Washington and Lee University - Calyx Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

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k a special appoiiitiiieiit to tlic Ariiiour-Craiio travelliii;j; fellowsliip and con- tinued his studies al)road, |)i-in(ipally at Lei|)zii; ' , Vienna and Paris. During the year ISitT he returned to tliis country and the I ' liiversity of Chicago conferred upon him the degree of I ' ll. 1). In the foUowing academic year lS!)7-18!)iS, Mr. Wilhs was assistant to the Monetiiry Commission of the Inihanapohs Convention antl assisted Prof. Laugidin in preparing the Hejiort of the Monetary Commission. Siiortly afterwards he was selected hy former President Wilson to found the new Department of Economics and Politics at Washington and Lee University. No better summary of Mr. Willis ' character and previous training at the time he took up his work in Lexington can he found than in a letter of Prof. J.Laurence Laughlin.Head of the Dept. of I ' olitical Economy, at the University of Chicago, to President Wilson, a portion of which is to he found in President AVilson s report to the Hoard of Trustees of Washington and Lee for the year 18()7-18!) S. I have known him (Mr. Willis), wrote Prof. Laughlin, for several years, f[uite intinuitely, finding in him one of the ablest young men in our subject of my ac(|uaintance. He uses German, French, and Italian readily; and was early trained thoroughly in the classics. Hut as an enthu- siastic student and [ihenomenal worker I do not know his e(|ual. He has obtained his doctorate nuujiHt ciun lauilc afte! three years graduate study here and abroad, and has produced already more than most men at thirty. He is sensitive, high minded and conscientious to a fault. His tendency is to overwork ; but he is certain to make a strong reputation for him.self . He is the most intellectually honest and sincere man I know. This letter is also interesting in that succecfling years have verified its predictions and for the additional reason that the jjersonal qualities of Mr. Willis, which caught Prof. Laughlin s attention during his as.sociation with him, were those which have been most manifest in Mr. AVillis ' work here. Hut, in addition, to the possession of this unusual personality and to the etiuipment of exceptional preliminary training, another factor mu.st be taken into account before the full significance of Mr. Willis ' work may be grasped. This factor, local in a sense, consisted of the personal influence of former President W ' ilson. The views of President Wilson on educational prol)lems are well known. His ideas relative to the functions of a Ihiiversity in a Democracy are treasured and constantly put forward l)y those public-minded citizens who

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T would seek to ascertain the moral worth of the man, his educational and intellectual stan lards, and the stimulating and uplifting influence of his character upon his conteni})oraries and the subsequent University life. In the case of Presidents Lee and Wilson, he would find these intangiljle re- sults or influences to l)e worth more to the University than its entire material endowment. From the standpoint of the real wealth of Washing- ton and Lee, he could no more compare them to the concrete advance in the University ' s equipment made by these men than he could compare the value of Esau ' s birthright with the mess of pottage for which he sold it. The tangible results of Presidents Lee and Wilson ' s lives to Washington and Lee could be estimated fairly well. The intangible endowment which flowed from their association with it, would be found to he valuable beyond comparsion, but, at the same time, more or less indefinable and incalculable. If such is the case in estimating the work of men who have passed out of ' sight, how much more difficult it is to appreciate the work of those who still go about among us ? Even the tangible result of their labor may be incomplete, the intangible influence of their lives oftentimes disputed. The nearness of the individual may destroy the range of our vision and his work may be better than we estimate, or, on the other hand, personal feeling may so color our judgment as to lead to over-estimation and undeserved praise. Fortunately, however, the task is not so hard as regards the sub- ject of this appreciation. Many of us have known Mr. Willis for a number of years and others have sat in his lecture room and have come under his personal influence. Under his direction, we have seen the Economic dept. gradually assume, form and grow to its present proportions. Moreover, we have known, or at least, have thought that we knew the forces which weiv constraining Mr. W illis and the ends toward which he was .striving. A brief discu.ssion of the.se aims and forces, together with a review of Mr. Wil- lis ' training and personality, will bring clearly to mind the significance of his work at Washington and I ee. First, as to the training and personality of the man. Henry Parker Willis was born Aug. U, 1874, at Weymouth, Massachusetts. After re- ceivin g his early education in the .schools of Racine, Wisconsin, he entered W ' estcrn Reserve I ' niversitv. From that institution he went to the Uni- versity of Chicago where he received his under-graduate degree in 1894. He was immediately appointed a Fellow in the Department of Political Economy at Chicago and after two years spent in resident study, he received

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fl 3 r ' C L- are endeavoring to work out the problems of the American Republic. Presi- dent Wilson realized that this Republic of ours would only be permanent and safe when proper educational facilities had been thoroughly organized and utilized by its citizens. He knew that Democracy ' s battles were only half- fought out. His own experience in public life had taught him, that, if they were to be successfully won. the youth of the country, its future rulers, should be rightly trained in the principles of politics and political econ- omy and in high ideals of public service. Consequently, he believed that the arena upon which Democracy ' s battles in the future should be waged, should be the lecture room of the University, and the battle cry should be, to use the words of the late President Harper. Come let us reason together. Impelled by the force of these ideas and especially by the peculiar needs of the South, Mr. Wilson retired from public life and accepted the Presidency of Washington and Lee. For the same reason he urged in his inaugural a ldress the necessity of providing facilities for the study of political and economic (|uestions at W ashington and Lee, and bent all his energies in this direction until he had successfully established the present department. Only the thoughtless and ignorant, President Wilson declared, de- lude themselves with the idea that paper constitutions are the eflFectual safe- guards of our liberties, and universal suffrage the capable administrator of the institutions through which we are to enjoy and possess them forever. Men who are familiar with the origin of our historic liberty, who know the rareness in all history of stable popular goverimient, and who are sobered by the thickening difficulties tliat confront us, will agree with Sir Henry Maine, that democratic government will tax to the utmost the sagacity and states- manship of the world to keep it from misfortune. As population and wealth increase: as science and invention sweep onward; as civilization grows more complex; as new States join our Union and cities multiply, and a new creation of artificial personages is called into being, to carry on the great commercial and industrial enterprises for which natural persons, even in association, are unequal, problems of government, both of policy and administration, become more difficult, and statesmen, whether as law-makers or as administrators, must not only be learned in the science of government, enlightened by the lessons of human experience, but must be often dependent upon experts whose services they must be able to command and know how to use. We fail in duty to our young men, to our section, to our whole country, if we do not provide that education in the