Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-06-07
MUCK RAKING GETS
RAP FROM PRESIDENT
IN COLLEGE ADDRESS
Mr.. Taft Touched on a Multi
tude of Subjects in His Ad-
vice to Graduates of Ohio
University. .....e-,-.
tBy Associated Press.)

! rived here on time today and shortly af-
! ter addressed the graduating class Of
| the Ohio northern university.
The law, the ministry, medicine, teach
! ing. journalism. farming and modern in
dustrial conditions all came for share
. of treatment in Mr.. Taft's address.
The president denounced ''muck-rak-
| ing" and socialism, referring to the lat
! ter as a problem that will have. to be
considered during tn enext generation
1 e, President Taft did not wear the cap and
/ gown which caused; so much excitement
| by its DISAPPEARANCE at Bryn Mawrs yes
/ terday. There was a new furry today
however. Mr.. Taft's spring overcoat is
| lost.
Early in the address the president
said:
! 1T is of course, impossible to expect
| that the famous growth of trade shall
! continue in the proportion in which we
have seen it expand during the last ten
| years and 1t is reasonable to suppose
| that at some time within the next, decade
! there will be some reaction or some finan-
cial stringency, or perhaps financial
panic.
1T is said the opportunity for individual
success in business does not seem now
8OTkTedI as 1T was IOL
1T has been my duty to select and
promote many men in official life and
know whereof l speak when l say that
the promotion which successful men secure
! is not that which comes by favor, but
by the logic of the circumstances and
for the benefit of the employer
After complimenting the legal profess
sion the president added:
JUSTICE HAS SUFFERED.
yet one must recognize that the ad-
ministration of justice In this country
has suffered previously from the intensl-
ty with which lawyers have served their
clients and the lightness. OF the opilsd-
ton which they have felt to the court
and to the public as officers of the. court
and the law to do no injustice. ,..
THE conduct of the defense OF criml-
nails in this country and the extremes
TO which counsel deem themselves Justl-
fed in saving their clients from the just
Judgment of the law, have much TO 10
with the disgraceful condition In whlcn
we find it's administration. i beheve thAC
there is no escape from the eVil tehoeh-
cies to which / have referred, except by
inducing the bar to cleanse itself of those
who. In the interest. of their clients, Tor
GET their obligation as attorneys TO the
court and their duties as citizens
..The progress that is being mace In
yoadicine Is marvellous and consloera-
tion Of recent advances justif1es the view
that we are on the eve OF discoveries
which will rob most of the diseases 10
which flesh is heir OF their terror allo
destructive nature ..
and its attendant fame, the president
saJd was the greatest force In drawing
Young men to study medGine.'
TOUCHES ON MINISTRY.
ct regret TO. saw" he continued, that
during the last generation TOO
small proportion of the strongest
Young men seem to have been at
tracted to the ministry. The lnaoeauacy
~ the CONDENSATION, the change from
thu commanding influence that the minis
ters had in the early part, of this cen
turv. 10 that which they now occupy has
Influenced many men who. in early days
would have taken to the ministry 10 pur-
sue other callings. Nevertheless the lnflu-
ence of the church In our community is
still deep-seated and religion forms the
inspiration of the great body OF our
neople. A minister to command the con-
slant attention of a great congregation
must now be a man of power The
,nere office does not carry with 1t either
the sacredness or the influence that was
once attached TO IT.. / look, however TOT
f, reaction in this matter. We may well
expect that after the wild rush TOT
wealth shall cease, the opportunities TOT
great usefulness offered by the practice
OF the profession of the clergyman VIII
furnish a temptation to more of the
strongest Of the young college men to
assume the cloth"
Some of the inducements to enter
teaching, despite small pecuniary com
pensation, Mr.. Taft cited as follows:
THE calm life, the philosophical con-
tentment, the earnest endeaVor OF
teachers life, the fascination of teaching
the Young idea how to shoot. and the
pleasure of contributing to the formation
of character"
POWERS OF PRESS.
The president said that the increase OF
Intelligence of the people has modified
the powers OF the press. Editorial writers
have less influence than formerly, news
papers are taken for their news rather
than the advice they contain, the peopls
make more allowance for the bias or a
paper and its reputation for accuracy Is
generally we'll known.
In the end, the president said news
papers which attempt to control opln-
ion by misrepresentation do not pre-
vail.
The business Of furnishing news to n
people" he remarked, is like the bust
ness of furnishing them entertainment
are obliged, in their papers, to consult
that which they regard as the public
taste and the public desire. -
while the editor occupies the position
OF an instructor OF public taste, and
ought to exercise the fuction as such
with more constancy and courage than
he usually does the limitations that there
are upon him by reason of the public
demand, those of us who would criticise
the press hardly appreciate. Certainly.
journalism is a profession in which men
Of discriminating intelligence, Of high
courage, OF accurate judgment, of a love
of truth and real patriotism, can find d
sphere of usefulness unexcelled in any
ether profession and such men are need
ed. for IL the standards set by some of
the most successful of the newspapers in
lack of truth. in coarseness and unfair
ness Of criticism. shall not improve in
the next generation ii viii vindicate the
1 IT, - H.