The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-28
THE GENUS LIAR.

upon hlS baccalaureate sermon he must One would almost think that the old debate had been revived: 'Is lying ever justifed?" It will be remembered that the theme of the young presidents ad- dress was take the straight course in life for the love of the straight course and shun a lie as one should unholy water"
 The New York Sun was the first ac- cording to our observation to remark upon this sound counsel. It reached the conclusion that while the president dealt ably with an old phase of the dis reputable habit he failed to take under consideration the modern development of It. Tt was grave error," says our sprightly contemporary, mot to make clear to these buds of promise at New Haven the distinction between ordinary and esoteric or official truth and falsehood. Fortunately their minds are fixed as are those of all decent Americans, upon the sole fount and criterion. They must see that when some, in fact many, most respected and distinguished citizens have been branded as liars without any injury to their regulations and with con- stant increase of the glory of the brander, lie, still so-called, under mines no confidence and Is a positives benefit; and the branding of 1t Is a healthful exercise"
 The New York Globe Is more serious in its comment and less personal as 1t were. It sees in President Hadley's ad-
 dress to the lie a suggestion of the Old Fashioned Yale, as if the Yale of our | Daddies was free from the blemish of 1 thoughtless prevarication or deliberate falsehood. That view does not quite tal- | ly with the traditions which have been ! handed with such care but it Is on the whole satisfactory front to put up to the young men who have not yet en- countered them. It admits, however, | that there is too much tendency now, as there has always been, to accept as substitute for honor the statutes and conventions of society,"" The Globe is nevertheless impressed by the timeli- i ness of the baccalaureate address and says so in these words: "The young men of Yale may have yawned a little when their president delivered an old fashioned instead of new fashioned baccalaureate to them; those in the | outside world who assume that an at- | tftude of cyniclsm is substitute for thought may sheer, the thing has been said before.' Yet there are clrcum- stances when the antique becomes the novel, and President Hadley is to be congratulated on talking to his young men as Jonathan Edwards might have done"
 The New York Mail and Express, not to be outdone by its own local contem- porarles in passing along the value of i the truth as suggested by President
 Hadley, ignores the view of the Sun,
 that it is no longer harmful to one to
 be called a liar, and remains equally obtuse to the particular view advanced
 by the Globe. It appears to be bit surprised to learn from President Had ley that thing Is departure from
 verbal truthfulness" which is justified
 by the need of misrepresentation but
 becomes a full-fledged lie when indulg- ed in for selfish reasons. It does not
 disavow the usefulness of that idea but
 on the other hand adds to It's better 1 understanding in these words: Tt
 would be folly to tell the truth to those
 who have no right to ask it, and whose
 inquisitiveness has an untoward pur-
 pose behind it. Sometimes all the ob- jects of the questioner would be satis-
 fed if you told him the matter was i none of his business That is the place
 where a good man may deceive an lt-
 terrogator Tn whatever way seems best.
 and If his motive is, as President Had
 ley puts 1t, unselish,' he will be sur
 prised with what lightness of heart the
 thing is effected"
 This is all very interesting and en-
 Tightening as far as 1t goes, but there
 are so many phases of the general sub
 feet that it would take many months to | tell the young men of Yale kll about
 the genus liar. With considerable care we have searched the files of our ex- 1 changes for an explanation of the rail- road denial which has come to precede the formal announcement of the thing achieved. A newspaper with it's fine instinct for the possible and probable, | and with it's ability to make two and | two count four, discovers certain suspi- cicus movements on the part. of rail- road managers and other suggestive as- | socations which leads It to a con- bo zF