The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-02-22
n OWING TRIBUTE IS
PAID 70 WASHINGTON
ny NEXT PRESIDENT
Rnr.r ADDRESSES UNIVERSITY
{ GTlJDENTS - POINTS OUT
! 0INEATNESS OF FIRST CHIEF
HxEfUyrIVE - TALKS OF
Z LEARNED PROFESSIONS.

INV United Press Leased Wire.)
tHILADELPHIA, Pa, Feb. ~.
addressing . great audience OF
Students, faculty and graduates
lof the University of Pennsylvania,
Pfenid ent-elect william H. Taft
foday discussed 1.-THE Present Re-
latioms of the Learned Prores-
sions to Government"
Taft referred to the interest
ana influence of the various pro-
4essions on politics, and paid trib-
ute to ministers, physicians,
Journalists and men Of all profess
j ATOMS In political affairs.
Taft eulogized Washington as
3 man whose profession might be
fermed military and who proved
himself a born leader of men and,
0ithal, q man of high character.
The First Profession.
Mr.. Taft said In part:
"The first profession is that OF
s the minister. Time was In New
Ungland and every other part Of
the country under the influence of
IL traditions, when the minister
Of the congregation church, In adj
alton to that OF his sacred Office,
exercised q most powerful fnfiu-
i once which was of distinctly po-
lltical character.
"During the administration OF
Mr.. Roosevelt, and under the in
fluence of certain revelations OF
Business immortality, the con-
science of the whole country was
shocked and then nerved to the
point of demanding that q better
order of affairs be introduced.
Effective Crusade.
"In this movement the minis
ters Of the various churches have
recognized the call upon them to
assist, and they have been heard
the country over In accents much
more effective than ever before in
half century.
"The next professions are those
OF teacher and physician.
I'VE come finally to the pro-
fession of the law. With the ex-
ception. perhaps, of the profession
Of arms, law is, and always has
been, first in countries most prom
inent In political and government
tai matters.
sit Is natural that those whose
business 1t is to construe laws
and whose profession 1t is to know
what existing law should be called
upon in the framing of new laws
should act an important part.
Tribute to Washington.
National exigency seems to call
for, as If by aid of special prov
fdence, the men peculiarly fitted
to meet the requirements Of the
situation. Such were Lincoln and
Grant during the great war. Such
IN the revolution was Washington,
the anniversary of whose birthday
this university appropriately
makes Its commencement day. He
was not a lawyer or a doctor or a
minister. He was a surveyor and
farmer. As a student of military
science in the hard school Of ex.
perience, his profession may be
said to have been that Of arms.
Born Leader of Men.
Not DiiilduI, uOJ ldClic, uO'
eloquent, he had those qualities
which placed him far above the
brilliant, facile, able and learned
men who were gathered about hin
In the struggle for American In
dependence. He was q leader oil
men. His pure, disinterested pa.
triotism, his freedom from small
jealousies, his marvellous com.
mon sense, his indomitable perse-
verance and patience, and his SER
entity and calm under the most
trying circumstances gave him
the victory-a victory which could
/ be traced not to brilliant genius
or professional training, but to
that which of all things is the
most pursued and desired-to his
high character as a man.