Evening star., 1901-05-28
HOWARD LAW GRADUATES
UNIVERSITY CONFERs DIPLOMAS ON
CLASS NUMBERING EIGHTEEN.
Address by Ex-Governor George w.
Atkinson of West Virginia.
Class Orators.

The twenty-seventh annual commence
ment of the Law School of Howard Uni
versity was held last evening at the First
Congregational Church. The edifice was
crowded with spectators. Former Cover
nor George w. Atkinson of West Virginia,
who the orator of the occasion, in ad-
dressing the graduates said, in part, that
Pericles, the greatest of Athenian orators,
in his historic funeral Oration of the Greek
soldiers who fell in the expedition to Sa-
mos. claimed that Athens surpassed all
ether portions of the globe, not only in pa
triotism. but in architecture, literature.
mathematics and the arts. He was right
in his claims of the merits and loyalty of
his people: but only in few respects can
that period of the worlds history be COM
pared to the present. In general education;
in morals, in literature. in science, in terri
tory, in natural advantages and endow>
ments. our American people have extended
into realms of which the learned Athenians
never everAdreamed
Within the limits of a century the Amer
lean republic has risen to the dignity of a
star of the first magnitude and our coun-
try is now pouring fabulous millions into
the lap of commerce. And yet We are only
standing upon the threshold of new dis
coVeries. and are at the entrance of an era
OF dazzling SplendOr, which cannot fail to
electrify the human race. The whole
world is now radiant with hope, and we
should be happy that We are participants
In Its benefits. and happier still that we are
to take part in transmitting these benefits
committed to our keeping untarnished and
Undimmed, to succeeding generations
Greatest of ProfessiOns.
The distinguished speaker claimed that
the law is the greatest of all professions,
because it requires more thorough prepara-
tiOn and equipment. He stoutly argued
that there can be no successful charlatan
ism in the legal profession, because abso-
lutte preparation must be shown or all
the people present will discover the weak
ness of the barriSter. Only a genius cal
succeed in securing enough law points from
his opponent in court trial to enable
him to win his case Hence the necessity
of every lawyer being familiar with the
principles involved in his case if he NAV
hope for success. Law schools are es-
Sential because legal principles are therein
taught, which should be thoroughly mas
tered The technique of the law can only
be acquired in the law school. The college
training is therefore a necessity in the
times in which we live.
The ex-governor stated that the law is
both science and an art. AS a science
it teaches all of the principles involved in
the right and the wrong. AS an art it
teaches how to apply these principles in
separating right from wrong. a single
word definition of law is right" There
fore, law Is right and the application of it
is to require every one to be right and re-
main right. Equity Is right: equity fol-
lows the law, therefore, law is right Rea-
son is the life of the law: nay, the COM
mon law itself is nothing but reason. The
law therefore, is the perfection of reason.
Our human laws are but the copies, more
or less imperfect, of the eternal laws so
far read them. The law Is the
last result of human wisdom acting upon
human experience for the benefit of all
persons, and always where law ends ty-
rany and disorganizatiOn begin. Conse-
quently the necessity of law is manifest,
and it should. therefore, be maintained.
The speaker next dwelt upon the ups
and downs of the average barriSter. and
added that the man who accompishes the
most in the profession is the who sees
things as they are, and then takes a vigor-
Gus hand to make the most out of the cir
cumStances which come within his reach
The one who achieves the most is the one
who entertains the highest IDEALS and then
endeavors to put them into practical ef-
feet Success only lies in being in per-
feet harmony with ones undertakings.
Those who triumph are not the ones who
wait until all methods are fully establish
ed but rather those who ask an even
chance, and join the procession while 1t
is passing. Every young lawyer should
take out an endowment policy of confidence
in himself and then hold on to everything
that rightfully belongs to him. and un
der no circumstances allow another to push
= 49, tho