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Harvard's Reputation.

In answer to the question "Why has Harvard so poor a reputation in the country at large," President Eliot said that, in his opinion, it was largely owing to religious grounds. Forty years ago Harvard was a sectarian college belonging to the Unitarians, who were then greatly disliked by other denominations. Although Harvard is no longer sectarian, religious hatred still makes men ready to believe anything bad which may be said of it, while they refuse to credit any representations to the contrary. Then, too, we have more rich men's son's here than any other college possesses, and rich men's sons are, as a rule, wild and extravagant, and by their actions tend to bring the whole college into disrepute. The chief reason, however, for our "bad eminence" is the readiness which the newspapers show to discredit all colleges, and Harvard, as the largest, gets the greatest share. There is a natural hostility between college-bred men and those who are "self-made," to which class belong the majority of journalists, and this enmity expends itself in spreading false rumors and injurious statements. The only thing that we can do is to live down this bad reputation by conducting ourselves properly as students and as graduates, and by spreading a know ledge of the true state of things whenever there is a chance. This way is already being taken, and we may be confident that we shall yet succeed completely.

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