to mankind. They are important
and necessary. I am pointing out that in my opinion they do not provide
a civilization that can stand without the support of the ideals that
come from the classics.

The conclusion to be derived from this position is that a vocational or
technical education is not enough. We must have every American citizen
well grounded in the classical ideals. Such an education will not unfit
him for the work of the world. Did those men in the trenches fight any
less valiantly, did they shrink any more from the hardships of war, when
a liberal culture had given a broader vision of what the great conflict
meant? The discontent in modern industry is the result of a too narrow
outlook. A more liberal culture will reveal the importance and nobility
of the work of the world, whether in war or peace. It is far from enough
to teach our citizens a vocation. Our industrial system will break down
unless it is humanized. There is greater need for a liberal culture that
will develop the whole man in the whole body of our citizenship. The day
when a college education will be the portion of all may not be so far
distant as it seems.

We live in a republic. Our Government is exercised through
representatives. Their course of action is a very accurate reflection
of public opinion. Where shall that be formed and directed unless from
the influences, direct and indirect, that come from our institutions of
learning. The laws of a republic represent its ideals. They are founded
upon public opinion, and public opinion in America up to the present
time has drawn its inspiration from the classics. They tell us that
Waterloo was won on the football fields of Rugby and Eton. The German
war was won by the influence of classical ideals. As a teacher of the
classics, as a maker of public opinion, as a source of wise laws, as the
herald of a righteous victory,--Amherst College stands on a foundation
which has remained unchanged through the ages. May there be in all her
sons a conviction that with her abides Him who changes not.

XXXI

HARVARD UNIVERSITY COMMENCEMENT

JUNE 19, 1919

No college man who has ever glanced at the Constitution of Massachusetts
is likely to miss or forget the generous references there made to
Harvard University. It may need a closer study of that instrument, which
is older than the American Constitution, to realize the full
significance of those most enduring of guaranties that could then be