The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-06-28
PRESIDENT At HARVARD
CONTINUED from First page.)

do their part in creating a public SEN
timent which shall demand of all men
of means, and especially of the men
of vast fortune, that they set an ex-
ample to their less fortunate brethren
by paying scrupulous heed not only
to the better but to the spirit OF the
laws, and by acknowledging in the
heartiest fashion the moral obligations
which cannot be expressed in law, but
which stand back of and above all
laws. 1t is far more important that
they should conduct their business af-
fairs decently than that they should
spend the surplus of their fortunes in
philanthropy Much has been given
to these men and we have a right to
demeand much Of them in return.
Every man of great wealth who runs
his business with cynical contempt for
those prohibitions of the law which by
hired cunning he can escape or evade,
is menace to our community; and
the community is not to be excused
if it does not develop a spirit which
actively frOwns on and discountenan-
ces him. The great profession of the
law should be that whose members
ought to take in the lead in the Gre
alton of just such a spirit. We all
know that, as things actually are,
many of the most influential and most
highly remunerated members of the
bar in every center of wealth make 1t
their special task to work out bold and
ingenious schemes by which their very
wealthy clients, indicidual or corpo-
rate, can evade the laws which are
made to regulate in the interest of the
public the use of great wealth. Now,
the great lawyer who employs his
talent and his learning in the highly
remunerative task of enabling very
wealthy client to override or circum-
vent the law is doing all that in him
lies to encourage the growth in this
country of a spirit of dumb anger
against all laws and of disbelief in
their efficacy. Sucn a spirit may breed
the demand that laws shall be made
even more drastic against the rich, or
else it may manifest itself in hostility
to all laws. Surely Harvard has the
right to expect from her sons high
standard of applied morality, whether
their paths lead them into public life,
into business, or into the great profess
sion of the law, whose members are
so potent in shaping the growth of the
national soul.
Strive for the Right.
But in addition to having high
ideals it can not too often be said to
a body such as is gathered here today,
that together with devotion to what
is right must go practical efficiency in
striving for what is right. This is
nd
if in it we are to do the work best
worth doing, we must approach that
work in a spirit remote form that of
the mere visionary, and above all re-
mote from that of the visionary whose
aspirations after good find expression
only in the shape of scolding and COM
planning. 1t shall not help us if we
avoid the Scylla Of baseness of motive
only to be wrecked on the Charybdis
Of wrong headedneSS, of feebleness and
lnefficiency. There can be nothing
worse for the community than to have
The men who profess lofty ideals show
Themselves SO foolish, so narrow, so
mpracticable, as to cut themselves Off
from communion with the men who are
actually able to do the work of gov
erning, the work of business, the work
Of the professions. 1t is a sad and
evil thing if the men with a moral
sense group themselves as impractical
Zealots, while the men of action grad
ually grow to discard and laugh at all
moral sense as an evidence of imprac-
teal weakness. Maccaulay, whose
eminently sane ond wholesome spirit
revolted not only at weakness, but at
fO1l
AIDES as virtue, describes the condition
of Scotland at the end of the seven
teenth century in a passage which
every sincere reformer should keep
constantly before him.
1T is a remarkable circumstance
that the same country should nave
produced in the same age the most
wonderful specimens of both extremes
of human nature. Even in things in
different the Scotch Puritan would
hear of no compromise; and he was
but too ready to consider all who rec
commended prudence and charity as
traitors to the cause of truth. On the
other hand, the scOtchmen of that gen.
Grafton who made a figure in parlla-
ment were the most dishonest and UNI
blushing time-Servers that the world
has ever seen. Perhaps it is natural
that the most callous and impudent
vice should be found in the near neigh
borhood of unreasonable and imprac-
ticable virtue. When enthusiasts are
ready to destroy or be destroyed for
trifles magnified into Importance by
squeamsin conscience, it is not strange
that the very name of conscience
a
to cool and shrewd men of business"
Burden of Responsibility.
The men who go out from Harvard
into the great world of American life
bear a heavy burden of responsibility.
The only way they can show their
gratitude to their alma mater is by
doing their full duty to the nation as
a whole: and they con do this full duty
only if they combine the high resolve
to work for what is best and most en-
ts,nh =, no los, Int