The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-29


we are confronted by the question. not OF
damage to one mans body. but Of damage
to the other mans character. Brutality
in laying game should awaken the
heartiest and most plainly shown contempt
for the player guilty OF II; especially
In committing it without getting caught
by the umpire. hope to see both graduate
and undergraduate opinion come to scorn
such a man as one guilty Of base and dis
honorable action who has no place in tho
regard Of gallant and upright men.
grow to regard sport as the serious hush
ness Of life. 1t is a bad thing to permit
sensationalism and hysteria to shape the
development OF our sports. And finally
II Is much worse thing to permit college
sport to become in any shape or way tainted
slightest suspicion Of moneymakng; and
this Is especially true II the professionalism
Ia furtive, II the boy or man violates the
spirit OF the rule while striving to keep
within the letter.
THE CURSE OF PROFESSIONALISM.
Professional sport is all right in it's way:
am glad to say that among my friends l
number professional boxers and wrestlers;
oarsmen, and baseball men, whose regard
| value, and whom in turn l regard as
thoroughly good citizens. But the college
UNDERGRADUATE who, in furtive fashion,
becomes a emi-professional is an un-
mitigated curse, and that not alone to uni
versity life and to the cause OF amateur
sport. for the opeF Es Eaddq ia oaea' th IN
bus n IS mo ality OF this count Y on proper
plane, and he can not do it II in his own
college career his code OF conduct has
been warped and twisted. Moreover,
the spirit which puts so excessive value
upon his work as to produce this semi
professional is itself unhealthy
l wish to see Harvard win a reasonable
proportion Of the contests In which 1t enters,
and I should be heartily ashamed of every
Harvard athlete who did not spend every
ounce there was in him in the effort TO win,
provided only he doe, it in honorable and
should be to minimize RAJ Their than to IN
crease that kind of love Of athletics which
manifests itself, not in joining in the athletic
sports, but in crowding by tens OF thousands
to see other people indulge IN them IL Is
a far better thing for our colleges to have
form OF athletics than to have them all
gather In a mass to see other people do
their athletics for them.
MUCH EXPECTED OF HARVARD MEN.
So much for the undergraduates. Now
for the alumni the men who are at work
out in the great world OF course the
mans first duty is to hims and to those
Immediately dependent upon him. Unless
he can pull his own weight he must be
content to remain passenger all hls ne.
But We have a right to expect that the
men who come out OF Harvard Will do
something more than merely pull their own
weight. We have right to expect that
they will count as positive forces for the
betterrnent OF their fellow countrymen;
bine the power Of devotion to a lofty ideal
with practical common sense in striving
to realize this ideal
This nation never stood In creator need
than now Of having among its leaders men
Of lofty ideals, which they try to live up to
with these ideals in public life, and we
need them just a. much In business and in
such a profession az the law. We can by
statute establish only those exceedingly
rough lines OF morality the ovelpassng
OF which means that the man is in jeopardy
nation Is badly off il in addition to thi.
there il not a very much higher standard
OF conduct. a standard impossible effectively
to establish by statute, but one upon which
the community as whole, and especially
the real leaders OF the community, insist
Take such a question az the enforce
ment of the law. 1t il, of course, elemen-
tary to say that this is the first requisite
in any civilization at all. Bot 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 evade the law, or who ac-
tually break it. but SO cunningly that they
cannot be discovered. the crimes they
commit being not those OF physical out
rage, but those Of greed and craft on the
largest scale.
THE VERY RICH A MENACE.
The very rich man who conducts his
business as if he believed that he were
a law unto himself thereby immensely
ne.ensee the difficulty Of the task Of up,
hold ng order when the disorder is menace
TO men of property; for If the community
leels that rich men disregard the Law where
it affects themselves then the community
IL apt to assume the dangerous and IN
wholesome attitude Of condoning crimes
of violence committed against the interests
which in the popular mind these rich men
This last attitude is wholly evil; but so
Is the attitude which produces it. We
have a right to appeal to the alumni of
Harvard, and to the alumni Of every in
stitution OF learning in this land. to do
their part in creating public sentiment
which shall demand Of all men Of means,
and especially of the men of vast fortune.
that they set an example to their less fortu-
nate brethren by paying scrupulous heed
not only to the letter but to the spirit of
the laws and by acknowledging in the
heartest 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 affairs decentiy
than that they should spend the surplus
OF their fortunes in philanthropy. Much
has been given to these men, and we have
a light to demand much of them in return.
Every man Of great wealth who runs his
business with cynical contempt for those
OF the law which by hired
cunning he can escape or evade Is a menace
to our community; and the community is
not to be excused If it does not develop a
spirit which actively frowns on and dis
him. The great profession
OF the law should be that whose members
ought to take the lead in the creation of
Just such spirit.
MIsDIRECTED LEGAL ABILITY.
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
especial task to work out bold and ingenious
schemes by which their very wealthy
clients, individual or corporate, 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 en-
poys his talent and his learning in the
highly remunerative task Of enabling q
very wealthy client to override or crcum-
vent the law is doing all that in him lies to
encoura &c the growth in this country of a