New-York tribune., 1909-03-20
YALE CHEERS FOR TAFT
Continued from first page

in this country we bestow upon you the highest
degree Of love and affection, and I admit
you to all its rights and privileges"
The long cheer was given for Jim Shef-
fsld and for President Hadley.
after an introduction that represents the
elimination Of lifetime" said President Had
ley, turning to the toastnaster with a smile,
and when We are to have speech which rep
resents to our President but the habit of q life
time, It seems as IL more words were unneces-
sary We are impatient with the roars OF lesser
lions when we have among US greater than any
the shores Of Africa can furnish"
PRESIDENT HADLEYs SPEECH
Asking the question What did the President
Of to-day, what did Bill Taft of thirty years
sso learn at Yaie?' President Hadley said:
the fEt place he learned to s MEASURE So 6 himself df
they could 90. and 70 judge which kinds Of things
&C aspect Of college lfe not peculiar to Yale
but shared by most Of the colleges Of the country
has been so often emphasized that We need say no
In the second place. he learned to avoid non
Parkard not one that encouraged unnecessary
partment Of English composition at Yale ever had
s fhs essgs meBSs see @ has 5a eaed his lesson and
the country rings with applause for the man VINO
fore he is ready keeps after he has finished
NeEtasnd tbs TesaT6 as crfain @ e8f6ugas for
abstract principles and severe standards OF What
Not that he Could always apply these standards
il their extreme r3gldity He mas gyi Us 'nrs m i1ls
Of the state OF mind in which some or the HaIe
pensd that my father was in the national admins
tration. and can remember with qlstncfness my my
my inpatience that he did not seem 70 value as
Iuy i aS SO nfe5ate 9rncipes that should govern
the policy TO be pursued by public men. But ne
think these principles which / may seem to have
sRGken s sar,0d 0 IF ons the a1rcaton of them is not
carried such an extreme as really 10 interfere
And he is right; right from the educational 2,s !
stanapoinL even more nob9 ,F man a T. going fo he of any
at all It is undoubtedly a foolish man VINO
ad On TrS 5re expeen9e With W the
sides Of life is sufficient TO teach the college gradu-
10 try to. But it Is yet more foolish man
who is content TO leave his ruler crooked because
the facts are not straight; and that error is one
which every year Of practical life Will make worse
Three things Yale helped to make William How
mar Of high. naiieetuaI ideaIs Something Of ali
these he was wher he US; but he grew
while hs with US and was larger at the end
lem for our colleges to-day1the central problem
l.. faIe to-day-is TO see that We give the same
come 40 US
COLLEGE DEMoCRACY's DOWNFALL.
On two Of the three points we may wei! rest
ally hear cry about the downfall OF college de
thirty Years ago have we no doubt that @ our fathers
heard IL Just often sixty years ago IN any
complex society there will always be men
who not appreciated as they ought 10 be, and
great many men who not appreciated as
they think they ought TO be. I have reason
believe that the either classes
is propoTtcnately larger to-day than It thirty
or forty years ago
I am confident that there is no place where q
man can start in life with so good a chance OF
being valued for what he has in him. independently
Of adventitious circumstances, of being en-
ged 10 build UP a career on the basis OF
what he really does instead OF what he pretends
TO do. ar Yale to-day But on that side OF
college life which affects the formation of intel
iectual ideals there have been some important
changes. benehcent II properly used but otherwise
highly dangerous. whose effects need our most
careful attention.
When Mr. Taft was in college there still a
cllrriculum-a common course of study in which
ali were expected TO compete and in which a
majority OF the ablest men did compete IT was
an Intellectual race TO be run with all the eX-
MADE the strong known to their fellows. II
trained their powers, 1t not a race of school
men or hookworms. not a race of Classicists or
lnethern9ucianss but a OF live human beings
VINO hao the worlds work before them It was
race N which, 10 take the class OF IS alone Taft
ran, ana Kelsey ran, and Ripley ran, and in which
many otners OF distinction well TO the front
now this element Of racing-of really active COM
Petiuon-is the essential feature in n curriculum
Ine woro curriculum means not merely course "
out TacecouTse. From causes largely outside
o. the control Of college faculties the old
ricalum ceased 70 be q racecourse In the sense
mat u once was and that il needed 10 he. Latin
and Greek and mathematics twenty-five years ago