Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-06-28
PRESIDENT GUEST
AT HARVARD TODAY
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{ Continued from First page)
in public life, and we need them just
as much in business and in such pro-
| fession as the law. We can by statute
establish only those exceedingly rough
| lines of morality, the overpassing of
which means that the man Is in jeop-
ardy Of the constable or the sheriff.
| But the nation is badly off If in ad-
| dition to this there is not a very much
! higher standard of conduct, a standard
| impossible effectively to establish by
| statute, but one upon which the COM
munity as whole, and especially the
real leaders Of the community, insist.
Take such a question as the enforce
ment of the law. 1t is, of course, ele-
| mentary to say that this Is the first
requisite in any civilization at all. But
great many people in the ranks of
life from which most college men are
drawn seem to forget that they should
condemn with equal severity those
! men who break the law by committing
crimes Of mob violence, and those who
GVuu0 lue law, VI WIZ Actually
1t, but so cunningly that they cannot
be discovered, the crimes they com
NIT, being not those Of physical out
rage, but those of greed and craft on
the largest scale. The very rich man
who conducts his business as If he be-
lieved that he We're law unto him
self. thereby immensely increases the
difficulty of the task of UNFOLDING or
der when the disorder Is a menace to
men of property; for if the community
feels that rich men disregard the law
where it affects themselves, then the
community is apt to assume the dam
gerous and unwholesome attitude of
condoning crimes of violence commit
ted against the interests which in the
popular mind these rich men repre-
sent. We have a right to appeal to
the alumni of Harvard, and to the all
umni of every institution of learning
in this land, to do their part In Great
ing a public sentiment which shall de-
mand of all men of means, and es-
pecially Of the men Of vast fortune,
that they set an example to their
less fortunate brethren, by paying
scrupulous heed not only to the letter
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 i'm
! portant that they should conduct their
business affairs decently than that
they should spend the surplus Of their
fortunes in philanthropy. Much has
been given to these men and we have
right to demand much of them in
return. Every man of great wealth
who runs his business with
cynical contempt for those pro-
hibitions Of the law which by
hired cunning he can escape or
eyade, is a menace to our community;
and the community is not to be ex-
cused If it does not develop a spirit
which actively frowns on and discount
enances him The great profession OF
the law should be that whose members
ought to take the lead in the creation
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 it their
special task to work out bold and inge-
NOUS schemes by which their wealthy
clients, individual or corporate, can
evade the laws which are made to reg
ulate 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 a very wealthy client
to override or circumven't 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. Such spir-
it may breed the demand that laws
shall be made even more drastic
against the rich, or else it may mani
fest itself in hostility to all laws. Sure
| ly Harvard has the right to expect
from her sons a high standard of APP
piled mortality, whether their paths
Head them into public life, into busl-
ness. or into the great profession OF
the law, whose members are SO poten:
in shaping the growth OF the natlohal
| soul"
"The men who go out from Harvard
into the great world of American dlfe
bear a heavy burden of responsibility
The only way they can show theii
gratitude ito their alma mater is by
doing their full duty to the nation as
whole; and they can do this fun
duty if they combine the high resolve
10 work for what is best and most en-
nobling with the no less resolute pur-
( nose to do their work in such fashion
that when the end of their days comes
they shall feel that they have actual
1y achieved results and not merely
| talked of achieving them"