660 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 305. 



Perhaps the best I can do is to call atten- 

 tion to the importance of the inquiry itself, 

 and to the obligation which exists for a def- 

 inite and full, and most of all an honest 

 answer. In addition, I shall endeavor to 

 point out certain directions in which, to my 

 thinking, the ends of government have been 

 well served in our system of education, and 

 certain others in which, it seems to me, we 

 need improvement. 



It may be stated as a general result that 

 the State (using that term to characterize 

 both the general government and the State 

 governments), has been well served by the 

 institutions of higher learning. It can be 

 shown satisfactorily that in the main these 

 institutions have not only served the gen- 

 eral purpose of the diffusion of knowledge 

 among men, that they have trained men in 

 such a way as to make them more effective 

 in the pursuit of their own fortunes, but 

 also that they have given back to the State 

 men well trained to serve it. 



In a very real sense, education and sci- 

 ence have been handmaidens of the State, 

 for they have not only thrown their friendly 

 light upon the problems of statecraft, but 

 their children have been more numerous 

 and more helpful in the service of the State 

 than any other group of citizens. It may 

 be said with perfect truthfulness that the 

 higher institutions of learning have well 

 earned from the State the assistance they 

 have received. 



Notwithstanding this general outcome, 

 there are certain directions in which the 

 State may reasonably demand additional 

 results. It is to be remembered that the 

 State represents, as does no other agency, 

 the whole people, and in considering the 

 obligations due the State, and the best 

 method of discharging them, the institu- 

 tions of learning are attempting to serve, in 

 the most direct and, at the same time, in the 

 broadest way, the whole body of citizens. 



One thing which the government has a 



right to expect of those educated in the 

 higher institutions of learning is a decent 

 respect for the service of the State. 



I am sure I express the sentiment of all 

 men of serious purpose who have stood in 

 executive places in Washington when I say 

 that there is no greater source of discourage- 

 ment to those who are honestly striving for 

 good administration than the facility with 

 which good and honest and intelligent men 

 will ascribe the worst motives to those in 

 government office. 



Again and again a man of pure life and 

 of high purpose, who has accepted a post 

 under the government, discovers with in- 

 finite pain and surprise that the silliest 

 charge against him is accepted, not only 

 among the idle and the curious, but by those 

 upon whose support he had most counted. 

 This tendency is not peculiar to our time 

 or to our nation. It is a part of ' that touch 

 of nature which makes the whole world 

 kin,' a kinship as universal as it is detest- 

 able. 



One cannot think of the failure to dis- 

 criminate between the dishonest few and the 

 honest many, of the courage brought to 

 failure by the wellnigh universal suspicion, 

 of the unmerited pain, from Washington's 

 day to this, inflicted by the careless judg- 

 ment of men's motives, without recalling 

 the words of Edmund Burke : " It is very 

 rare, indeed, for men to be wrong in their 

 feelings concerning public misconduct ; as 

 rare to be right in their speculation upon the 

 cause of it. I have constantly observed 

 that the generality of people are at least 

 fifty years behind in their politics. There 

 are very few men who are capable of com- 

 paring and digesting what passes before 

 their eyes at different times and occasions 

 so as to form the whole into a distinct sys- 

 tem. But in books everything is settled for 

 them without the exertion of any consider- 

 able diligence of sagacity. For which rea- 

 son men are wise with but little reflection, 



