New-York tribune., 1905-06-29

hvstera TO shape the development OF our spoita
college sport to become in any shape or way
tainted by professionalism. or by so much as
the slightest suspicion of money maklng anu y,
this is especially true il the PROFESSIONALISM -
furtive If the boy man violates the spirit ol
the rule while striving to keep wlthlf tue
Professional sport is all right in It's way am
glad to say that among my friehos huiiioeI
professional boxers and wrestlers. oarstneil anu
baseball men, whose regard value ana whon'
in turn, / regard thoroughly good cltizens-
But the college undergraduate who, in furtive
fashion. becomes a semi-professionai Is an uii-
mitigated curse, and that not alone 10 UNI UNI
yersity life and to the cause OF amateur sport
for the college graduate ought IN atter yasis yeaTs
to take the lead in putting the business morahty
of this country on proper plane, ana ne caiiho.
do II If in his own college career his code or
conduct has been warped and twisted More
over the spirit which puts so excessive a Value
upon his work as to produce this semi-pro-
fessionaI is itself unhealthy. L wish TO see
Harvard win a reasonable proportion OF the
contests in which it enters. and L should be
heartily ashamed of every Harvard athlete who
did not spend every ounce there was in MN IN
the effort to win provided only he does 1t In
honorable and manly fashion. But think our
effort should be to minimize rather than 10 IN
crease that kind of love Of athletics which mani
tests ITSELF not in joining in the athletic sports,
but in crowdng by tens of thousands TO see
other people indulge in them 1t is far better
thing for our colleges to have the average
student interested in form of athletics
than to have them all gather in a mass to see
other people do their athletics for them
So much for the undergraduates. Now for the
alumni. the who are at work out in the
great world. OF course. the mans first duty IS
tc himself ard TO those Immediately dependent
upon him. Unless he can pull his own weight
he must be content to remain passenger all his
life. But we have right to expect that the
men who come out of Harvard will do some
thing than merely pull their own weight
We have right to expect that they VIII count
as positive forces for the betterment of their
fellow ce,ntrymen: and they thus count
only if they combine the power of devotion TO
lofty ideal with practical common sense in strfv-
ing TO realize this ideal
NEED OF HIGH-MINDED MEN.
This nation never stood in greater need than
now of having among its leaders men OF lofty
ideals which they try to g i've up TO 2th ahq these o
ideals in public life, and we need them just as
much in business and in such profession as
the law We can by statute establish only those
exceedingly rough lines of morality the over
passing Of which means that the man Is IN
Jeopardy of the constable or the sheriff But
the nation is badly off if in addition to this there
IS not very much higher standard OF conduct,
a standard Impossible effectively to esta bish by
statute. but upon which the community as q
whole, and especially the real leaders OF the
community, insist. Take such a question as the
enforcement of the law. 1t is, of course, ele-
rnentary 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 coHeSe
men are drawn seem to forget that they shouid
condemn with equal severity those men "ito
break the law by committing crimes OF 1nop
violence and those who evade the law, or VINO
actually break it, but cunningly that they
cannot he discovered the crimes they commit
being not those of physical outrage, but
hose Of greed ana craft on the largest
scale. The very rich man who conducts his puSl-
ness as If he believed that he were law unto
himself thereby immensely increases the dlfh-
r}ijcy Of the task of Uphoiang order Nhen tne
disorder is menace 10 men or property; loF IL
ne community feels that rich men dlSfegaTH
the law where it affects themselves then the
community is apt to assume tne dangerous ana
unEholesOme attitude OF conooning crimes OF
Tl1o i-lfp
IN the popular mind these rich men represent
This last attitude IS wholly evil: but so is the
attitude which produces it, We have right
90 appeal 70 the alumni of Harvard, ana TO the
alumni of every institution Of learning in TINS
and to do their part in creating a public sent1-
ment which shall demand of all men of means,
and especially of the of vast fortune, that
they set an example to their less fortunate
brethren by paying scrupuous 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 important that they should con-
duct their business affairs decently than that
they should spend the surplus Of their fort
unes in philanthropy. Much has been given
to these men and have a right to demand
much of them in return. Every of great
wealth who runs his business with cynical con-
tempt for those prohibitions Of the law which
by hired cunning he can escape or evade is
menace 10 our community; and the community
is not to be excused if il does not develop
spirit which actively frowns and discounte
him. The great profession of the law
should be that whose members ought to take
the lead in the creation of just such q spirit.
We all know that as things actually are, many
of the most influential and most highly
recommended members of the bar in every
centre of wealth make 1t their special
task to work out bold and ingenious schemes
by which their very wealthy clients individual
or corporate can evade the laws which
msGe to regulate in the interest OF the public
yer who employs his talent and his learning in
the highly remunerative task of enabling a very
wealthy client TO override circumVent the
law is doing all that in him lies to encourage
the growth in this country of spirit of dumb
anger an against all laws and Of disbelief
breed the demand that laws shall be made even
mora drastic against the rich, or else it may
manifest itself in hostility to all laws. Surely
Harvard has the right expect from her sons
a high standard Of applied morality. whether
their paths lead them into public life, into bust
whose members potent in shaping the
growth of the national soul
PRACTICAL EFFICIENCY NECESSARY.
But in addition to having high ideals it cannot
too often be said to body such is gathered
here to-day that together with devotion to what
is right must go practical efficiency in striving
for what is right. This is rough, workaday,
practical world, and If in If we are to do the
work best worth doing must approach that
work in spirit remote from that OF the mere
visionary, and above all remote from that of the
visionary whose aspirations after good find ex-
preston only in the shape of scolding and com
planning II shall not help us if we avoid the
Scylla of baseness of motive, only TO be wrecked
on the Charybds of wrongheadedness, of feeble
ness and inefficiency. There be nothing
worse for the community than TO have the men
who profess lofty ideals show themselves so
foolish, so narrow impractfcable as to cut
themselves off from communion with the men
who actually able do the work of govern
ing. the work of business, the work of the pro-
fessions. II is sad and evil thing if the men
with moral sense group themselves as i'm
practical zeaots, while the men of action grad
ually grow 10 discard and laugh all moral
sense as evidence Of impractical weakness.
Macauay, whose eminently sane and wholesome
spirit revolted not only at weakness, but at the