The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-06-28
PRESIDENT AT HARVARD
MAKES AN ABLE ADDRESS
He Speaks in Favor Of Rough Athletic Sports Like Football
Broken Bones Count for Little |e-Urges Respect for
the Laws by the Rich as Well as the Poor

BOSTON, June 2S.-The first caller
on President Roosevelt at the home of
Bishop Lawrence this morning was
Mrs. Taylor a colored woman, who
came shortly after o'clock and wait
ed on the veranda until the president
came down stairs. The woman was
stopped by secret service men, but she
told them she used to do the presi
dents washing when ne was in COL
lege and they admitted her to the
grounds. When told that Mrs. Taylor
; wished to see him the president came
1own, shook hands with her and held
short conversation. Mrs. Taylor
said the president called on her at her
home the last time he came to Cam
bridge.
After breakfast the president was
driven to Massachusetts hall, where
the commencement procession formed.
The National Lancers formed the pres
ident's escort. The commencement ex-
ercises included the granting of di-
! plomas to graduates and the bestowal
of honorary degrees.
President Roosevelt and President
Eliot headed the procession followed
| by Secretary Loeb Kermit, Roosevelt,
former Secretary of the Navy Long,
Charles J. Bonaparte, Lieutenant Gov
ernor Guild, members of the faculty
and members of the graduating classes
of the various departments. They
marched to Sanders theater, where the
| commencement program was given.
RooseveIt's Address.
After a short Introductory which he
gave the students of the college a vast
amount of valuable advice. The pres
| ident said:
| 1t is not my purpose to discuss at
| length what should be done in Harvard
to produce the right spirit among the
men who go out of Harvard, but rather
! to speak of what this spirit should be.
Nor shall l speak of the exceptions, to
men to whom college life is a disadvan-
! tage Randolph, of Roanoke, he of the
biting tongue, once remarked of an Op-
ponent that ne reminded him Of certain
tracts of land which were almost
worthless by nature and became en-
tirely so by cultivation. OF course if
| in any individual university training
produces taste for refined idleness a
distaste for sustained effort, barren
! intellectual arrogance, or a sense of
superciiious aloofness from the world
of real men who do the worlds great
work. then it mas harmed that indicid-
ual; but, in such case there remains
the abiding comfort that ne would not
have amounted to much anyway.
Neither a college training nor any
thing else can do much good to the
| man of weak fiber or to the man with
a twist in his moral or intellectual
makeup. But the average undergrad
uate has enough robustness of nature,
enough capacity for enthusiasm and
aspira ton, to make it worth while to
turn to account the stuff that is in him.
There are however, two points in
the undergraduate life of Harvard
about which, I think, we nave a right
to feel some little concern. One is the
growth of luxury in the university. l
do not know whether anything we can
say will have much effect on this point,
but Just so far as the alumni have
weight 1 hope to see that weight felt
in serious and sustained effort against
the growing tendency to luxury, ana
in favor of all that makes for demo-
cratic conditions. One of our number
the one whom 1 think the rest of us
most delight to hOnOr-ColOnel Higgin-
son-has given to our alma mater the
Harvard Union, than which no better
gift, no gift meeting more vital need
could have been given to the univer-
sity. 1t is neither possible nor desir
able to try to take away all social diff
ferences from the student life; but 1T
is a good thing to show how unimport-
ant these differences are compared to
the differences of real achievement,
and compared also to the bonds which
should unite together all the men who
are in any degree capable of such real
achievement; bonds, moreover, which
should also knit these capable men to
their brethren who need their help.
FavorS Sports.
The second point upon which wish
to speak is the matter of sport. Now.
shall be suspected Of a tendency un-
duly to minimize the Importance of
sport. belive heartily in sport. /
believe in outdoor games, and 1 do not
mind in the least tnat they are rough
games, or that those who take part
in them are occasionally injured. l
have no sympathy whatever with over
wrought sentimentality which would
keep the young man in cotton wool, and
have hearty contempt for him II he
counts a broken arm or collar bone as
Of serious consequence, when balanced
against the chance of showing that he,
possesses hardihood, physical address
and courage. But when these injuries
are inflicted by others, either wantonly