Evening star., 1907-10-16
Special Exercises by George
Washington University.
ADDRESS BY DR.. ANDREWS
Denounces Malicious Misrepresenta.
tl0n of Public Men.
DISCUSSION OF MONOPOLIEs
Luncheon Served by Trustees and
Members Of University Council.
Afternoon Meeting.

The fall cOnvocation of George Wash
| ington University occurred this morning.
! the exercises being held before a large
audience in the Belasco Theater Degrees
were awarded to number of students,
/ and an address was made by Or f BEN
! jamin Andrews. president of the Irniver-
! sity Of Nebraska Following the exer-
! cises luncheon was given by the trus-
| tees of the university and the members OF
the university council at the Shoreham
! Hotel
| \ meeting of the board Of trustees VIII
! be held this afternoon. when several mat
ters of great Importance to the insritu-
| tion will be discussed
The theater in which the exercises took
! place was appropriately decorated for the
! occasion. streamers and ribbons of the
| university CUlOrS being fCstooucd over the
| stage and balconies, while the stage was
| ornamented with palms and ferns and
! great loops of laurel. At the appointed
! hour the officers and faculty of the coli
! lege, accompanied by the students who
! were to receive degrees. marched I'm a
! body from the university buildings 10th
! and Ii streets northwest. to the theater
Rev. DR.. W. c. Alexander pronounced
| the invocation.
DR.. Charles w. Needham. pres dent of
George Washington University. inGoduced
| NHdliCtltOT r. ftehlaflln Andrews OF the
University of Nebraska to make the ora
| ton of tie day. The latter spoke from
the subject "Phlegm VS.. Frenzy in Some
| Current Discussions.
DR.. Andrews Address.
DIR. Andrews voiced a protest against
the present-day attacks on individual
and corporate wealth. and his known
| friendship for John ID. Rockefeller Gre
ated In the minds of his auditors the be
| lief that his speech was direct appeal
for fair play for the Standard Oil chief.
| The belief was strengthened by DR.. An
! drews frequent laudation of the wealth.
creating rich, whom he declared to be
not only the true friends of the workers.
but the real props of prosperity.
In beginning his address DR. Andrews
denounced bitterly what he termed ma
hc-ous and wil!ful Misrepresentation OF
the acts of public or prominent men by
the press. After declaring his belief that
hanging should be the punishment meted
to a proved libeler. he said
1t is the crowning baseness of our
time-wh'c ch is saying a good deaI-this
selecting for a victim some character so
distinguished as to assure piquancy and
market for inventions, and then, craftily
avoid ng suabe libel and relying for fuller
protection on the victims known kindll-
ness, industry and dignity, proceeding to
vivisect h m for pay None of the husi-
ness viilainies alleged to be so rife could
compare In atrocity with these squalid
campaigns of libel and lbelous caricature
which recent months have produced
Interest With General Society.
81 care not a straw for the rich. as such.
My interest and sympathy are solely with
general society and the common man.
And, speaking as a representative of the
people at large, urge that lie pride, idle
ness and doubtful practices of a few r'ch
are no just cause for putting all rich men
In pillory. The possession of wealth how
ever great. furnishes by Itself no pre-
sumption against the owners probity II
man can fraudlessly become possessor
OF ten thousand he can. If he works on
with the same zeal. skill and power, not
only as easily. but more easily secure a
hundred thousand. two hundre- thousand.
five hundred thousand a million, a hum
dred million dollars
Just here financial geniuses ind op-
portunity. Now and again arises up amid
the common throng of business men one
with the ability to utilize to the end that
semi-automatic power. to set and keep
this hundred million earning with the
same precision governing his first invest
ment. He combines industry with indus
try and effects saving. He takes advan-
tage OF rivals errors and hesitancy. II he
becomes a Millionaire you have no right
to denounce any part of his fortune. save
upon proof OF fraud. The mere fact of
his being so rich is naught but proof OF
his genius and his industry"
Prices Governed by Public.
DR.. Andrews then undertook to show
that high prices ruled by reason of the
consent of the public and not because of
monopolistlc tendencies. He said:
THE prices of monopolized articles, on
the theory that competition ought to fix
prices since competition no longer exists
L., 4 t.1A
prices It would fix If 1t did exist are
subject to no principle whatever save the
tolerance of the market Nearly all the
price advances which monopoly has pro-
duced are acquiesced in by the public.
Complaint continues only in respect to
few articles but it can easily be shown
that the more or less recently advanced
cost in these cases is due to precisely the
same causes affecting the cost Of our liv-
ing at every point.
= ''It Is more and more seen that no
soundness attaches to competitive prices.
Price fixing by competition is not fun
damental operation, parallel with price
fixing by market tolerance. 1t is only
special case of market tolerance. this lat
ter being the general phenomenon and
competition a special form Of 1t.
Are consumers. then, in respect to
prices. at the mercy of dealers? Can they
charge us whatever they please, and must
we pay or go without? Not at all Re-
lentless as is the law that while monopoly
lasts the price will stay near the tolerance
of the market, dealers charging you,
namely. all the traffic Will bear equally
inexorable is the law that no price can
stay above this limit
AS tor the idle rich, DR.. Andrews be-
lieves the impost of a heavy death and
inheritance tax is as far as the state
could go safely at the present time He
denounced socialism and in concluding
said that despite the communistic clamor
of today the production of wealth is still
the greatest factor in human progress,
towering In importance above every
question touching the distribution OF
wealth-titles.
At the conclusion of his address
handsome basket of flowers was presented
to DR.. Andrews by local members of the
alumni of Brown University. OF which
institution he was formerly president
Winners of Degrees.
Degrees were awarded by President
Needham as follows:
Bachelor of arts-Albert Perkins Tib-
bets, New Hampshire.
Bachelor of science-W-illam Alexander
Boyd North Carolina.
Doctors of medicine-Arthur Compton,
District OF Columbia; Clarence Mazarine
Dolman, Virginia; John Lee Grant. Vtr-
ginia, and Eben Wesley White, New