Education: … And Not Enough of Labor

Across the U.S. it was Commencement Time. A year ago, when the war was nearly won, Commencement orators talked of high hopes. To this June’s speakers, they now seemed hopelessly optimistic.

At Harvard, Byron Price, wartime director of Censorship, gave the Phi Beta Kappa address. His hopes & fears were perhaps fairly typical of Commencement, 1946. Excerpts:

“Of all the nations, our own was best equipped in 1945 to point the way for the aspiring world. How shall we characterize the state of the Union today? Can we . . hold aloft as an example a national scene of confusion, hesitation and reviving bigotry; of legislative lethargy, timidity and neglect; of economic strangulation at the ruthless hands of marplots; of furtive operations in the black market; of increasing juvenile delinquency; of padded relief rolls, while work waits for millions; and of waste and profligacy in a world in dire need? To this we have come in so short a time since the valorous days of 1945.”

Not a Thimbleful. “And what shall we say of the present state of the man of letters? Of the making of books it may be said that no age has exceeded this, provided we speak only in terms of press runs and dollar sales. But how often shall the seeker find between these myriad covers an ounce of literary beauty, or a thimbleful of spiritual elevation? We are served a fare of dissoluteness and destruction. We are asked to sneer at man and regard him as no better than the worm. We are invited to improve our minds by studying the endless sagas of criminals and harlots, moving in sordid surroundings, and worshiping only the flesh.

“We have lost valor at the very moment of our greatest need. Twelve months ago the tools were sharp and the blueprint fresh and intriguing. Now we have come to the end of a year of hope, and not enough of labor.

“It would be easy for every American to point an accusing finger at his neighbor, and exhort him to reform; but we have tried that already. It would be easy (and to some degree plausible) to put the blame on politicians-afraid-of-their-shadows, or the perversity of foreign peoples, or a weakening of the churches, or a breakdown of our schools, or the blindness of book publishers, or the press, or the radio, or the theater.”

Time for Valor. “Let us face it. Timid and procrastinating political leadership can endure only as the voters give permission. Selfish magnates of labor and management can keep their power only so long as mass opinion tolerates their excesses. Shorn of popular patronage, bad books, bad newspapers, bad motion pictures, bad radio would disappear with the day’s sunset. Black markets prosper in exact proportion to the dereliction of normally respectable citizens. Church and school do not fail except as the people fail.

“The valor that was ours a year since was the valor of millions. So now the shortcomings are the shortcomings of millions. We shall not find the way again, unless, as in other decisive hours long ago we, the people set our course resolutely again toward national greatness. The very universality of our failing is cause for hope; for we are the selfsame individuals we were a year ago, and it is beyond reason that the spark of so great a nobility does not still burn behind the façade of our indifference. There is yet time for valor.”