Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/202

 CHAELES W. ELIOT 183 f eatureB of their work outstripped their former leader. Thus the modem university has taken an honored place in the march of American progress. At the eastern portals of our country, across the Charles Biver from Boston, stands Har- vard, and on the heights above the Hudson in New York stands Columbia. On our western coast on the hillsides over- looking San Francisco Bay lies the beautiful campus of the University of California. In most of the great cities within our borders, and in many a picturesque setting in smaller towns great resources in money and massive bmldings have been set aside for universities in the interest of modem schol- arship. In many, if not in all our conmionwealths, it is to these universities that men look for leadership, it is in their students that much of the hope of the future centers. Only when we realize how far-reaching in all of them has been the influence of Harvard 's great president, can we appreciate our indebtedness to his clear insist, his courage, his enegry, and his moral grandeur. President Eliot 's distinction as an educator has found rec- ognition in all parts of the educational world. He has served as president of our largest educational organization, the Na- tional Education Association. In this office, as elsewhere, he was insistent upon the importance of our whole school sys- teuL His famous address. More Money for our Public Schools j since published in book form, showed conclusively that we, as a nation, have not realized the significance of expenditures upon education. Moreover, President Eliot's position and character have given him an influence reaching far beyond the educational circles to which he belongs. Especially since he has laid aside the responsibilities of his official position and become presi- dent emeritus, has he been able to exert this influence in many good works. Perhaps his greatest contributions have been to the cause of peace ; not the peace of stagnation and mere conservatism, but the peace of progress without friction, of harmonious cooperation in the work of the world. In our jarring industrial life with its strikes and its bitterness, he has raised his voice for better mutual understanding, for fair