1553 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 M3 
 
HONESTY 
 
 BY JAMES BURR1LL ANGELL, LL.D., 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 
 
 A BACCALAUREATE DISCOURSE 
 DELIVERED JUNE 17, 1906 
 
DJ 
 H7AC 
 
HONESTY 
 
 BACCALAUREATE DISCOURSE 
 
 BY PRESIDENT ANGELL, DELIVERED JUNE 17 } i^t>4> 
 
 Each graduating class as it steps forth from this 
 hall into the world finds itself confronted with problems 
 peculiar to its time. In this hurrying American life no 
 one year presents exactly the same phases as another to 
 those who embark upon its tides. 
 
 One of the most striking characteristics of the 
 past year in this country, it will be generally agreed, is 
 the wide -spread outbreak of dishonesty in high places. 
 Men holding the most important fiduciary trusts and re- 
 ceiving exorbitant salaries for their positions have proved 
 criminally false to their trusts. United States senators 
 have been convicted of gross frauds upon the government. 
 Great corporations, rendered almost omnipotent by their 
 vast aggregation of capital, have unscrupulously used 
 their power to inflict great hardships on the common 
 people who were their helpless victims. Bank officers in 
 their greed have wrecked the institutions committed to 
 their care and cheated the widow and the orphan out of 
 their scanty possessions. As our daily newspapers have 
 for months come freighted with the stories of these ini- 
 quities, we have been shocked and often driven almost 
 to despondency while we asked whether honesty had 
 fled from the earth, and whether any career is possible 
 for an honorable man. 
 
 But fortunately as we turn our eyes away from 
 
these criminals to the great mass of the common people, 
 a brighter picture greets the eye. Everywhere we see 
 the most gratifying manifestations of the moral sound -| 
 ness of our countrymen at large. They share to the full 
 our indignation at the perpetrators of the crimes we 
 have named, and at the misdemeanors of the political 
 corruptionists who have plundered some of our principal 
 cities and grown fat on the spoils of parties. With an 
 energy which makes our hearts tingle with delight we 
 have seen them dethroning bosses who have been for 
 years in power. On all hands they are calling for the 
 enactment of laws that will prevent the intolerable 
 abuses from which they have suffered and for the vigor- 
 ous and unsparing prosecution of rascals of high and of 
 low degree. A more sane and wholesome state of public 
 feeling has never been seen. When one looks into the 
 faces of these honest and stalwart supporters of the 
 right, one need not doubt whether in their company 
 there is a career for an honorable man. 
 
 And furthermore have we not all felt new faith in 
 the virtue of our nation, as during the last few weeks we 
 have seen the extraordinary manifestations of sympathy 
 and generosity called forth by the great calamity in Cal- 
 ifornia. From every town and hamlet, from the homes 
 of the poorest as well as of the rich the contributions for 
 the needy have poured in with such profusion that it seems 
 that there is no heart in all this wide land too cold to be 
 unmoved by the sight of suffering. We cannot believe 
 that such a people is given over to iniquity. 
 
 So the young graduate fmdshimself between two 
 fires. On the one hand now that the passion for getting 
 rich is at a height before unknown and is so generally 
 prevalent that he can hardly be expected to escape it 
 altogether, he is surrounded by men of culture and social 
 position who are yielding to its power, sacrificing char- 
 acter and risking reputation in the unscrupulous chase 
 after wealth. Temptations and tempters beset him on 
 every side. Examples of pro'minent but unscrupulous 
 
 -2 
 
men appeal to him daily and test his virtue as in a fur- 
 nace of fire. 
 
 On the other hand popular indignation at dis- 
 honesty and civic fraud is also at a height before un- 
 known. The public press daily harries and hunts down 
 these unworthy officials and capitalists who have de- 
 spoiled their neighbors and holds them up to public scorn 
 and contempt. The courts are binding some of them, 
 who have held high places in society, with the gyves of 
 the law and sheriffs are haling them to penitentiaries. 
 The halls of legislation are ringing with the cries of the 
 people for laws to protect them against the wily schemes 
 of such men as have in the past plundered them with 
 impunity. And great hearted benevolence is flooding 
 the Pacific coast with gifts of unparalled generosity. 
 
