Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-02-27

less as n garment than as n condition OF
mind. It Is his vocation to know ht,e
about books and to try to learn somewhat
more. But his avocations take him amons
men, ard he feels that his gown does not
preclude in him the right to exercise his
judgment and express HIS opinions on men
and affairs with the same degree OF ire,
dom accorded TO other men and with sln'-
lar safeguards of good sense and courtesy
The Gownsman does not wear his gown az
all times and he reserves the right TO don
IL and don 1t again at his own good VIII
and pleasure. lie will modestly leave II 10
his readers whether he customariy sleeps
in It,
TN AMERICA we call the gown by the fine
i name academic costume" And II may
clothe the Justice on the bench. or the col
lege senior for a month before commence
ment in the annual endeavor TO upho'd an
immemorial CUSTOM so honored W tn'
breach that its observance has become CON
spcuous. In short. the gown has come 10
he little more than symbol. iu'y stdho-
ardZed. like the parts Of motor U tp-
pears mainly on formal occasions. worn py
a faculty which suffers In 1t only semian-
nually. or by elated student BODY Whicn
need masquerade in this manner only once
in a lifetime. The gown was once very
practical garment 1t could be wrapped
around "a shiverlng scholar of a cold morn
ing the cape was a convenient pouch III
which TO carry books or other proNenueT'
and II was capable at need. OF covering
sartorial shortcomings. The gownsman OF
old lived apart in cloistered secluslon. Nheh
he studied It was In cell like that or
monk when he walked, 1t was under bothlc
arches. lie was popularly supposed 10 De
much addicted TO books; and forblddeh
studies, that dared not see the light were
magined his only diversions, lie knew as
much OF the general great world about him
as a mole newly thrust out OF his tunnel,
and the range Of his vision in daylight was
scarcely greater This Is not quite pic
ture OF the modern scholar; but there are
people vino believe that it is.
sST ALWAYS discount the opinion of a pro-
i fessor or a man OF books" was once
the remark OF railway president, somewhat
grufly made in the hearing of two or three
Of the unfortunates whom he so uespiseu
and he added: such mon don't get out
into the world and get 20 know things
Could the railway president possibly have
meant. get to know the things that !
know? and does the man of affairs more
frequently succeed in getting in out OF the
world TO get to know things that are not
of the marketplace nor of the forum, the
things which are not struck out Of the mo-
mentary contact OF a man with man. the
things. whatever be their nature or their
value, which we get to know in the study, in
the laboratory. at times in the ronderings
of seclusion alone?
Tn OLD oxford there was the town. and
i there was the gown. The gownsnar, was
Of the university. The townsman was any
other native of oxford, tradesman.
lackey, a physician perhaps. lawyer, even
a church dignitary but he was only a towns
man. The bulk OF the townsmen lived by
trade Town and the gown seldom agreed
at times their differences became acute. and
there were disturbances and riots. For the
mere gownsman. the town had supreme
contempt. He was only sojourner in Ok
ford. he had been neither born bred
there: and he came TO idle his time over
books and lose what sense he had i'm i'm
practical studies and disputations. For the
townsman the gownsman had only superc-
iouS liberation. He was a common fellow
at best following the chase after shillings
and pence instead of treading the ways of
learning.
NTOW this old feud of the town and gown
IN has lasted until today. Our man of the
world stll doubts the judgment Of the man
of books for the measure of whose attain
inents his own experience has given him no
standard. And our man OF books too often
wears his superior knowledge in some little
field Of his own tillage. as if that petty ac-
quaintance might suffice to run successful
ly n ten-thousand acre farm of any crops
Mere scholarship Is narrowing: il may be
questioned whether mere business is any less
so. The incessant feeding of the daily bread
of knowledge to the young but none too
hungry, no matter how skillfully it may bc
spread with the butter Of the art OF peda-
gogy, scarcely tends to that broadening and
enlarging of the spirit and experience that
should train to the highest offices. And un-
doubtedly the playing OF the great game of
business and of public affairs has a tendency
to sharpen the intellect whether the game
be played according to rule or with the over
mans disregard of morals wnIcn German
efficiency teaches us. But there is as great
game in scholarship likewise and in the sue
cess of those who happen not TO be con-
cerned only with immediate things The
old debating societies used to discuss: "Re-
solved that Daniel Webster was a greater
man than Ralph Waldo Emerson: that
the inventor of the cotton gin was great
er benefactor to the human race than the
emancipation of the slaves" The determine =
ton OF such irrelevant matters NAV yery
| properly be left to such indecisive decisions.
LNOR scholarship, then. let us have the
| l. scholars, and for business, business men.
| Not quite so fast. We often take to our
| selves the credit. the marvellous adapta-
| bility of the American character. In older
countries man IL bred 20 the trade Of his
| fathers before him. rs transfer from one
| walk Of life to another Is difficult. Our
democracy, in theory, at least, gives every
| man an equal chance; n man may start tow
ing canal boats and end in sailing the shin of
| State. How little 1t matters whether q man
is of town or gown, of the pavement or of
! the furrow There have been shoemal,ers
who have not ended with their last; and
| there have been men of affairs, in happicr
| times. who have been manumitted from trade
| and turned into the fields OF science and the
| upands OF the arts.
| TT is sign of the times that business men
| and collegian are now running this war
| OF ours side by side; that there Is need as
| i'm times OF peace. OF men from the fields
| the forge, the desk the market, the labora-
| tory the study, the studio. Brains and an
effective personality, who cares where they
come from?. Yet give the gownsman this
satisfaction Our three great presidential
figures are all OF them men OF the gown
| become men of affairs, whether We turn 10