aKt 
 
 “The College Graduate 
 in a Democracy” 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Graduating Class of 
 The Clemson Agricultural College 
 of South Carolina 
 
 DELIVERED BY 
 
 WILLIAM O. THOMPSON, LL.D. 
 
 PRESIDENT OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 
 
 Memorial Hall, June 9 , 1914 
 
 PEACE PRINTING CO. 
 Greenville, S. C. 
 
 1914 
 
c 
 
 “The College Graduate in a 
 Democracy” 
 
 Mr. President , Gentlemen of the Faculty and Board of 
 Trustees, Members of the Graduating Class: 
 
 American (history is a series of wonderful visions. 
 From the days of Plymouth Rock to the university com- 
 mencements of the twentieth century there is no lack of 
 interest or variety in the scenes, no matter from what 
 point of view you study the progress of the American 
 people. The scenery is filled with sunlit mountains, 
 broad and fertile valleys, rugged mountain scenery, 
 and of course the dark shadows. There is no 
 persistent tendency to level these mountain ranges,, 
 to destroy the fertile valleys and bring about 
 the drear monotony of mediocrity of a common level for 
 all people. There is a disposition to rejoice in the endless- 
 variety of American life with an apparent determination 
 that the dark shadows shall not be the hiding places of 
 crime, disorder, and danger, but the cool, sequestered 
 vale in which the weary may find rest and the leisurely 
 may find enjoyment. The wide variety of climate, of 
 topography, of industry, of intellectual, social and reli- 
 gious life, are entirely consistent with the variety of ele- 
 ments that have entered into American life and have been 
 cherished by her free institutions and her democratic 
 form of government. 
 
 It should be born in mind that this democracy is an 
 American development through the agency of imported 
 citizenship. 
 
 No one of us is a real native. We are the children or 
 the grandchildren of the pioneers who came from other 
 lands to dwell in the new discovery. From the days 
 
of Runnymede in 1215 the rage of King John is prophetic 
 of the contest that has been continuously waged all these 
 centuries between privilege on the one side and the people 
 on the other. Out of the hot-bed of discussion and the 
 ferment of the Reformation Period came not only the 
 discovery of a new continent but the culling out of liberty- 
 loving souls who dared the dangers of an angry ocean 
 to find a home where religious and civil liberty might 
 cultivate without let or hindrance the ideals of democratic 
 citizenship. These men came through a series of years 
 from the most aggressive and enlightened portions of 
 the European continent. They brought with them a 
 mixture of their love of liberty and their traditional 
 customs. There was fought out, therefore, on the Ameri- 
 can continent in tlhe early colonial and pioneer days the 
 last contests which established forever the doctrine that 
 America was to be a country where the government should 
 be of the people, for the people and by the people. 
 
 The development of this democracy was based upon 
 the fundamental ideas of freedom of religion, of speech, 
 of the press, of labor, and in general the fundamental 
 right of every man to direct his life and determine his 
 own career. America was a synonym for freedom of 
 opportunity. On the other hand, this highly prized 
 freedom was paralleled by the development of institution, 
 al life in dhurch and state and the traditional ideas of edu- 
 cation. The development of wealth and the overhanging 
 of established social customs brought into American de- 
 mocracy many of the artificial and superficial convention- 
 alities which tend to stratify society into fixed groups that 
 were quite as unresponsive as those characteristic of Euro- 
 pean society. The western pioneer has always been the ex- 
 pression of American freedom, while the eastern family 
 has tended to crystallize into the hard and fast stratifica- 
 tion of wealth and privilege* From a political point of view 
 this present decade has demonstrated that the western 
 man has been characterized by freedom, independence, 
 lack of respect for traditions, and a tremendous moral 
 
 2 
 
earnestness, based upon his conviction as to righteousness 
 and his love of personal liberty. The eastern man has 
 tended toward an intellectual aristocracy, devotion to 
 established customs, love of the privilege associated with 
 wealth and power and a conservative attitude upon all 
 matters pertaining to political and social progress. 
 