 If here and now I should ask you with which of 
 these opposing parties you sympathize, your answer 
 would be ready and would be right. If I should ask you 
 which one you purpose to join for life, your answer 
 would be equally prompt and also right. Youth and 
 young manhood in the American university, thank God, 
 still with few exceptions cherishes pure and lofty ideals 
 of duty and life. Perhaps, however, you may have al- 
 ready observed exceptions enough to lead you to listen 
 with patience to a few timely cautions. 
 
 Let me warn you that you can hardly realize the 
 strength of the temptations which will assail you in ac- 
 tual life. Inexperienced, dwelling among strangers, 
 possessed of so scanty means that every step forward, 
 even the shortest, is of vital importance, that even the 
 slenderest opportunity must be seized with avidity, you 
 may find yourself surrounded with men of talent, breed- 
 ing, education and experience, who with the stings of 
 wit, ridicule your scruples and tell you that if you are to 
 compete with others in business or in professional life 
 and hold your own, you must use the same tools that 
 they use. For a time you may not yield to their ridicule 
 or to their advice. But as you see some of them no more 
 
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gifted and no better trained than you, but following 
 their unscrupulous policy, pass you in the race for 
 wealth or professional success or political preferment, 
 there may be hours when your faith in honor and honesty 
 as a rule of life in such a world as this will be rudely 
 shaken. Unless every fibre in your soul is firm for the 
 right, you will be subject to tests of which you have little 
 conception now. The least yielding to a stream of per- 
 nicious influences will open the way to the devastating 
 torrent, which will sweep away the very foundations of 
 your character. 
 
 We will not stop to speak of contemptible tricks 
 which may attract the common pettifogger. But what 
 about the allurements of large fees when as a lawyer you 
 have so risen in reputation for sharpness that you are 
 bribed to find some hole in the law through which your 
 client may creep when you know that he richly deserves 
 to be convicted, or when you are retained to shape leg- 
 islation by artful means so that your client can with im- 
 punity carry on his business in dishonorable and dis- 
 honest ways. 
 
 What is to befall the physician who has taken his 
 Hippocratic oath as he set out on his career and has 
 made eloquent speeches on professional honor and obli- 
 gations and after a few years of hard work crowned with 
 meagre success sees the road to wealth opened by a re- 
 sort to quackery or nostrums useless or harmful, a road 
 on which hundreds have preceded him. Will he try to 
 soothe his conscience with the familiar remark that fools 
 must be treated according to their folly, and that there 
 is nothing too extraordinary for some men to believe on 
 two subjects, namely, medical theories and religious be- 
 liefs. For physicians and religious teachers deliberately 
 to stake their success on an appeal to these infirmities 
 by practices and teachings which they know to have no 
 foundation in truth history shows to have been discour- 
 agingly common in the past, even in the case of men 
 whose early life would h<we led us to expect better 
 
UN; 
 
 things from them. It may not be amiss to call your 
 attention now to the danger posts on your path. 
 
 Not a few of you are liable to be drawn into news- 
 paper life. The pursuit is most honorable and useful, 
 but furnishes stringent tests of character. To suffer 
 one's self to be led by high remuneration or by the dic- 
 tates of party leaders to take up the advocacy of doc- 
 trines or policies, in which one does not believe, is a 
 most demoralizing habit. Life is not worth having if it is 
 to be maintained by systematic hypocrisy. If one is 
 proprietor or manager and allows his counting room to 
 control his columns, especially if he surrenders his space 
 to pernicious advertisements, he may plead the example 
 of alas ! too many papers which have large circulation, 
 but he must remember that he forfeits the approbation 
 of his pure and right-minded readers. 
 
 Many of you will be called into the activities of 
 political life. It is a matter for congratulation that an 
 increasing number of educated men, actuated by the 
 highest and most patriotic motives, are willing to give a 
 portion of their time and energy to public affairs. If our 
 republican system of government is to succeed, it must 
 have the services of such men, who seek the public good 
 rather than mere personal advantage to themselves. 
 Therefore I urge you to do your full part in all legitimate 
 ways to secure the enactment and execution of benefi- 
 cent laws, and to a reasonable extent to accept such 
 responsible positions as your fellow- citizens may invite 
 you to. But it should be remembered that office-hold- 
 ing, and still more office -seeking, is not the only way to 
 be of service to one's party or to the country. Many a 
 man who never leaves the ranks of the private citizen is j 
 of more service to his party and to his country by the 
 conscientious and vigilant discharge of the duties of citi- 
 zenship than his neighbor who is inert, unless he is 
 chosen to some office. Illustrations of this truth are 
 familiar to every careful observer of political life. 
 
