This committee studied conditions in Canada, a country possessing the same substantive laws, the same religions and similar dominant races to ourselves, in which, however, the criminal conditions are "strikingly dissimilar" to our own and greatly to the credit of our northern neighbor. The chief factors in favor of Canada were found to be the swiftness and certainty of punishment; the methods of applying the law; the practical absence of interference with the judgments of courts, and a strong public sentiment in favor of law and order. They find a "palpable difference" between the attitude of the two men upon the street -the Canadian and the American-and that this attitude of mind, largely the result of the failure of courts to enforce the laws, is the most prolific cause of the present widespread disrespect for law.

The truth is that the average American devotes his hours to accumulating wealth and trusts to Providence to run the country. For a quarter of a century we have been sowing the wind and are now reaping the whirlwind.

Moreover, the on-coming generation have witnessed other scenes: A hundred-thousand men and women, ladies-God save the mark -scrambling for places to witness a modern gladiatorial combat in which a pugilist, who had carefully avoided the trenches when his country called its fighting men overseas, beat his opponent into insensibility and this same hundred-thousand men and women paying a million dollars for the privilege.

Again, the youth of to-day are not blind to the fact that their elders, according to the public press, either brazenly defy and violate the Constitution under which we live or lack the moral courage and stamina to compel bootleggers and highjackers to obey the law. We are told in the World's Work that judges in Chicago, New Jersey, and Boston shamelessly disregard the Constitution they are sworn to obey, and the editor of that great magazine refers in caustic terms to prohibition as a "farce." Are Americans so absolutely lawless that they will neither obey nor enforce a law that they themselves

have enacted, when not in harmony with their desires and prejudices, or is this statement a libel upon American manhood? And what must be the permanent effect of the present status of prohibition enforcement upon the impressionable youth of our secondary schools?

In point of morals, if there is any difference, there is more cause for alarm in contemplating the older generation than the younger. Is it surprising that the oncoming generation claims that their elders had pretty well ruined the world before turning it over to them?

In contrast with these really significant events in public life are the faults of youth with which we with which we are familiar: joy-riding; vandalism; loafing; profanity; the pool-hall habit. No one would deny that a small percentage of the young people in our secondary and higher schools cheat on examinations; pass in "borrowed" work; commit petty larceny; try moonshine; and are downright immoral; but the vast majority of these same young people are not only building substantial moral habits but are destined to be the most powerful force for public righteousness that America has yet known. Permit me to submit three reasons for this optimism:

The calendar of serious crimes of recent years-murder, arson, embezzlementswhich is a sad part of our annals and which appears so greatly to our discredit in comparison with the record in other countries must be interpreted in the light of certain facts which constitute a handicap in the administration of our great centers of population. Our great cities are not only centers of population-they are likewise centers of crime, and this is especially true of our chief metropolitan cities where large foreign elements are found. In comparing the crime record of these cities with that of London certain facts should be kept in mind: London with seven million population is 3 per cent foreign born; Chicago with three million population is 30 per cent foreign born; New York with nearly six million population is 36 per cent foreign born with approximately 50 per cent of its foreign born

from two countries-Russia and Italy. Moreover, 75 per cent of the population of New York City is either foreign born or has one or both parents foreign born. It is well known that the Italians commit serious. offenses-leading all nationalities in personal assaults. The latest statistics (1907-'08) show that the Italians in New York City furnished 27 per cent of the persons convicted of crimes of personal violence, though the Italians made up but 7 per cent of the population of that city. Chicago and the great cities east of the Alleghanies are no more the real America than are Naples and Jerusalem.

This cloud is not without its silver lining. William Rossiter, for many years chief clerk of the U. S. Census and a statistician of high standing, in the Atlantic Monthly for August, 1924, shows that of the 95 million white people of the United States 55 million trace their origin to England, Scotland, and Wales. This is the greatest Anglo-Saxon element in the world, exceeding in numbers the combined populations of England, Scotland, Wales, and Canada; is intelligent, enterprising, in general lawabiding, endowed with initiative, and if Runnymeade, Naseby, Yorktown, and Gettysburg mean anything will provide the character and driving power in solving the vexed problems now confronting our country. The report of the American Bar Association to which I have already referred contains this significant language:

On the other hand, in crimes which indicate the dishonesty of the people, such as larceny, extortion, counterfeiting, forgery, fraud, and other crimes of swindling, a comparison of conditions demonstrates that the morals of this country are better than in any other of the large countries of the world. The American people are an honest people; commercial integrity here works to a higher standard than in any other land, the morality of the country is higher, the lives of its citizens are cleaner, offenses against women and children are less frequent and more universally abhorred.