 In the world of education these same general lines have 
 been maintained. The eastern college or university, 
 strongly wedded to traditional forms and types of educa- 
 tion, has gathered its inspiration from the culture of the 
 past while the western institution, more a university of 
 the people, has caught its inspiration from the vision of 
 its future triumphs and a devotion to the public welfare. 
 The student of history and of economic development has 
 come to appreciate that all special favors are based upon 
 the service of others. It is impossible to rid our minds 
 of the conclusion that people of special privilege enjoy 
 that privilege at the expense of others. A favored class, 
 therefore, means a proletariat at the other end of the line. 
 The struggle of democracy is to rid the proletariat of his 
 burden, to give him a better expression of his own life, and 
 to bring the favored classes to see their obligation toward 
 those enjoying less of favor or opportunity. Democracy, 
 therefore, signifies not simply a condition in which men 
 live but an attitude of mind toward each other which shall 
 determine their service and an appreciation of that service 
 as rendered by one to another. Democracy therefore 
 has to do, not merely with the form of government, but 
 the spirit in which it is administered. It has to do as 
 much with the spirit in which a citizen renders service 
 as in the kind of service rendered. It is impossible to 
 think of a great population all engaged in a service the 
 form of which has equal dignity and importance, but 
 not impossible to think of a great people inspired with 
 right ideals as to service and with an appreciation of the 
 dignity both of man and of labor. In whatever area we 
 undertake to discuss the meaning and significance of life 
 we shall find ourselves confronted [with the constant 
 
 3 
 
struggle between the two opposing theories. We cannot 
 bring all men to the same degree of efficiency nor assign 
 to them equal rewards for service. The real problem is 
 whether a democracy can so adjust its social and industrial 
 conditions as to maintain in every instance the dignity 
 of citizenship, self-respect in the individual, and an 
 attitude of mind toward our neighbor consistent with our 
 ideals of freedom and character. We must in some way 
 realize the truth in the familiar couplet : 
 
 “Honor and fame from no condition rise, 
 
 Act well your part; there the honor lies.” 
 
 A peasant on the American farm, a proletariat in 
 American industry, and a fixed gulf between a man of 
 high achievement and the one of moderate service are 
 not the features which we think of as expressing the 
 excellence of American democracy. There are two great 
 forces that tend to correct these disturbing tendencies. 
 The one is religion which, in its simple and fundamental 
 form, will ever be the spiritual bond binding men to 
 common ideals, common aspirations, common hopes, and 
 a perpetual fellowship. The other is education, which, 
 with its broadening and enlightening influence, should 
 bring to men not only an appreciation of life but an ability 
 to interpret society and its institutions in such a way as to 
 render the service needed for the breaking down of social 
 and industrial prejudices and the development 1 ! of a 
 social status tolerable alike to the rich and the poor, to 
 the strong and the weak. 
 
 The supreme function of education, therefore, is to 
 develop men and women who are able not only to under- 
 stand and appreciate the problems of democracy but who 
 are in a sympathetic mood, ready to lay hold with a de- 
 termined effort to aid in their solution. The college 
 bred man or woman is the one on whom society, through 
 its organized forces, has put its supreme effort to pro- 
 duce a citizen of this type. Above all other persons 
 he is the one to whom special consideration has been 
 given and upon whom rests the heaviest responsibility 
 
 4 
 
for leadership in a society constantly facing the struggle 
 between opposing forces. The college graduate is the 
 favored child of his generation, nurtured in an idealism 
 where character, service, and opportunity are emphasized 
 and where, if anywhere, we may expect to find a citizen- 
 ship with highest ideals, broadest sympathies and a most 
 genuine service. It is in such people we may rationally 
 expect to find the best expression of our American ideals. 
 
 These familiar and somewhat commonplace remarks 
 about the ideals of democracy are no doubt imbedded in 
 the conscience of the American student. Here in the 
 middle West, addressing myself to a graduating class 
 and indirectly to the community from which they come, 
 I desire to set out in a simple way the opportunities as 
 well as the duties that lie before the American college 
 graduate in our developing democracy. There are 'a few 
 things that might well be assumed and upon which I 
 put some emphasis this morning as underlying a proper 
 appreciation of the careers to which educated people may 
 look forward. 
 
 i. First of all, let it be recognized that you are plung- 
 ing into a life which shows no lack of energy or efficiency. 
 No one can read American history and feel that the 
 people lack energy. He might question the wisdom with 
 which they have exerted themselves, but he could not 
 deny the fact that there is tremendous energy every- 
 where on this continent. Indeed the criticism is not 
 infrequently heard that we have a surplus of energy; 
 that we are altogether too active; that too little place 
 is found in American life for the leisurely thoughtfulness 
 which builds permanency. It may be that individuals 
 lack oftentimes this sterling quality but it will be well 
 for you to assume that the abounding energy of the 
 American people will continue long past your day and 
 generation. The efficiency of the people is usually as- 
 sumed. This, however, is a more debatable question. 
 American energy has been characterized by tremendous 
 wastefulness. It is difficult always to argue for efficiency 
 
