Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-06-21
Too Ashamed to Fight7

Too Ashamed to FtghtE
THROUGHOUT some of the comment or
the Nearing affair at the University oi
Pennsylvania runs the note, 'I am ashamed
of my Alma Mater"
The woods are full of mollycoddles who are
ASHAMED" They sneer, they snvel they
criticise, they are disgusted They can even
blush, which shows that they must have
some red blood in their veins Yet when the
hat drops they run to cover like coyotes and
the battle knows them not.
They sneak through back doors into news
paper offices with letters which they are
afraid to sign. They bedevil editors to make
this or that fight for them; but keep my
name out Of IT," is their plea. Brave gentle-
men these, who are so frequently ASHAMED"
and so infrequently found on the battle
front.
For the sake Of the University of Pennsyl-
vania, let 1t be hoped that the alumni who
are ASHAMED" Of the course which the trus-
tees have taken are not Of a type with those
citizens who are ASHAMED" Of Philadelphia
for three years and on the fourth vote with
the gang.
No man has a right to be ashamed of any
thing unless he is ready to and does dedl-
cate himself to the task of changing the con-
ditions which cause him to be ashamed. He
must act, he must do something, or his
shame is worth nothing. Instead he himself
becomes pitiable object; citizen of whom
other citizens, even gangsters, must be and
are in their turn ashamed.
There are hundreds Of University OF Penn
sylvanla alumni who view with alarm the
action taken in the Nearing case. Mr.. Near
ing himself is merely an incident; a man
who has been unfortunate in many of his
methods and who has been the victim of
sort Of publicity that is likely to harm any
person. But the suspicion is strong that his
removal is not entirely due to these things,
and is due in large measure to the fact that
he has preached a progressive economy, some
what radical and certainly not error-proof
which a powerful body of Tories detest and
the discussion of which they are determined
ever their faults are fighters. They know
what they want, and they battle to get it.
The good name of the University of Penn
sylvania is worth fighting for, is it not? This
is democracy and the University is de-
pendent on the Commonwealth, is 1t not?
Let the shame then be, If shame there is ulti-
mately, on the citizenry, on the rank and
file who cover in the background. The Near
ing affair is not political, but many feel that
the gang would not hesitate to reach into the
very altars of learning and attempt to sub
sidize or intimidate the authorities
Why shouldn't the trustees dare almost
last fall when Industrial leaders on whom the
people had right to depend dumped their
contributions into the very jackpot that was
receiving the booze slush fund" and did
the Commonwealth a success? Aye, the
trustees have good reason to feel that they
need not fear public opinion, because it is an
opinion that is loud but inactive, vociferous
bANpNANSo
descendant of the spirit that hungered at
Valley Forge and trtrmphed at Yorktown.
The University might be leader in pro-
gresslve public opinion. Instead, 1t has too
often been unoficially a reflector of the kind
OF public opinion which the gang represents
The problem confronting the alumni of the
is linked inextrlcably with the
problem confronting the citizens of Pennsyl-
vania, and particularly of Philadelphia Shall
there be free speeoh-free speech does not
mean license-at the University and shall
there be free government in Pennsylvania?
When we get the one there Is every likeIi-
hood that we shah get the other. We shall
never get either so long as the men who are
ashamed" of conditions are content merely
to be ashamed"
Biushes accomplish no reforms.