A critic of the present generation, writing in 1911, used this language in disparaging

our youth and exalting their elders: “Our ancestors spoke frequently of fortitude. That virtue was very real and very admirable to them; they used it too little; you do use it at all." "Your fathers had force; personality; power; these you are losing." "What would you do if a great day really dawned? You would be tossed on the scrap heap."

The "great day" did dawn in April, 1917, when democracy declared war on arrogant autocracy; it dawned when the thousands of high-school boys, a superb and inspiring spectacle, marched away amid cheers and waving flags; it dawned again at ChâteauThierry where they stopped the German "victory drive"; at Belleau Woods where for twenty-seven days and nights they rushed and won a strip of country deemed impregnable; and in the Argonne forest where they exhibited courage and endurance under conditions a thousand times more horrible than Spartans and Romans were ever called upon to face.

It may well be asked just what the public school is doing to train the on-coming generation in private and public morals. Claim has sometimes been made that there is no place in America where the public schools teach "religion and morals." By the term "religion" is probably meant speculative theology, forms and theories that have no place in a public school system in which are found, side by side, children from Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and non-religious homes. History clearly demonstrates that, for America, a complete severance of Church and State is the only solution that can have the stamp of finality. But the essence of religion, what Fosdick designates the first things in religion, "personal character and social righteousness," private and public goodness, are such an integral part of public school administration and instruction that one finds it difficult to believe that any intelligent critic could claim that the schools are derelict in this respect.

We would all agree that provision should be made in American life for teaching every pupil the history, the great literature, the

were wonderful opportunities for adventure and glorious deeds.

But if you study his behaviour in every event which now makes his name famous you will find that he acted as any honest man can act who makes up his mind so to do. He was honest; he was brave, he was dependable, he was patient, he was unselfish. You and I can be the same.

We cannot explain the greatness of Washington by any unusual gift or power. He was not the world's greatest military genius. He was not a brilliant scholar. He was not a famous orator, nor an expert in the science of government. All of his powers were homely, every-day qualities. But he was true, faithful, reliable. He did not

waver.

There are many events in the life of Washington which might seem to be the most important. We see him taking com

Prayer. Father of all, who hast put into our hearts the wish for useful lives and hast given us the power to live them, we mean to profit by the example of great and good men who served our country. We intend to imitate their virtues in so far as we are able. Hear our resolve. Amen.

We are assembled to pay tribute to the memory of George Washington.

Many have declared that he stands alone in his grandeur like some mountain peak in a range of smaller hills.

We are inclined to think of him as superhuman, beyond our power to learn from him or to imitate.

This is not a reasonable view.

It is true that Washington lived in a time when great events were happening. There

at him receiving the surrender of Cornwallis and the proud British army. We admire him as he accepts the presidency of the Republic. In all of these important events he is quiet, modest, and unassuming.

But see him in his room at Newburgh headquarters. His army is almost a wreck. The states have failed to send their money for the army. The men are short of food. There comes a letter from a trusted officer: Colonel Nicola. It tells of the sufferings of the soldiers. It says the trouble is with the form of government. the form of government. "All republics have been failures. The army will make you our king. The qualities that have made you beloved by your men will sustain you on the American throne. You have but to say the word and the thing will be done. Then, with a strong government the country may secure its much needed peace and order."

We cannot now realize how gladly the army and the nation would have accepted this event. We are unable to appreciate the temptation of such an offer. History abounded with cases of the settlement of disorder by putting the government into a strong hand.

The answer was one of the most patriotic acts in the history of the world. "Banish all such thoughts from your mind," the commander-in-chief replied. "To do what you propose would bring the greatest mischief which could befall our country."

That was the supreme act of patriotism. What is patriotism? It is love of country.

What is love of country? It is devotion to other people than oneself. Patriotism is unselfishness, generosity.

There is no patent upon it. We do not have to be generals nor presidents to possess it.

The lesson of the life of Washington is not that he stood alone in his grandeur like some mountain peak in a range of smaller hills.

But the life of Washington means to us that generosity, unselfishness, and service. are the everyday American ideals which made him whom to-day we honor, the greatest good man in the history of our land.

I

-WILLIAM TYLER PAGE

-HENRY CABOT LODGE