ho bear the dignified and significant title of
selectmen. Public men must expect criticism and be prepared to endure
false charges from their opponents. It is a matter of no great concern
to them. But public confidence in government is a matter of great
concern. It cannot be maintained in the face of such opinions as I have
mentioned. It is necessary to differentiate between partisan assertions
and actual conditions. It is necessary to recognize worth as well as to
condemn graft. No system of government can stand that lacks public
confidence and no progress can be made on the assumption of a false
premise. Public administration is honest and sound and public business
is transacted on a higher plane than private business.

There is no difficulty for men in college to understand elections and
government. They have all had experience in it. The same motives that
operate in the choice of class officers operate in choosing officers for
the Commonwealth. Here men are soon estimated at their true worth. Here
places of trust are conferred and administered as they will be in later
years. The scale is smaller, the opportunities are less, conditions are
more artificial, but the principles are the same. Of course the present
estimate is not the ultimate. There are men here who appear important
that will not appear so in years to come. There are men who seem
insignificant now who will develop at a later day. But the motive which
leads to elections here leads to elections in the State.

Is there any especial obligation on the part of college-bred men to be
candidates for public office? I do not think so. It is said that
although college graduates constitute but one per cent of the
population, they hold about fifty per cent of the public offices, so
that this question seems to take care of itself. But I do not feel that
there is any more obligation to run for office than there is to become a
banker, a merchant, a teacher, or enter any other special occupation. As
indicated some men have a particular aptitude in this direction and some
have none. Of course experience counts here as in any other human
activity, and all experience worth the name is the result of
application, of time and thought and study and practice. If the
individual finds he has liking and capacity for this work, he will
involuntarily find himself engaged in it. There is no catalogue of such
capacity. One man gets results in one way, another in another. But in
genera