by education and thorough schooling, never can our people reap the rich fruits which the constant toil and labor of the Greeks throughout America should have produced.

But even our ablest community leaders are unable to show any important results in relation to the general life and affairs of our communities, while those Greeks who make up the hundreds of Greek quarters in America are illiterate and 3uneducated. That is the reason why we see so many evils and faults among the numerous Greek communities and organizations in the United States. Because the Greeks in Chicago and throughout America are sailing without a helm, and because they do not have the necessary educational background, a complete equalizing of our intellectual forces is quite noticeable. As yet not many individuals have been discovered who can rise above the station and social rank of the businessman.

Fortunately, during the last few years, a small number of professional men have been arriving in America, and particularly in Chicago; but they constitute a small minority, struggling against countless obstacles and infinite difficulties. More often than not their voice is a cry in the wilderness. These men have to contend with all sorts of prejudices. They are almost always misunderstood. In spite of the eagerness of the great masses of our people to listen to them and profit by their experience and wisdom, half-baked intellectuals intervene and separate the real intellectuals and the people. These half-baked intellectuals by any and various means fearlessly exploit the people.

It is to the interest of the pseudo-philosophers and the supposedly wise men to distort the truth and attack anyone who is really in position to enlighten and educate.

Our half-baked semi-intellectuals are those that seek to occupy the most important official and public positions. It is they who want to control our common affairs in order to bolster their vanity and foolish pride. It is these bold pretenders to knowledge and wisdom who establish and organize groups of all sorts for the sole purpose of assuming the title of president or secretary. It is these same characters that sow the seeds of discord and disunion--provoking serious episodes and violent wrangling. The most regrettable part of all is that the great masses of our people cannot perceive their semi-ignorance, and very frequently the people confuse them with those who are truly educated. This is where the self-styled, self-appointed teacher is confused with the high-calibred professor, the horse doctor with the capable doctor, and the puffed-up law student with the accomplished lawyer.

There are scores of doctors who have immigrated to and established themselves in 5Chicago as well as throughout the United States; there is yet a great and broad opportunity for still more. It is of no great difficulty for the immigrant doctor to become established; by taking his practical examinations in medicine with the help of an interpreter, he has no indispensable need of the English language. Especially is this true since the clientele of a Greek doctor are mostly Greeks.

This is not the case with the lawyers, for, if the Greek lawyer and jurist has not completely mastered the English language, and without having previously studied the American system of laws and without being able to bring a case before an American court, he cannot successfully pass the stiff bar examinations. These difficulties cannot be easily overcome. That is why, although there is a broad field open to Greek lawyers, Mr. Nicholas Kyriacopoulos was the first Greek lawyer that had the courage and initiative to submit to the practical bar examinations; he came through successfully, and was granted his license to practise law in the American courts. His success is attributed first to his thorough liberal educational background,and second,to the all-important fact 6that he has been able to master the English language.

Our new lawyer is a judge's son. He was only a young man when he completed his studies in the Law School of the National University at Athens. In taking his doctorate in jurisprudence, he won outstanding distinction among the hundreds of students. Afterwards, he was sent to England where he studied political economy as a graduate student at the University of Oxford, receiving another doctor's degree at that University. Returning to Greece he practiced law there for some time. Only two years ago he arrived in America, coming directly to Chicago where he took several law courses at the University of Chicago under some of the most distinguished professors. Mr. Kyriacopoulos studied at Chicago for a comparatively short period of time before he took the Illinois bar examination at Springfield, and was consequently awarded his license to practice law. So, this brilliant young attorney has been accorded the signal honor of becoming a full-fledged Greek-American lawyer in the State of Illinois.

May I express the wish that the splendid and meteoric career of our new attorney 7serve as an example for others who should emulate Mr. Kyriacopoulos's magnificent accomplishment.

There is indeed the greatest need for Greek professional men in Chicago and in America generally. Undoubtedly such men will increase the prestige of the Greek people as well as contribute to the general well-being of our people in this great country.

Spiros A. Kotakis,

Attorney and Journalist.