to live up to your own high ideals of your noble
profession. The very acceptance of such positions in such an institution
carries with it the obligation of performance--_Noblesse Oblige!_

But who are these college and university students who have such a large
and important future before them and for whose training and development,
because of that future, such elaborate preparations are being made? The
university man--who and what is he? Likewise the university woman? Let
us answer the question simply and briefly by merely saying that, tho
sometimes rude and crude because immature and undeveloped, they are yet
the keenest, the brightest, the most far-seeing, the most promising
young men and women of the land. They are the choice souls found, one
here, another there, one in the hamlet and another on the farm, one in
the city and another on the prairie, one in a palace, another in a sod
house. They are a picked lot selected not only from the so-called upper
ranks of thought and action, but as well from the highways and by-ways
of our broad land, chosen because of intellectual strength and moral
fiber, because of high ideals and lofty purposes; chosen by themselves,
it may be true, but chosen nevertheless, thru their equipment of mind
and heart. The very fact that you are here and others are not is
testimony sufficient to your greater worth. Exceptions, to be true,
there are, but none too many prove the rule. I am not saying these
things in a spirit of flattery, not at all. I am merely stating facts,
and thru these facts trying to help you catch the vision--to see your
opportunity and accept the responsibilities. But note the
significance--those already best equipt by the superior quality of
their brain matter and of their mental fiber and of their moral nature
and who therefore without further preparation would easily distance the
others, are here giving themselves even better equipment. There can be
no question as to the relative position of the two classes in the years
to come--the one class is to furnish the leaders, the other the
followers. The one is to form the ideals, to set the standards, to
decide upon policies, to mark out courses, the other to try to reach the
goals set. The two classes may be equally good morally, equally worthy
of respect and honor because equally faithful in the performance of
duties suited to their tastes and abilities, but yet, from the very
nature of things, the one going ahead, the other