 But those of you who aspire to, or who obtain 
 
without special effort on your part, political station, are 
 likely to find yourself exposed to temptation which will 
 test your virtue of what sort it is. In order to secure 
 your election you will find yourself urged by some of 
 your friends who have had more experience than you to 
 adopt measures at which your conscience or your sense 
 of propriety and decency revolts. Once elected, you 
 will find yourself besieged by designing men to favor 
 legislation which on its face appears innocent, but which 
 really opens the way for them to accomplish nefarious 
 ends. You may soon learn what is the tyranny of party, 
 if on good scruples you hesitate to follow its bidding on 
 any measure. You will soon be taught that if you ex- 
 pect any of the beneficent acts which you have proposed 
 to be adopted you must be prepared to vote for certain 
 measures desired by other men which you do not ap- 
 prove. You will be asked to put your conscience or 
 your judgment into the market for a trade. 1 say nothing 
 of the grosser modes of attack on your conscience or your 
 judgment by bribery or promises of promotion, which -I 
 trust your reputation for honesty will make it impossible 
 for them to think of in your case, although you may wit- 
 ness it in other cases. But the possibilities i have nam- 
 ed indicate of what stuff you should be made to meet 
 with a clean heart the perils to which you may be expos- 
 ed. It is clear that a professional office-seeker, who re- 
 gards the procuring and retention of office as his main 
 object, is feebly equipped to meet them. He isvulner- 
 able at a thousand points. He speedily loses his inde- 
 pendence, if not his self-respect. This is why young 
 graduates should, if possible, avoid accepting clerkships 
 in the departments at Washington. They there earn 
 just enough to make them content with that sort of life, 
 and if they have not much energy they remain stranded 
 there all their days and end their career just where they 
 began. 
 
 I have not pointed out the temptations which may be- 
 set you in the various callings in life to dishearten you, 
 
but only to caution you. I take an optimistic, not a 
 pessimistic view of life in our nation. The lawyer of 
 fair ability, of industry, and of character is sure to be 
 recognized and respected in due time. The physician of 
 intelligence, of fidelity to his patients, of pleasing ad- 
 dress and of good morals is certain to be in demand and 
 to bind to him the families he serves by the dearest ties. 
 "~The editor who loves veracity more than sensationalism 
 and purity in his columns more than the ill-gotten gains 
 of salacious advertisements is assured of influence in a 
 decent community. The man on whom political office is 
 thrust by his fellow-citizens because of his intellectual 
 and moral worth dwells in an atmosphere quite above 
 the vulgar and nauseous temptations which captivate the 
 professional office-seeker, and when he finishes his 
 career leaves an honored name behind him. The path to 
 a successful and worthy future is open to every one of 
 you. To most of you great wealth and great fame may 
 be denied. But a life of usefulness, a fair share of this 
 world's reward and a stainless reputation are within the 
 reach of every one of you. And with these assured, 
 why should not all be content today and go forth with 
 brave and cheerful hearts to face the world ? 
 
 The present reaction of indignation against the public 
 iniquities which have recently flooded the land have 
 borne the great mass of our people on to a moral height 
 which they have seldom attained. Never was there a 
 time when a young man who wishes to dedicate his life 
 to honor and truth was more certain to find a public wel- 
 coming him heartily to their service. You are embarking 
 on your lives when the tide of righteousness is rising to 
 its flood. Plunge boldly in and stake your all on the 
 triumph of truth. Let us see a whole generation of the 
 young pledging their lives to honesty and nobility, and 
 the world will with shouts of rejoicing stretch out their 
 arms to welcome them. Especially would we rejoice to 
 see them pouring out of these halls and plunging into the 
 
battle of life bearing aloft the white shield of honor and 
 looking with confidence for victory. 
 
