nment action; but it lies wholly with
public opinion. Private charity must worthily support its clergymen and
the faculty and instructors of our higher institutions of learning; and
the Government must adequately reward the teachers in its schools. In
the great bound forward which has been taken in a material way, these
two noble professions, the pillars of liberty and equality, have been
neglected and left behind. They must be reestablished. They must be
restored to the place of reverence they formerly held.

The profession of teaching has come down to us with a sanction of
antiquity greater than all else. So far back as we can peer into human
history there has stood a priesthood that has led its people
intellectually and morally. Teaching is leading. The fundamental needs
of humanity do not change. They are constant. These influences so potent
in the development of Massachusetts cannot be exchanged for a leadership
that is bred of the market-place, to her advantage. We must turn our
eyes from what is to what ought to be. The men of the day of John Adams
and James Bowdoin had a vision that looked into the heart of things.
They led a revolution that swept on to a successful conclusion. They
established a nation that has endured until its flag is the ancient
among the banners of the earth. Their counsel will not be mocked. The
men of that day almost alone in history brought a Revolution to its
objective. Not only that, they reached it in such a condition that it
there remained. The counterattack of disorder failed entirely to
dislodge it. Their success lay entirely in the convictions they had. No
nation can reject these convictions and remain a republic. Anarchy or
despotism will overwhelm it.

Massachusetts established Harvard College to be a defender of righteous
convictions, of reverence for truth and for the heralds of truth. The
purpose set forth in the Constitution is clear and plain. It recognizes
with the clear conviction of men not thinking of themselves that the
cause of America is the cause of education, but of education with a
soul, a trained intellect but guided ever by an enlightened conscience.
We of our day need to recognize with the same vision that when these
fail, America has failed.

XXXII

PLYMOUTH, LABOR DAY

SEPTEMBER 1, 1919

The laws of our country have designated the first Monday of each
September as Labor Day. It is truly an American day, for it was here
that for the first time