(Extract)

 

When the excitement of party warfare presses dangerously near our national

safeguards, I would have the intelligent conservatism of our universities and

colleges warn the contestants in impressive tones against the perils of a breach

impossible to repair.

 

When popular discontent and passion are stimulated by the arts of designing

partisans to a pitch perilously near to class hatred or sectional anger, I would

have our universities and colleges sound the alarm in the name of American

brotherhood and fraternal dependence.

 

When the attempt is made to delude the people into the belief that their

suffrages can change the operation of national laws, I would have our

universities and colleges proclaim that those laws are inexorable and far

removed from political control.

 

When selfish interest seeks undue private benefits through governmental aid, and

public places are claimed as rewards of party service, I would have our

universities and colleges persuade the people to a relinquishment of the demand

for party spoils and exhort them to a disinterested and patriotic love of their

government, whose unperverted operation secures to every citizen his just share

of the safety and prosperity it holds in store for all.

 

I would have the influence of these institutions on the side of religion and