 5 
 
in the presence of such tremendous extravagance of 
 energy. The much discussed problems of conservation 
 in these days constitute only one side of the issue. While 
 wasting with one hand we have not always been careful to 
 develop with the other. We have produced our crops 
 at too great cost of our original resources. The im- 
 poverished condition of large areas of this country is 
 a persistent note of warning. I recall very distinctly 
 when visiting Leadville, Colorado, a score of years ago 
 that the dumps of some of the lead mines were sup- 
 posed to be worthless. In later years improved methods 
 of producing ores made those dumps sources of great 
 profit. Efficiency has dragged itself along in particular 
 instances of this kind. I do not mean to offer a sweeping 
 criticism of the practices of the fathers. It seems foolish 
 now to think of rail fences of walnut wood or of the 
 best of white oak, but that was a necessity of the time. 
 They were the cheapest fences that could be built. The 
 lumber nowadays could be turned to much better pur- 
 pose. This may illustrate what is true in many instances 
 in respect to the wastefulness of the early settlers. Mak- 
 ing due allowance, however, for all these things, the 
 fact remains that American experience has proved that 
 we have been unnecessarily wasteful of our resources. 
 This is hardly consistent with highest efficiency. 
 
 Another phase, however, is that a good deal of 
 latent power and efficiency has never been developed. 
 This is the field into which educated young men and 
 young women may enter in the sure hope not only of 
 a reward for their services, but of the gratitude of the 
 people as well. It is characteristic of high efficiency 
 that it usually produces its results economically and with- 
 out destroying the fruits of other activities. The im- 
 proved methods of many manufacturing processes have 
 enabled us to gather larger percentages of value and thus 
 represent a very important phase of conservation. This 
 brings out the hopeful vision for educated young men 
 and young woman. There is a problem here worthy 
 
 6 
 
of your best intelligence. My references have chiefly 
 been to things material simply because they are most 
 evident. The student of sociology, however, is well 
 aware of the fact that the social waste of modern society 
 together with the failure to use our social forces for the 
 betterment of civilization are simply appalling. The 
 great outstanding need today is for some vision-gifted 
 soul to lead the way in a better utilization of talent. It 
 is the function, however, of the educated person to see 
 the possibilities here and throw his energies into such 
 a reorganization of our social life as will make it not 
 only more efficient but productive of greater happiness. 
 
 The organization of government by common consent 
 has been the least economical of any phase of American 
 life. There has been superficial efficiency. There have 
 been advocates, too, of the reckless expenditure of money 
 on the part of the government who justified this ex- 
 penditure on the grounds that it was a practical 
 means of distributing revenues. This is akin to the old 
 theory of political economy that the burning of a house 
 somehow created labor. Some men could not see why 
 the destruction of property was not a blessing and why 
 it would fail to be a community blessing. In much the 
 same way our public expenditures of money has been 
 characterized by a reckless disregard of results and 
 oftentimes by a partial failure at least to advance the 
 public interests. The problem of poverty that stares us 
 in the face is a purely local condition. There is money 
 enough, there is wealth enough, there is food enough, 
 but for some reason the American mind has not yet dis- 
 covered a method of distribution which is effective 
 Meantime everybody is clamoring for bigness. Every 
 city wants to grow at a rapid rate and exceed the speed 
 limit of every other city. In this buoyant expectation 
 the superficial observer supposes that the bigger the 
 city the more certain its prosperity. As a matter of fact, 
 the bigger the city, the bigger its problems. The art 
 and science of living in our great centers of 
 
 7 
 
commerce and industry is yet to be developed. 
 The prevalence of crime and the widespread 
 fear that settles down over the people with every setting 
 of the sun is a silent testimony to the fact that we have 
 not yet learned how to live. After all, it is quite as im- 
 portant that people know how to live as that they know 
 how to fight or even to make money. The problem of the 
 American city has been heralded for two decades and 
 just now we are discussing the great problem of the 
 open country. This, too, in a country where energy 
 abounds and where a certain superficial efficiency is 
 recognized. The college graduate would seem therefore 
 to have a divine call in showing us how to direct our 
 energies and how to create an efficiency that yields the 
 peaceable fruits of righteousness and comfort. 
 
