Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1920-10-21
DO COLLEGE MEN THINK?

At no time in the intellectual de-
velopment of the citizens of our coun-
try has the obligation of the college
and University towards politics been
so great. The guidance of the Ship
of State is in the hands of men who
have tried to sense public opinion in
order to make fair and equitable de-
cisions in matters of public policy.
This has always been so in our coun-
try and is the secret of the perma-
nence of the Nation. Public opinion
is largely generated by the attitude of
men for whom the great masses OF
people have sincere admiration and
unqualified respect. How many men
who mold public opinion are products
of or are at present living in our
great college communities?
The President of the United States
has been condemned for being a prac-
teal ideaiist-coliege professor whose
four walled classroom had become
clustered haven from affairs OF the
world and whose theoretical know
ledge of world events merely accen-
h,ated his unfitness for the high Of
flee he now holds. His first four years
of "misru1e" was too timorously dealt
with to save returning him by ire
mendous popular majority to the con-
duct of the affairs of the Nation Tor
another term of office. Then came the
war and it's consequences. Fought on
the belief that the winning of it would
make all future wars impossible, the
President insisted that the Covenant
known as the League Of Nations be
mart of the treaty of peace. His in
sistence. bv one blow, would destroy
the old order of things. His acqules-
ence to the easy precedent of all pre-
vious settlement, would set back into
being the old order. He insisted, as
the constitutionally designated author
ity of our country, on the carrying OUT
of the great issues for which this
country fought. The question is
Was he true to America!
No matter what reaction my reader
has at this point, if he has continued
with me since the opening sentence, l
believe I have made him think.
John Erskine in "The Moral Obliga-
ton to be Intelligent" would have
those of us who have been trained at
great cost to our families, ourselves,
or University Endowments, return in
some measure, the results OF that
training to the community in which
we live-the Nation to which we owe
ALLEGIANCE. This Nation demands of us
that we bear arms in time of war; why
can it not demand that we use ou1
minds in time of peace? There is
vast fund of evidence for and against
the League of Nations. There are
manv minds whose mental convolu'
lions are not affected by evidence mol
by the digging into the propaganda OF
truth, Gas the case may be, behind it. J
Propaganda is not always a whole
cloth of lies, but it's origin does moi
bespeak it's sincerity.
1t is part of the training of the
College University man to be in a po
sition to make his decision on the
basis of the facts in the case. What
those facts are can only be found by
a clear analytical study of the causes
the occasions and the events which
have led up to the crisis before us IL
the settlement of the greatest war thu
world ever engaged itself in. Fo'
what? For aggrandizement, for ina
gined wrong, for commercial suprem
acy of group of Nations. for -eprisa
on a war-crazed foe-no, none o.
these but for the purpose of prevent
ing future wars in this world of our
where men might live together il
peace, in perpetuating great construc
tive enterprises, living as God wishet
his children to live.
Do College Men think? Yes. col
1ege men are capable Of thinking. Ar
they thinking in this great politica