I should like to interest more young men in politics, not necessarily the quest for public office, for most young men can ill afford to make this sacrifice, but politics in its more accurate sense, meaning the science and problems of government. At least I hope that you will not fall into the error, unfortunately all too prevalent among people otherwise intelligent, of regarding all men who are in politics with suspicion. As in all other occupations, there are good, bad and in-different men in public life, and the calibre of the representative depends to a large extent upon the interest and intelligence of his constituency. If the best citizens do not take the trouble either to vote or to inform themselves on issues and candidacies, they have no right to criticize the kind of government which they will get. If men are elected to public office by only a small proportion of those qualified to vote, the majority deserve to be misrepresented. In 1922, for instance, 13 U.S. Senators received less than 30 per cent, of the possible vote in their respective states, and the lowest received but 9 per cent.

Ignorance and Indifference

Ignorance and indifference are the main foes of good government. Ignorance, we may excuse, but indifference means the intentional abdication to others of our most prized public privilege; it signifies a failure to comprehend the primary duty of citizenship.

There is another weakness in our body politic which deserves serious attention--it is what ex-President Hadley of Yale has called "the increasing demand for ill-considered legislation, and the increasing readiness of would be reformers to rely on authority rather than on public sentiment for securing their ends." Multitudes of well-meaning people have a feverish desire to reform everything and everybody by law. They seem to place some divine reliance in a statute. Once it is enacted, it is often forgotten or neglected in the zeal to enact another. As a nation we are suffering from over-legislation. Every two years the various State legislatures pass approximately 18,000 new laws, and Congress adds yearly to our already groaning statute books. The result it that most people do not know what the law is and do not care sufficiently to find out. They know that many of our laws are foolish and unenforceable and they do not hesitate to disregard them. They are' normally law-abiding, but the violations by our legislatures of the fundamental principles of law-making have been so flagrant that the great majority of the people have no qualms in differentiating between good laws and bad and recognizing only the good ones. This condition of affairs is demoralizing and dangerous, for universal disregard of some laws can only tend towards general disrespect for all law.

More Intelligent Comprehension

We need a more intelligent comprehension by the people of the function of law, and a closer adherence by their representatives to the essentials of law-making. Lawlessness will never be stopped by the passage of more laws, nor by the imposition of more severe punishments. Laws which violate natural rights and which the general will does not accept cannot be enforced. Laws which are unworthy of respect will not be respected. As Cardinal O'Connell said the other day: "History proves that goodness and virtue cannot be forced on a people by statutes or by machine guns." "It is impossible," says Brand Whitlock, "by the use of force, however strong or violent, to impose upon the moral sense of the people a feeling that a given act is wrong just because those whose prejudices it offends have been able to induce a legislature to enact it into what is called 'law'."

And President Lowell once cogently observed: "As a people we have been law-abiding, not by compulsion from above, but from a sense of the fitness of things. The success of self-government is based on a confidence that one's neighbors will conform to the established rules of conduct, and anything that undermines that confidence strikes at the root of our civil life."

No system of popular government can long endure unless, it is backed by genuine public opinion. My hope is to stimulate in the younger generation enough interest in public affairs to lead them to exert their influence in directing and crystallizing this all-powerful guiding force.

Whatever bent you follow, however, whatever subject you pursue, whatever ambition may inspire you, the only way yet devised to bring you success is through work--sheer, hard, consistent work. There is no short-cut. Thomas Edison said that success is made up of 2 percent of genius, and 98 percent of hard work. When asked if he didn't believe that genius was inspiration, he replied: "No, genius is perspiration."

Exert Self to Utmost

All of you will, when convinced that the effort is worth while, exert your-selves to the utmost. A member of an athletic team will play his heart out to win. You will burn the midnight oil feverishly to pass an examination. But the constant, daily toil is more exacting. You may temporarily lose sight of the incentive; you may be diverted by pleasanter things. Your first problem, then, and it is yours alone, is to convince yourselves that steady application is worth while.

May you keep in mind that you have here in Cambridge opportunities never dreamed of by the generations gone by, that at your very doors are provided the best in every field, and that the extent to which you profit by their use will in some measure repay your obligation to those who gave you the chance to come here.

May you also not forget that from now on you are Harvard men. You will be known as Harvard men, and whatever you do, creditable or discreditable, will reflect on Harvard. You are following in the footsteps of thousands and thousands of others who have up-held her best traditions, protected her fair name, held high the torch of truth, and entrusted to those who have followed after the ideals for which she stands. This privilege is now yours