 2. A second characteristic of American life has been 
 its abounding initiative. The typical American never 
 declines a challenge. He has an abounding confidence 
 in his ability to do things. He starts out with supreme 
 confidence that things will turn out well in the end. Aside 
 from this he has shown a good deal of originality in 
 his initiative. The easiest illustration of this quality will 
 be found in the Patent Office at Washington; in the 
 improvement of American machinery; in the superior 
 quality of many of the common things that minister to 
 everyday life. There are some things that can be better 
 done in Europe than in America, but one must recognize 
 that the initiative of the American has been rather high 
 class. He has made all the experiments imaginable in 
 politics, religion, business, and education. It is not a 
 condemnation that many of these experiments have borne 
 little valuable fruit. It is this restless spirit of the pioneer 
 that has made all his achievements possible. Perhaps 
 you will say that his energetic initiative has not always 
 been intelligent. Let that be granted, but we must also 
 grant that American initiative has earned its right to 
 recognition. 
 
 Granted, without further debate, that much can be 
 
 8 
 
said against the quality of American initiative, the point 
 I have in mind is that the graduate of the twentieth 
 century will hardly startle the world by showing unusual 
 initiative. His problem rather will be to direct this initia- 
 tive in practical’ useful, and helpful lines. Education 
 should help its beneficiary to do things in a better way. 
 We sometimes fear that the monotony of our educational 
 process suppresses and destroys the initiative of the 
 rising generation. It must be confessed that excessive 
 training has its dangers. College life itself has made 
 evident its own threat against the useful initiative of 
 the graduate. The masterful influence of leisure, com- 
 monly known as loafing, has a long category of sins in 
 college life. It may be well, therefore, to sound the 
 note of caution, perhaps of alarm, to the American col- 
 lege graduate of today when he faces an active, busy 
 world. The habit of dawdling away time, too common 
 in many circles, the lack of any appreciation of time as 
 a factor in life, the current notion that an escape from 
 the adverse decision of faculties is sufficient for gentle- 
 man, unite to create an atmosphere in which initiative 
 is discounted. If the American college graduate is to 
 improve American life he must put away the childish 
 things of his school 'days and act the part of an intelli- 
 gent, aggressive citizen. He will hardly justify the 
 state’s expenditure of money for his education unless 
 tEis contribution makes decidedly for economic 
 efficiency. The tremendous initiative that has built our 
 railroads and our subways was an important contribu- 
 tion to American life. Many of these pioneers of finance 
 and construction lacked the delibarate preparation of 
 the modern university. The fathers literally hewed 
 their way across the Alleghanies and blazed the pathway 
 over mounains and plains to the Pacific coast. We have 
 no new continents now to discover but we have yet to 
 make some most important discoveries for the enrich- 
 ment and the betterment of the people. There is no one 
 to whom we look with such confidence or with such 
 
 9 
 
reason as to the college graduate for their betterment. 
 He will need to be a pioneer in a good many questions 
 that vitally effect our financial, political, and social wel- 
 fare. 
 
 3. A third suggestion is that the American college 
 graduate will need to recognize the genius for organi- 
 zation that has characterized American life. The great- 
 est political problem of the present day is probably cen- 
 tered around the organization of wealth and of industry. 
 No one can question that the organization itself is rather 
 high class. Some would say that it is vicious; others 
 would say that it is maliciously managed; some would 
 say that it is selfish and against the public welfare. Per- 
 haps it is too early in our experience to know just what 
 the truth really is. There are good reasons for believing 
 that the American genius for organization which has 
 developed our financial systems, our railway situation, 
 our forms of government, and last of all, what we call 
 the trust, is not altogether malevolent. It may be con- 
 ceded without debate that in the progress of human society 
 very decided evils have been developed. It is not neces- 
 sary to affirm that the organizing talent of the American 
 people has always been exercised in a wise or beneficent 
 manner. It must be recognized, however, that it has ac- 
 complished some gigantic enterprises. Some college 
 graduate may come along one of these days who will dis- 
 tance all the fathers in his power of organization, but it 
 would be well not to think of ourselves more highly than 
 we ought to think and to recognize at the outset that 
 young America today will have to show some respect to 
 the genius of the fathers. Whether the coming young 
 man can reform the organizations in business and industry 
 so as to eliminate the evils without destroying the enter- 
 prise is probably a matter of academic speculation. 
 
 It may be remarked in passing that it is easier to build 
 a fortune than to learn how to use it. It is also more 
 difficult to live an honest life without the fortune than to 
 resist the temptation to build one by unrighteous methods. 
 