 It seems almost superfluous to say that, if he who is to 
 lead the worthy life is called to be honest with men, still 
 more is he called to be honest with God. Thou shalt 
 not only love thy neighbor as thyself but thou sha't first 
 of all love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. But 
 how many there are who, if challenged, will confess that 
 they have not given up the belief in the Fatherhood of 
 God, and who yet live as though they neither had nor 
 sought a close relationship with Him. Receiving all 
 bounties from Him, they yet live as though they had no 
 relationship except with their fellowmen. They may 
 strive to be not only honorable in their dealings with 
 others, but even to be generous and philanthropic. But 
 so far as we can discover, their souls give no sign of run- 
 ning out with gratitude towards the Giver of all good 
 gifts to them. Some justify their course by maintaining 
 that God neither asks nor desires anything of them except 
 that they shall deal justly and kindly with their fellows. 
 No doubt that is well pleasing in His sight and must form 
 a part of every well-ordered life. 
 
 But if we are to take the example and teachings of 
 Jesus as our guide, this is by no means the whole of our 
 privilege or of our duty. This loving Father is nigh unto 
 us, even in our hearts, if we will admit Him. He de- 
 lights to have us make known our requests to Him in 
 sincere petition. He is pleased to have us commune with 
 Him and seek for his blessing upon us and evince our 
 gratitude to Him by word and by deed. Not that he asks 
 to be placated by the blood of goats and of rams, but that 
 he cannot be a Father without desiring the sincere and 
 filial love of his children, and that love cannot exist with- 
 out seeking and finding some form of expression. 
 
 But are there not some befoie me who would be slow 
 to admit that they do not cherish filial love, yet who are 
 slow to manifest it? This is a period when there are so 
 many questionings concerning creed and dogma, when 
 
so many forms of expressing belief venerable by cen- 
 turies of use have become emptied of their meaning to 
 some of you, when your perceptions of your relations to 
 God have been so dimmed by confusing discussions in 
 philosophy, in science, in theology, that you are hesitant 
 about making affirmations on religious themes. All this 
 we can understand. But after all is there anything puz- 
 zling in the simple relation of you the child to God, your 
 loving Father. And is there any valid excuse for your 
 failing to recognize this relation sincerely, honestly, 
 gratefully, in your daily walk and conversation. 
 
 You are about to step out into a world, of which you 
 know but little. No one can see what lies upon his 
 pathway for even a day. The loving Father waits at the 
 threshold which you are to cross today to take you by 
 the hand and help you on in your journey. No learning 
 which you have gathered, no skill which you have ac- 
 quired, no friendship which you have won, can take the 
 place of the gracious help which He is ready to bestow 
 on every one who opens his heart to His divine ap- 
 proaches and honestly trusts to His blessed guidance. 
 As we part here on this threshold today, may I not ask 
 you to take this simple question with you into life, nay 
 through life, "Is it so important for you to be absolute- 
 ly honest in any other relation of your soul as in your 
 relation to your Heavenly Father?" 
 
 My friends I should be sorry to have you listen to 
 these parting words of mine without assuring you that 
 the parting with you of myself and your other teachers 
 is not merely formal and ceremonious. You have won 
 during your years of association with us and will ever 
 retain our affectionate interest in your welfare. We 
 trust that it will be our good fortune to retain some 
 pleasant place in your memories. 
 
 This year has been unusually calamitous to the Uni- 
 versity Senate. During the last few months three of our 
 professors have been suddenly snatched from us by 
 death: dePont, that charming gentleman, of the noblest 
 
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French breeding and refinement; Pattengill, whose thor- 
 ough instruction in the Greek tongue formed an epoch in 
 the intellectual life of every one of you who had the 
 good fortune to receive it; Russell, the brave explorer 
 and charming writer whose works have carried his name 
 and that of the University throughout the scientific 
 world, these spring months have robbed us of them all. 
 These events cannot but remind us, even in these joy- 
 ous days, of the uncertainty of the future even for you 
 in your vigor and strength. But we wish to assure every 
 one of you, whether Providence grants you a longer or a 
 brief career, we shall follow you in all your work with 
 the warmest sympathy and with the most ardent hopes 
 for your highest success. The strength and the pros- 
 perity of the University are found in the character and 
 the lives of her sons and daughters. Remember that 
 you go forth with this high commission, by your careers 
 to help build the University of the future. Therefore be 
 assured that as she parts with you this week, her choic- 
 est benedictions fall upon you all. 
 
 AJL 
 
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