Page:Under Dispute (1924).pdf/95

 Admiral Sims. He was not a man who skirted the hard places on the road, or who was so busy keeping both feet on the ground that he feared to take a step. But he was conscious of the inquisitorial spirit which is part of the righteousness of America, and which keeps watch and ward over all the schooling of the country. "Education," he wrote, "like politics, is a rough affair, and every instructor has to shut his eyes and hold his tongue as though he were a priest."

The policy of shutting one's eyes and holding one's tongue is highly esteemed in all professions, and in all departments of public service. The man who can hear black called white without fussily suggesting that perhaps it is only grey; the man who evades responsibility, and eschews inside criticism (like the criticism of a battleship by an admiral); the man who never tells an unpalatable truth "at the wrong time"