 10 
 
Students of society are beginning to criticise American 
 life for its inability to direct its own organizations. The 
 school is accused of falling into the trap of an unjust 
 industrialism because it favors vocational education. 
 The church is charged with indifference to the public 
 welfare and subserviency to the malefactors of great 
 wealth. We are plainly told of our inability to manage 
 our industrial organization so as to make an equitable 
 distribution of the benefits arising from our own talent. 
 We are told that the modern manufacturing enterprise 
 is reasonably efficient, well organized but badly managed. 
 The proof of this we are told is that the improvement 
 in productive machinery and in labor-saving machinery 
 has not adequately improved the condition of the laborer 
 nor protected the operator from the dangers of industrial 
 revolutions. Strikes and lockouts are cited as proofs 
 that our organizations are as selfish as they are efficient. 
 This charge is laid against the capitalist and the labor 
 union with equal emphasis. We are told that the organ- 
 ization of labor and the organization of capital are alike 
 selfish, while the efficiency of the organization for certain 
 purposes is not disputed. One can readily see that the 
 talent of organization is one that ought to be highly 
 prized. The college graduate of tomorrow will need 
 to know thoroughly well the purpose that these organiza- 
 tions should serve. There is a large and practically un- 
 limited field here for investigation and perhaps for 
 reform. No statesmanlike view would consider it 
 necessary to spend much energy in abusing the genius for 
 organization or in trying to legislate against it. The real 
 problem is to direct this organization by patroitic and 
 humanitarian motives. The college graduate therefore 
 if he is to serve any great purpose in the world should 
 be able to direct with a superior intelligence the organ- 
 ized forces of industry, of commerce, of politics, and of 
 business. I have the faith to believe that the world will 
 welcome the genius who can ameliorate conditions with- 
 out destroying institutions. If our education fails to 
 
 ll 
 
produce a generation capable of progress in these direc- 
 tions few will be the words of praise. 
 
 I venture to suggest that it may be well for college 
 graduates to recognize the fact that the creation of wealth 
 is no longer the supreme achievement. The science of 
 production in nearly every realm of human activity has 
 quite outrun our ability to make proper use of it. The 
 tremendous legacies and gifts of the last fifty years might 
 well be interpreted as a testimony on the part of wealth 
 to its own dissatisfaction. Most of these benevolences 
 have been given in the hope that they might do something 
 for society which the producer of wealth was unable to 
 do. I imagine that a man like Mr. Carnegie has realized 
 that the problem of distributing his accumulations is 
 more difficult than the secrets of metallurgy or the 
 mysteries of the tariff. Scotch acquisitiveness is not quite 
 synonymous with the wisdom of Solomon. There have 
 been millions of poverty stricken people in the genera- 
 tions past and yet no nation has gone to a pauper’s grave. 
 The lesson of the centuries would be, therefore, that 
 educated men and women would do well not to set their 
 affections too exclusively on the accumulation of wealth 
 in the hope of gaining an enviable immortality in history. 
 The story of Croesus is as unsatisfying as that of the 
 modern multi-millionaire. There is something yet lacking. 
 It would be a great misfortune if the world’s wealth were 
 destroyed or if new wealth could not be created. It is 
 equally unsatisfactory if the amassing cannot carry with 
 it a like accumulation of human happiness. The progress 
 of the world is not to be measured exclusively in the 
 statistical tables of tax duplicates or government revenues. 
 If college graduates are to make any contribution to the 
 permanent progress of the world they will need to do 
 something other than and something more than add to 
 its wealth. It may be that America is too young yet to 
 realize the importance of the non-material assets. It 
 may be that the fear of poverty will so distress the 
 college graduate as to prohibit him from throwing his 
 
 12 
 
life into the high purpose of making life more fruitful. 
 The late Earle of Shaftsbury stood in his generation as 
 a type of man who regarded the ministry of service to 
 others as the chief opportunity of his day. Mr. Glad- 
 stone, a contemporary, illustrated in a political world an 
 almost unparalleled devotion to the things of the mind 
 and to the spirit. It is doubtful whether any great 
 creator of wealth will every occupy as permanent a place 
 in the esteem and affection of history as Mr. Gladstone. 
 Our own country has not been without such notable ex- 
 amples. The services of a Washington or a Lincoln are 
 quite beyond the measurements commonly applied to men 
 of wealth. In less conspicuous spheres many a college 
 graduate has served with a distinction all out of propor- 
 tion to his publicity. The despiritualizing effects of 
 these material measurements have been commented upon 
 by thoughtful men for a generation. There is in the 
 American mind today a profound conviction that the col- 
 lege graduate would do well not to surrender ingloriously 
 to the temptation to enter the fields of easier conquest. 
 There is a greater need of men today than of money; 
 of dependable character than of guaranteed deposits. 
 
