Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-06-17
The Venerable Senator From
Massachusetts, Delivers Adj
dress at the University
THE VALUE OF CHARACTER
Fate of the Nation in the Last Resort
Depends Upon Individual Character
Sense of Duty in Public Officials
the Only safety-Many Prominent
Men Present at the Commencement.
Special to Times-Republican.

Special to Times Republican.
Iowa City, Iowa, June IA featur
of the commencement exercises of tn
University of Iowa today, was an ad
dress by United States Senator Georg
4. Hoar, of Massachusetts, who sai'
in part:
.41'he fate of the nation depends in thu
last resort on individual character
Everything in human government, like
everything in individual conduct, de-
Ponds, in the end, upon the sense oi
duty. Whatever safeguards may be
established, however complicated OF
we'll adjusted the mechanism, you come
TO place somewhere, where safety de-
ponds upon somebody having the will
to do right when it is in his power
and may seem TO his interest to dc
wrong. When the people We're consid-
ering the adoption of the constitution
OF the United States. one of our wisest
statesmen said that the real and only
security for a republic Is when the
rulers have the same interest as the
people. If they have not constitutional
restraints will break down somewhere,
eSScpl LUZ thS SSiISS VI aulS Va sii~
rulers.
All elections depend upon this prin-
ciple You may multiply election Off
GERS and returning boards you may pro-
vide for an appeal to courts of first re-
sort or last resort. But in the end you
must somewhere come to point where
the sense of public duty Is stronger
than party spirit, or your election is but
Of f,yl,f haf
OF cheating. The same thing is true of
the individual voter or of the legislator
who is TO elect the senator, or the
governor who is TO appoint the judge,
or the executive officer, or the judge
who is to interpret the constitution or
the statuted and decide the case. or the
juror who is to find the fact. On these
men depend the safety and the perma-
nence Of the republic. On these men
depend life, liberty and property. And
yet each of them has to make that
choice. Each has to decide whether
he will be influenced by ambition or by
party spirit or the desire for popular
favor or the fear of popular disfavor
OF the love of money, on the one side.
or by the sense of duty on the other.
So in the last resort, the destiny of
the republic, like the destiny Of the in
dividual (and in the case of an in
dividual, character and destiny are the
same thing), depends upon individual
will. Will the individual will choose
what is right and not what is wrong?
Now this choice is largely affected by
what we call strength of will. by that
habit of the soul which enables men
TO adhere to its deliberate purposes
and principles formed when reason Is
unaffected by passion or by desire.
against the pressure and excitement
of an immediate demand; that char
acter of will which, as Wordsworth
says in his Happy Warrior
SIN the heat of conflict keeps the
law
In calmness made, and sees what It
foresaw.'
1.-The great single purpose of moral
education must be to induce the will
to adhere to its general, permanent,
and deliberately conceived purpose, in
spite of the motives which appeal To
1t with special strength at the time OF
the choice of action. In other words,
it Is to give strength to resolution
which will overcome the strength OF
temptation.
ITO teach this to the youth OF the
republic is the great duty of the uni
Nersity. The final purpose of all schol-
arship, as of all life, is character. II
the university be the herdmaid of sci
ence, science herself IS but the hand
maid of the soul The lover of truth is
but poor serf if he do not know that
in the great feudal system this is the
sovereign before whom all truth, all
III hut
the chief vassals and officers OF the
court.
THE university must choose what
she Will teach her children. and her
sons must choose whether they will
learn and practice her lesson. Whether
we accept the doctrine OF the old the
ology, that everything that comes to
man by descent cometh o. evil, and that
neither man nor nation can escape an
inexorable doom by putting off and
trampling under foot the old Adam with
his deeds we must at least believe that
the great virtues, Justice, Veracity,
Unselfshness, Courage. lie at the
foundation of all national and individ-
ual greatness. There Is no such thing
as title in any nation l,y Inheritance
to be called the chosen people of God.
subjects or dependents of any other. To
the larger and surer vision there is no
such thing as fortune. Justice and free
dom are the parents of fate. Where
those are we have no need to concern
ourselves with what the day may bring
forth. The product of the ages will be
secure The cosmic result will be the
same whatever the daily event may
be. 1t is to this that it is the office of
the university to be a perpetual witness
to the youth Of America. 1t Will be their
fault If they do not make their country
dts perpetual witness to mankind"
A large number of prominent men
and women from different parts of the
state are here 10 attend the exercises.
Among them are Senator w. r. ALL
son. Senator Hoar OF Massachusetts,
James Berryhill Mrs. James Berryhill,
Mrs. Ella Hamilton Durley of Des
Moines. Judge Rallinger Of Davenport,
President Seerley OF the Iowa State
Normal school, and President Cyrus
Northrup of the University of Mime
sofa.
A large crowd heard the Phi Beta
Kappa address by President Northrup
this morning.
At a meeting of the alumni associa-
ton late this afternoon the following
officers were elected:
President-Harvey 1ngham, Des