第94章 CHAPTER III(8)

By usage， guided， no doubt， by a shrewd sense of expediency in the choice of means， it has， in the typical case， come to be the settled policy of these incumbents of executive office to seek the competitively requisite measure of public prestige chiefly by way of public oratory. Now and again his academic rank， backed by the slow-dying tradition that his office should be filled by a man of scholarly capacity， will bring the incumbent before some scientific body or other； where he commonly avoids offence. But， as has been remarked above， it is the laity that is to be impressed and kept propitiously in mind of the executive and his establishment， and it is therefore the laity that is to be conciliated with presidential addresses； it is also to the laity that the typical academic executive is competent to speak without stultification. Hence the many edifying addresses before popular audiences， at commencements， inaugurations， dedications， club meetings， church festivals， and the like. So that an executive who aspires to do his whole duty in these premises will become in some sort an itinerant dispensary of salutary verbiage； and university presidents have so come to be conventionally indispensable for the effusion of graceful speech at all gatherings of the well-to-do for convivial deliberation on the state of mankind at large.(7*)Throughout this elocutionary enterprise there runs the rigorous prescription that the speaker must avoid offence， that his utterances must be of a salutary order， since the purpose of it all is such conciliation of goodwill as will procure at least the passive good offices of those who are reached by the presidential run of language. But， by and large， it is only platitudes and racy anecdotes that may be counted on to estrange none of the audiences before which it is worth while for the captains of erudition to make their plea for sanity and renown.

Hence the peculiarly， not to say exuberantly， inane character of this branch of oratory， coupled with an indefatigable optimism and good-nature. This outcome is due neither to a lack of application nor of reflection on the part of the speakers； it is， indeed， a finished product of the homiletical art and makes up something of a class of its own among the artistic achievements of the race. At the same time it is a means to an end.(8*)However， the clay sticks to the sculptor's thumb， as the meal-dust powders the miller's hair and the cobbler carries sensible traces of the pitch that goes into his day's work， and as the able-bodied seaman "walks with a rolling gait." So also the university executive， who by pressure of competitive enterprise comes to be all things to all audiences， will come also to take on the colour of his own philandropic pronouncements； to believe， more or less conveniently， in his own blameless utterances. They necessarily commit him to a pro forma observance of their tenor； they may， of course， be desired as perfunctory conciliation， simply， but in carrying conviction to the audience the speaker's eloquence unavoidably bends his own convictions in some degree. And not only does the temper of the audience sympathetically affect that of the speaker， as does also his familiar contact with the same range of persons， such as goes with and takes a chief place in this itinerant edification； but there is also the opportunity which all this wide-ranging itinerary of public addresses affords for feeling out the state of popular sentiment， as to what ends the university is expected to serve and how it is expected best to serve them. Particularly do the solemn amenities of social intercourse associated with this promulgation of lay sermons lend themselves felicitously to such a purpose； and this contact with the public and its spokesmen doubtless exercises a powerful control over the policies pursued by these academic executives， in that it affords them the readiest， and at the same time the most habitual， indication as to what line of policy and what details of conduct will meet with popular approval， and what will not.

Since， then， it is necessarily the endeavour of the competitive executives to meet the desires of their public as best they can， consistently with the demands of magnitude and 閏lat imposed by their position as chiefs of these competitive concerns， it becomes a question of some moment what the character of this select public opinion may be， to which their peregrinations expose them； and how far and with what limitations the public opinion that so habitually impinges on their sensibilities and shapes their canons of procedure may be taken as reflecting the sentiments of the public at large， or of any given class of the population.