 Turning aside now from these qualities in American life 
 let me suggest some opportunities that lie before us, in- 
 viting us to undertake the larger realization of our ideals. 
 
 The educated person should give full consideration to 
 the fundamental importance of the great movement now 
 for world peace among the most advanced nations of 
 the earth. These nations are those who have practically 
 occupied their territory and have brought their people to 
 the highest state of intellectual and moral achievement 
 Their problem is one of self-maintenance and of future 
 development in the moral and spiritual qualities that give 
 character to nations. Territorial aggrandizement is no 
 longer possible for such nations as England, the United 
 States, Germany, and France. These nations have all 
 gone through the pioneer period and are now face to face 
 with the large problems of a permanent civilization of 
 
 13 
 
high character. The greatest single effort made by 
 President Taft in his administration was to secure an 
 amicable agreement between certain nations for the set- 
 tlement by arbitration of all international differences. 
 This called for a new definition of national honor. It 
 involved setting aside the older customs and the bringing 
 in of a new conception of the relation between nations. 
 It was a prophetic note in the interest of the kingdom of 
 peace. The United States’ Senate, still dominated by 
 the old theory that might makes right, could not rise 
 to the new moral conception that right makes might. It 
 still was disposed to lean upon material forces as superior 
 to reason and righteousness. This seemed a note of sad 
 discouragement to the more progressive people of our 
 time but is only a passing comment on the persistency 
 of tradition in influencing action. The lack of vision 
 and of moral courage thus displayed has given a new 
 impulse among millions of people to insist that people 
 who write constitutions and make history are better than 
 their best constitutions. Life must interpret our insti- 
 tutions rather than be circumscribed by them. The re- 
 newed effort of the present Secretary of State, with the 
 cordial approval of the Chief Executive, is but another 
 attempt to realize in international agreements the con- 
 science and best judgement of the most progressive 
 thought of the day. The significance of this movement 
 lies in the fact that it revolutionizes the attitude of men 
 of the world upon the relation that should exist between 
 the nations of the earth. We have happily left in the 
 rear the old practice of private justice and have come to 
 believe that the interests of a community are supreme as 
 against the interests of the private individual. This does 
 not mean that private rights are to be ignored but that 
 they are to be interpreted in the light of the larger pub- 
 lic welfare. It is not that the horrors of war have been 
 overestimated but that there has come a new appreciation 
 of a relation based upon integrity of life, reasonable in- 
 terpretation of differences, and the importance of a per- 
 
 14 
 
manent basis of security for society. An attitude of sus- 
 picion is not wholesome either between individuals or be- 
 tween nations. This new conception signifies also that 
 the world has come to appreciate permanent peace as 
 the basis of a right organization of its industries. The 
 tremendous waste involved in constant preparation for 
 war has diverted a large amount of human industry and 
 human wealth into channels that lead to destruction as 
 their ultimatum rather than the construction oif per- 
 manent prosperity. The more civilization is developed 
 the deeper is the conviction that human industry should 
 be organized in the interest of human happiness. The 
 free intermingling of the educated nations of the earth 
 may not wisely be threatened with the technicalities of 
 international law. The interests of millions are so far 
 reaching that they ought not to be threatened by the in- 
 ability of a few officials to adjust differences which their 
 own interpretations frequently create. Government is 
 to represent the people. It is a false notion that the 
 people are to be made the victims of inefficiency or ir- 
 rational government as expressed through sensitive offi- 
 cials. It has been remarked that if the officers were 
 compelled to fight the battles, treaties of peace would 
 soon be written. A referendum on the question of war 
 would put an end to most of the bloodshed. President 
 Jordan has clearly pointed out the waste of intellec- 
 tual and moral resources by the ravages of war upon 
 the young men of a generation. Others have written 
 clearly upon the financial waste and the consequent burden 
 upon the multitude often entailed for two generations. 
 This diverting of a nation’s resources of men and money 
 and the wicked use of her industrial organizations can 
 not long continue among nations where the questions of 
 conservation and permanency have become fundamental. 
 The victories and triumphs of the future will lie along 
 the lines of the economic utilization of the resources of 
 the world for its own preservation. This means in a 
 word that the industries of the people shall be applied 
 
