642 FRANCIS AMASA WALKER. 



undertake to measure the permanent value of his contributions to this 

 science, if that mean tliat we are to affirm in confidence what among 

 his conclusions are to stand the test of time and to be accepted here- 

 after as settled truth. One thing we may say, Walker thoroughly 

 understood the limitations of his science and of his own intellect. He 

 brought to these discussions, where usually there is so much heat and 

 arrogance and auger, a sweet and gentle personal quality; but it will 

 be a great mistake if we let this quietness of tone and modesty of 

 spirit mislead us into thinking that he lacked either earnestness of con- 

 viction or depth of investigation, or that he was not able to defend 

 himself with vigor and spirit against any antagonist. Other men have 

 l^repared themselves for affairs by studying political economy. He 

 prepared himself for studying political economy by a large and intimate 

 knowledge of affairs at first hand. The fact that he maintained always 

 so large a relation to practical life was, in my judgment, his great 

 advantage as a public leader over other men who have been eminent 

 economists. How many other writers on political economy would have 

 been fit to administer a technical school? How few others are ever 

 trusted by their fellow-citizens either with public responsibilities or 

 with the management of important private affairs? * * * 



The great celebration of the three hundredth year of the University 

 at Dublin, in 1892, where the universities of Europe, of America, of 

 Africa, of Australia, of India, and of New Zealand were represented, 

 was a scene of the kind never approached in Europe for dignity and 

 splendor, unless we except the tercentenary of Ley den or of Edinburg, 

 the five hundredth anniversary of Heidelberg, or the eight hundredth 

 anniversaryof the University of Bologna. Seventy-one honorary degrees 

 were conferred upon men famous in church and state, in science and 

 literature. The degree of Doctor of Laws, the highest degree of all, 

 was conferred upon five persons only — two Englishmen, one German, 

 one Frenchman, and one American. The American was President 

 Walker. Edinburg conferred upon him a like honor in 189G. * * -^ 



He was a great inspirer of economic thought. There was no rash- 

 ness about him. He discussed the economic problems for which his 

 generation was ready. He boldly took by the throat the delusions 

 which had gained a strong hold upon the thought of men who went 

 before him. His training as a statistician had taught him always to 

 keep close to his facts. To use his own words in giving advice to a 

 scholar, he kept himself superior to partisan dictation, and to the 

 seductions of theory. 



He rejected the doctrine of laissez faire. He held the state to be a 

 moral being. It was meet that its great forces should do what the 

 individual can not do for himself. It was not only that the state should 

 be great in wealth and empire, but that it should produce a noble 

 growth of men. Every economic law was lacking in comprehension 

 that left this out. 



To him political economy was an applied science. It was a science 



