Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-01-03

3 3 & : I s. 4 g : 4. : I J 4. Il :!
home and abroad, the common peo-
pies idol and defender; kindly Zach
airy Taylor, the hero Of the Mexican
war and one who never lowered his
standard to friend, or foe; mild and
gentle fillmore and the strong and
viri!e Johnson; our saint and martyr,
Lincoln, savior Of his country than
whom there is no greater and, in
more modern days, the calm and
brilliant statesman, the man Of prin-
ciple and iron, Grover Cleveland.
Graduates Of the common and pub.
lie schools, do your cre,ts droop, or
40 YIN feel mighty. uriift within
your souls when you read the nam.s
Of the presidents the university is
forced to grant to you7
Then, again, is the learned doctor
quite sure that all of the university
men elected presidents were placed
in that high position because the peo-
pie saw a peculiar fitness in them
for the Office and demanded their
election7 Well, perhaps not. Poll
ticians welded the power behind the
throne in many Instances; favorite
sons were slaughtered that others Of
a softer, more pliable mould might
live. .':.a. - ~ ..,.@s =. pr.
/ do not wish to decry the merits
Of the presidents that have served
us. I am not anarchistic, but I wish
merely to convey the idea to the rath-
er one sided writer I am striving to
answer, that our presidential chair
has not always been filled by reward
of-merit children, ground out by the
faultless system Of educational
works, nor when it has been filed by
the output Of these institutions, has
the result always been a successful
experiment. The startling, impress
sive fact remains that only two of
the presidents that were graduates
Of university were ever reelected
to the high Office these the nat
urally great and powerful men, jeff
erson and Madison-,whie all but
two Of those that were not gradu-
ates of a university, were reelected
by overwhelming majorities! Look
on this picture and on that!
We know we'll, in the light Of his
tory, that some of the most highly
educated and, it might seem, the best
equipped mentally, have been the
worst failures and we know that
some of the brightest and best men
in the country have gone down with
broken hearts because they were de-
MED by political intrigue, or the per-
sonal selfshness of others, what was
their just due, the presidential chair.
Henry Clay, the great commoner,
was no university man, yet the story
Of his life runs like a thread of pure
gold through the nations life while
he lived and we see him at the age
Of seventy-three, defeated and de-
frauded of his rights to that high Of
flee, standing, feeble in body, but
matchlessly powerful in eloquence
and DEVOTION to his country, in the
halls of Congress, to put his last
mighty measure Of compromise be-
fore a loving people. There was a
man who lived for the right and for
his country and I defy the university
to present another so unselfsh and
noble a pacifer and patriot. The
senate realized his worth for, when
he resigned, they were unable to work
and adjourned for the day, the only
instance Of the kind in that body on
record.
But, enough Of the presidential
side of the question. Let US turn to
the senators and judges-the higher
courts preferred, as DR.. Hadley says.
Well, let US concede these to the uni
versities.
The United States Senate is and,
for some time has been, composed
largely of lawyers, some sixty-fou1
per cent, it is estimated, those splen-
did products, as DIR. Hadley claims
of his misunderstanding univer-
sites, and the country stands aghas1
at the corruption there found and is
struggling desperately to wipe out the
shame Of it's existence.
The senators as body have SC
improperly conducted themselves
have been so untrue to their respon.
sibilities and duties, have so taker
the part Of the corporations against
the people, have been so corrupt If