Conant Asks 1939 to 'Neglect Tumult of Moment,' Preserve Individuality, in Baccalaureate Sermon

President Conant urged the members of this year's graduating class to "weight the present against the future, the claims of the individual spirit against those of society" when they are planning their lives, in his Baccalaureate sermon in Memorial Church yesterday afternoon.

Nearly 800 Seniors and their families and friends heard the President advise the class of 1939 to resist "the impact of the immediate present, the corrosive atmosphere of potential strife," and to develop their own talents and individualities.

Recalling that he had last spoken in the Church during last autumn's European crisis the President found as little room for complacent Pollyanna optimism today as there was last September."

Men's Opinions Change

"On the other hand", he warned, "a study of the past should remind us of the fallibility of all human judgements, even those of the best informed. What appear to be clear-cut issues to one generation may seem nebulous uncertainties to their descendants."

As an illustration of this fallibility he quoted the varying judgements of posterity expressed in Winston Churchill's "Life of Marlborough" on the Peace of Utrecht and the career of the Duke of Marlborough.

In universities, President Conant said, "the traditional wisdom of the past meets the flood tides of the moment. From their cross-currents flow new ideas, a few of which may live to enrich a later generation." Since the work of scholars can only be judged by their "long-run significance," he remarked that "they may be permitted to interpose at times a caveat to all who would regard the imperious demands of the present as sure guides for the future."

To the "problem of evil" each man must find his own answer, the President stated, and "not attempt to dodge the problem by wishful thinking." He attacked the enervating effect of an individual's or a generation's self-pity and found cause for some optimism in history's recital of unfulfilled evil prophecies.

On the other hand, President Conant said, there is the temptation to hink that "the business of this generation is trying to straighten out the tangled net of on upset society," and that the young man must concern himself with "vital matters."

The adoption of a "militant creed directed to a specific goal," as Germany has done, he found, would lead to he abandonment of "almost all of those basic concepts of the integrity of human life--liberty and individuality. To me there is no escape from the dilemma.

"Either a wartime basis, an attack by all concerned to accomplish an immediate end, or the frank recognition that in the free and gradual development of man's creative powers lies the hope of a distant future."

Turning to the various positions which will be occupied by the members of the graduating class in the future, President Conant declared that "The fate of our free institutions may well depend quite as much on the honesty, conscientiousness and effectiveness of the man of business as on the proposals of the politician and the administrative decisions of the government official."

The President again advised the Seniors not to forget the past in providing for the future and he asked this question: "Should not even this troubled generation find it a worthy aim to bring forth new creations of the spirit which posterity will not willingly let die?"

He concluded the sermon with the following exhortation: "Neglect the tumult of the moment; do not be afraid to be yourself. Choose a field of effort where you may develop your talents to the utmost, Labor honestly and selflessly in your chosen calling. Then in spite of the warfare of ideologies and the outcome of current struggles if your hopes be realized, at some later day it may be written of you, 'He also lived to build a finer civilization.' In the multiplication of such epitaphs the greatness of a nation may truly be read."

Seniors in Procession

The Baccalaureate service was conducted by the Reverend Dr. Charles E. Park, of the First Church in Boston, a member of the Harvard Board of Preachers. President Conant held a reception for the members of the graduating class at his house on Quincy Street following the service.

Seniors, headed by Richard H. Sullivan '39, First Marshal of his class, narched around the old quadrangle of the Yard, saluting the statue of John Harvard in passing, before entering the Church and occupying the front news.

A special Baccalaureate hymn, written by the Class Poet, Robert W. Anderson '39, was sung during the ser-ice.