John Marshall Law School - Abstract Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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THE JOHN MARSHALL LAW SCHOOL EDWARD T. LEE, Dean

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THE ABSTRACT— 1937 PROGRESS QDOOK about you and you will realize that civilizations are ' not composed ot great men and vital elements, nor are they even dependent upon them. If all ditch diggers were brutes and all senators saints, of what value the Senate? Democracy, though some would have us believe otherwise, exists not by virtue of those who forge to the front alone; for what leader could stand or write or speak before a mass of evil men all over the earth? Somehow, slowly, inter- minably, the germs of progress have spread, are spreading and will continue to spread — not more appreciably through an Edison than through a store clerk who wrote a foreign dictator and challenged him to a fair fight, the American way. Draw back the curtains upon the monumental stage that IS History and in ever ' act one thing becomes increasingly apparent; that there is only one gesture which the players of progress can execute — and that is the forward step. Unless this be maintained the scene shifts; the stage begins to darken, and old familiar shadows like hooded lepers stalk into view. Ignorance, Fear, Brutality, Avarice, and Greed return to blot the footprints which the heroes made. Whenever and wliere- ever this tragedy is played — then let all the nations of the earth take heed; For all the world ' s a stage. — — Irwin Ratner. i Hd

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THE ABSTRACT— 1937 DEDICATION A big game hunter in describing a certain species dropped the phrase, They arc as rare as a truly modest man . To those words nothing can be added; for see as you will among men, the successful individual who remains his own unaltered self is the classic exception to the law of human nature. To ask. whether such a man is successful because he is modest or modest because he is successful is to revert to a much abused enigma. But this we do solemnly pronounce: the man whom we honor has much within ' which passeth show. We believe that the dean in an age of mercenary, coercive standards in high places has come through beauti- fully unscathed — wtih his ideals and convictions intact. One see}{s in vam today for mellowness and understand ' ing, for that indly, albeit Quick, sense of humor in our more prominent men. They may possess one or two of the qualities we enjoy, but rarely an abundance of them. What herculean struggles he has faced in order to retain those qualities ivhich we admire in him! What personal gains he must spurn in the present maelstrom of political pressure! Salute — A truh modest man!