Justice Stanley Reed Praises Y-H-P Conference to Princeton Reporter

The eyes of the nation have been focussed on the new Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill throughout the past twelve months. The "Nine Old Men" formed one of the last barriers of protection to the country's property-holding, minority, and were relentlessly attacked by a large block of public opinion. Rooseveltian reform was attempted and defeated.

The two subsequent vacancies, however, were filled by a liberally-minded Solicitor General, Stanley Reed, and United States Senator Hugo Black. These two new Justices both declined to make any public statements until last week. Justice Reed then disclosed to an undergraduate reporter his views on the approaching Yale_Harvard-Princeton conference on Government and Business to be held at Yale this month. Justice black personally declined to make any statement.

First-Hand Knowledge at Y-H-P

Justice Reed referred to the undergraduate enterprise as the best way the college undergraduate can keep himself in touch with current topics of national importance." He stressed the significance of obtaining this information concerning politics, economics and foreign affairs in "a first-hand manner," rather than "through textbooks and periodicals which are often out of date before reaching the hands of the public."

"Printed discussion lacks efficiency in consideration of national problems," pointed out the Supreme Court member, "and a conference of this kind offers a true medium between academic knowledge and the actual workings of government and business. When you are dealing with a subject or current discussion and strategy, the subject is most clearly understood by association with those personalities who are framing the situation and centre the real background, rather than a mere reference to a myriad of cut-and-dried facts."

Justice Reed remarked on the advantageous setting of this student conference, carried forward by the daily publications of three of the nation's leading universities. These colleges make possible what the Justice termed "a broad, general knowledge of economic and political developments, which enables one to gain the greatest benefit from this mingling of national figures and college undergraduates."

Value of Practical Training

I am forever running across young men who seem to overlook that they necessarily must commence in their early years by the study and application of ideals to concrete problems. No one occupying the top positions today ever passed up such an opportunity for practical training in their 20's and 30's. Now they are the leaders in their 40's and 50's. Your conference at Yale this spring should offer you a first-rate example of this type of training."

The Associate Justice lauded the three Eastern colleges for their support of this extra-curricular undertaking which he recognized as being "probably the first of its type in the country. Now that your Y-H-P conference, in completing its first three-year run, has proved of great value to the undergraduate bodies, I encourage you to set it up as an annual and traditional event. It carries with it the sympathy and support of many official residents of Washington working in those fields in which your interest is focussed."