POLITICS

In one of George Washington's soberer moments, as certain biographers might write, he said words to the effect that politics should not be made a profession. Future biographers may say that it was in a moment of unusual exhilaration that Calvin Coolidge told the public that citizens should not accept public positions unless financially independent of that position, thoughts not unlike his presidential ancestor's.

There are two things particularly interesting to note in connection with what these Presidents have declared. The first is that in the campaign from which the smoke has not yet had chance to clear a number of prominent participants have been men of independent means, men obviously not in the political field to reap monetary harvest. In the immediate locality both gubernatorial candidates, Fuller and Gaston, and Senator Butler come under this category. In an adjacent state the names of Wadsworth and Mills suggest families of considerable financial prominence.

Second is the distressing fact that among the students at Harvard those who plan to enter politics sooner or later are exceedingly rare. The wealthy students who could enter public life immediately upon the completion of their education have few public thoughts and fewer thoughts for the public; the students who must depend upon a business or profession for bread and butter do not look forward to the time when they may be free to do public service. Futile it is to point to the unattractive characteristics of present political campaigns until the competition for public office becomes so intense that none but the intelligent, those who treat public life in a sane way, remain in the running.