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

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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

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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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fl science of f oveniinent whicli he rif;htly deemed, the most important know- ledfjc in a repuhhe. We must preserve and make more fruitful the old leaniiiif, ' . We nuist broaden, as rapidly as possible, our facilities for scien- tific instruction and research, having in view not only general culture, but the bread-winning necessities of our people, and to all those we must add sound preparation for citizenship in a self-governing republic. It is no longer enough to disseminate classical education, to explore the fields of physical science, to turn out clergymen, lawyers, physicians, intelligent farmers, successful business men, builders and managers of railroads, min- ing, electrical and civil engineers. If the South is to produce for her own service, if she is to contribute, as in days past, to the whole country, statesmen, legislators and judges, able to maintain her influence and proper dignity as a great section of the Ameri- can Union, her sons must continue to give, as Mr. Blaine says their fathers gave, deed study to the science of government; and if. amid the harder condi- tions that confront them, after leaving college, they are no longer able to give that study in the leisure and seclusion of their own libraries, the proper foundations for it must be laid in the schools of learning. The supreme necessity for such studies, if we are to perpetuate government by the people and bear our freedom unscathed through all the perils that beset its progress, needs not to be dwelt upon. Such were the ideals of President Wilson in founding the Department of Economics and Politics at Washington. Such was the training and char- acter of Mr. Willis when he came to take charge of that Department. The work of Mr. Willis has been the resultant of these forces — the working out of Mr. Wilsons ideals through tlie medium of Mr. Willis efforts. Those who knew President Wilson, however casually, have felt that there was something finer in the man. than anything which he .said. Even the students of the University during his brief presidency have testified since his death that the impress of his character, received during their college days has been one of the strongest and most uplifting influences of their lives. As has been truly said, he was a college president without double dealing or equivocatit)n. single interview or transaction with him inspired an absolute confidence which re(|uired and could receive no increment, so perfect was its completeness. A week of his acquaintance carried with it an absolute approval of his ideals, aims, and methods. A year with him furnished an inspiration which would last as long as life itself. ■Ul U: ' urn } r