 15 
 
to their own needs and that the highest function of 
 government is to preserve the peace rather than to pro- 
 mote strife. This leads to a remark upon the movement 
 in our times for a humane government. The doctrine 
 that the government is for the people must adjust itself 
 to a new conception of what the interests of the people 
 really are. The unwelcome spectacle of enormous ex- 
 penditures by the government in the maintenance of 
 standing armies and the development of navies suggests 
 at once that the world’s leaders are too willing to 
 recognize conditions fraught with cruelty. The scholar 
 cannot contemplate such things with satisfaction or 
 indifference. He regards the organization of society as 
 a means to an end and would eliminate from it the pos- 
 sibility of cruelty and injustice. One cannot fail to be- 
 lieve as he contemplates the public clamor for integrity 
 in office that there is a growing conviction on the part of 
 the multitude that faithful representation of the people 
 would eliminate the evils of government and protect us 
 against the antagonism of prejudice. An educated civiliza- 
 tion moves rapidly away from the quarrels of primitive 
 life. The problem before the educated man is to bring his 
 government to see the necessity of recognizing this pro- 
 gress. It is here fhat modern democracy is making its 
 loudest call to educated people to enter the public ser- 
 vice in good conscience and with the determination to 
 advance the cause of the people. The aroused conscience 
 of the country on the social conditions has opened the 
 opportunity for educated men and women to engage in 
 a movement to reduce and eventually to abolish com- 
 mercialized vice as represented in the saloon traffic and 
 its attending iniquities. The widespread movement in 
 the interest of children, of better conditions of labor for 
 both men and women, of better sanitary conditions for 
 the ordinary factory and a protection of society against 
 the violence of mobs, calls for the enlistment of every 
 college graduate in America in this holy cause. The 
 movement for a better government in our cities, for a 
 
 16 
 
better rural life, and for a more economic utilization of 
 the energies of the people could be tremendously advan- 
 ced in a single decade if the college bred men and women 
 of the country would give a sympathetic response to this 
 call. 
 
 One must always recognize the necessity ’ of making 
 provision for his own maintenance. The opportunity 
 and duty of earning one’s daily bread is always impera- 
 tive. Nevertheless it is fair to assume that every educated 
 person will produce more than he will consume. He will 
 amass something of resources that he can not utilize. I 
 do not refer merely to money or to bank stocks. These 
 are the most perishable of the world’s resources. Every 
 educated individual should be a fountain of power and 
 efficiency. I desire* therefore, to make the appeal clear 
 and strong that young men and young women, educated 
 largely at the expense of others and often by the state, 
 shall recognize that in their accumulation of power and 
 efficiency simple gratitude requires that they bring back 
 to the state and the community a public service in some 
 degree commensurate with the opportunities they have en_ 
 joyed. I should have them bring into this public service, 
 not a selfish desire for personal aggrandizement, for the 
 increase of their power, or for accumulation of great for- 
 tunes, but an earnest purpose to help in the solution of 
 the distribution of the world’s resources to the needs of 
 society. If government is a means to an end and if edu- 
 cated men and women are the most efficient instruments 
 in the management of the government, it follows without 
 debate that in the matters of church, of politics, of busi- 
 ness, of society, and of every other organization, educated 
 people * should 'be our (most beneficent citizens. I 
 could not advise or counsel young men always to seek 
 poilitical preferment, nor could I advise them to shun 
 or avoid it. In Ohio there are only two great issues; one 
 is the integrity of the man voting; the other is the integ- 
 rity of the man for whom the vote is cast. I imagine this 
 will sum up about all the political problems in the Com- 
 
 17 
 
monwealth of South Carolina. To this service college 
 bred men should freely give themselves. The trend of 
 modern society is in the direction of a larger utilization 
 of the educated people of a community in social better- 
 ment. Without much reference to your profession of 
 religion or the lack of it, every citizen of this country must 
 act like a Christian whether he is one or not. The em- 
 phasis of our day is for men and women who will sacrifice 
 themselves in the interest of public welfare. This is es- 
 sentially a Christian service following in the wake of the 
 great Master who for twenty centuries has led the world’s 
 thinking. Men may be slow in proclaiming their indi- 
 vidual beliefs but enlistment in the great army need not 
 always be conditioned upon an ability to analyze intelli- 
 gently the problem. The educated men and women are 
 the leaders whose power of analysis should blaze the 
 way for rational action on the part of all the people. 
 
