Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-09-05


"To the pessimists Of the East who
fear for the future Of our country
say: Gross the Hudson River, come
out to the Middle West and we will
, convert you into optimists.
One of the grand old men of the
| nation extends this invitation through
The World to the carping, the cynical
and the doubtful of New York and
New England-the moulder of a
hundred thousand minds, the idol OF
! hundred thousand students, James
: B. Angel, president of the University
of Michigan. For thirty-six years he
! has been the active head Of this in
| stitution, with more undergraduates
than Yale, and of nearly every ma
tionality. Now at the age of seventy
/ eight, his mind, stored with the OBJ
servations and experience Of long
! life, has acquired a clear perception
Of the future.
II am an optimist," he continued
to The New York World correspond
ent who had sought an expression of
! his views and found the venerable
! president plunged in work closing up
the affairs of another successful uni
versity year. GAS Justice Brewer,
of the United States Supreme Court,
recently said, look forward with ev-
cry hope and confidence to the con-
tnued greatness and improvement of
this country.
Il know that among many persons
! In the East there is spirit of pes
simism, brooding and gloominess
over the outlook. Let all such come
will show them broadening spirit
of responsibility, higher plane of
ideals and serious endeavor to
make things better
Lofticst Ideals in the West.
81 know the temperament of New
England. | was born in Rhode ISL
and and educated there. know the
inclination of the men of Boston to
look with misgivings on what is COM
ing and to doubt our democracy. our
financial virtue and our political
morals.
''To a certain extent you cannot
blame Boston. She has had more
than her share of bad government.
And you in New York have had some
experience Philadelphia, too, has
been through hard trials of public
corruption.
but out here in the Middle West,
though we have our bad spots and
occasional conditions not to be COM
mended. there is a general pulling
together toward higher and better
things in public and private life. We
have no fears, no gloom, no forebod-
ings about the future. We look for
ward with confidence, for our young
men are setting out inspired with
loftier ideals and firmer principles
than ever before.
''All my life has been spent in uni
versity work, and it is because | have
seen and known the young men that
our institutions turn out that am so
hopeful, so much of an optimst Amy
mans forecast of the future depends
on the spectacles through which he
looks They may be colored darkly
by his immediate surroundings, but
mine have been bright and clear, be-
cause have looked on the young
men.
"Our universities are giving more
! attention to teaching mans duty
to the public welfare, his RESPONSE
bilities as a citizen and his obliga-
tions to the State. We have reversed
the old order of political instruction,
and instead of beginning at the top
we start at the bottom with the spe-
4 cific subject of municipal govern
ment. Departments dealing directly
with municipal problems have been
created, for it Is in city life that our
great reforms must be inaugurated,
so that they may spread through the
entire fabric of government.
III you go among the cities and
towns of the Middle West you will
find the results showing in many
places. There is an honest endeavor
to do things as they should be donG,
to purify municipal government and
to work for the public good.
The Duty of Educated Men.
ITO the students who were gradu-
ated from this university last week
I said: Your education calls you to
devote yourself in all practicable
ways and in the broadest sense to
the public good. This is true in a
certain sense of every educated man.
But it is emphatically true of men
educated in q university supported
at public expense. Whatever advan-
tage you will reap from your higher
education you owe largely to the
generous aid of the people of the
State.
"'To the obligation which yov
would owe to the public, wherever
you had received your education, this
fact adds the special obligation of
ministering as you can to the needs
| of the people of this State. This does
not require you to enroll yourself in
the list of officeseekers. But if you
are called in an honorable way to
bear the burdens of public place you
should not shun it, If you can rem
der real service to the public.
| "'Hold yourselves ready to dis
charge public duties which belong to
educated men, even If they furnish
no pecuniary compensation and make
heavy draughts on time and strength.
But whether in office or not, you
should, as citizens, cling to the high
ethical ideals which you have learned
| to cherish in the best hours of your
college life, and illustrate In your
intercourse with your fellow men the