AN AMERICAN CITIZEN

When the important question of what a primary school curriculum should consist of was being agitated in the columns of the New York Times last spring, one of the most notable programs contributed was that of President Eliot. That he should still be taking an active interest in public matters after some eighty-nine long years is no more remarkable than it is fortunate. For out of the wealth of experiences of full life and out of his amazing understanding of human nature, President Eliot has become a kind of human Delphic oracle whose advice has been of importance in many fields of American life.

For forty years as president of Harvard Mr. Eliot guided and built up the University. He brought scholarship out between the Scylla of dilettantism and the Charybdis of scornful indifference into its present healthy state. And the achievement was so notable that its influence spread like ripples on water through the whole educational system of the country. But education has not been all. He has made himself the foremost exponent of the Open Shop, he has written books, he has been of influence upon public opinion in many state questions. It is difficult to call to mind any problem in the scale of human relations in which he has not interested himself and in so doing become a leader of opinion on that problem.

That a man is no older than he feels has perhaps never been better exemplified than by President Eliot. Instead of retiring at sixty into a sommolent old age, he has to this very day kept as intellectually active as any youth--and he has kept so by the catholicity and vigor of his interests. In this he has made himself a great name--our foremost example of the American Citizen. And President Eliot is to receive such signal recognition on March 20. He deserves all praises and honor not only from Harvard men but from the whole country.

Praise and honor less in words than in deeds after his fashion.