 In this public service one will not be long in discovering 
 that the fundamental interest of society clusters about the 
 individual, that is about his rights, his duties and his 
 opportunities. Tremendous emphasis is now being put 
 upon the importance of human life and therefore of 
 human rights. For long years the laws and the courts 
 had defended human property as well as human life. But 
 little more can be said in the defense of property. That 
 problem has been fairly well worked through. The great 
 problem of the future will be to conserve human life, to 
 enlarge its field of service and to protect it. The old 
 struggle for human slavery, which was largely a labor 
 problem, was the prophecy of the present day struggles 
 for the liberating of the human mind and a protection of 
 the freedom of men in thought, in speech, and in action. 
 There are tyrannies which we discover in investigating 
 labor conditions; tyrannies in industrial circles; tyrannies 
 often in the school house, and occasionally a remnant 
 of ecclesiastical tyranny in religious circles. There 
 is one great end to which both education and religion 
 point; namely, the liberalizing and liberating of the 
 
 18 
 
human soul. The great mission of the Messiah was to 
 proclaim liberty to the captives. The modern state uni- 
 versity has long held up a banner of freedom but no com- 
 monwealth has realized completely the freedom for which 
 education rightly stands. These conquests which are 
 occuring every day mark the onward progress of modern 
 society and into this enlarged field of opportunity educa- 
 ted men and women should enter with the enthusiasm of 
 hope and the courage of intelligence. 
 
 This appeal of the hour to college graduates is based 
 upon the needs of modern democracy in its struggle to 
 maintain itself and to promote the interests of the less 
 fortunate. For all time it has been agreed that the 
 strong can provide for themselves. There is no doubt 
 that there is a development of wealth and influence that 
 is a kind of special privilege in which small minorities 
 participate. The college graduate himself belongs to 
 a privileged class. His privilege is the outgrowth of 
 special opportunities which he has been able to utilize to 
 his own advantage. He by reason of his leisure for 
 study and his opportunity to get a broad view of the re- 
 lations of men is the selected leader in bringing the privi- 
 leged class to see its opportunity to cultivate and maintain 
 the right attitude towards all parties in the great mass. 
 When he enters business, engages in the world’s great 
 enterprises, either as manufacturer, professional man, 
 expert, or as public official, there is the temptation to 
 forget the rock whence he was hewn and the hole of the 
 pit whence he was digged. It is easy and perhaps natural 
 under prosperity to forget the days of poverty and ad- 
 versity. The loss of human sympathy in educated men 
 and in men of fortune is little short of a calamity. Our 
 education can justify itself not merely by success in 
 achieving a place for ourselves but in the higher success 
 of having made a place for others. It is this constant 
 concern for the public welfare that characterizes all 
 genuine democracy. The day has gone, let us hope for- 
 ever, when the college graduate in business or anywhere 
 
 19 
 
may disregard the interests of the whole people. In our 
 eftorts to describe the movements we have heard the new 
 terms, social righteousness, social service, social justice 
 and their companion phrases. Let not our admiration for 
 fhese terms blind us to the fact that everlasting righteous- 
 ness is the foundation of God’s world. The 
 obligation of righteousness is upon us all, whether we 
 recognize it or not. The old term “noblesse oblige” is 
 not entirely obsolete. The recognition of the obligations 
 resting upon a gentleman to be a gentleman f has a wide 
 application among all people who recognize their moral 
 responsibilities. The hope of our universities lies in the 
 application of this principle. The university does not 
 exist for its own glory and aggrandizement nor its 
 graduate for his selfish advantage. The spirit of service 
 and devotion to essential righteousness should inspire both 
 our research and our teaching. Such an idealism should 
 linger in every mind as the guiding star of achievement. 
 Here in the South with its characteristic freedom and the 
 blush of youth upon your cheeks, you have been quick to 
 respond to the call of your own circles. Now, with a 
 nation born in a day as was the Chinese Republic and 
 with the centers of Europe shaken by a new struggle with 
 old world privilege as seen in the Bulgarian war, we may 
 rise with a new enthusiasm for the cause of educated 
 democracy and do our part to make America’s influence 
 in the world’s program count for the interests of human- 
 ity. Let us not assume that the world will steadily drift 
 to the better estate. Liberty as always is an achievement. 
 Progress, as always, is measured by sacrifice, and men 
 are to be estimated in terms of service. The college 
 graduate is not produced to enjoy a democracy but to 
 create and maintain it. As the child of opportunity, best 
 equipped of us all for leadership, he will realize the 
 hopes of his generation when he is the living embodiment 
 of the simple law — he that will be first among you, let 
 him be servant to all. 
 
 20 
 
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