LECTURES BY PROFESSOR TAFT

As announced in the last number of the MAGAZINE, Professor William Howard Taft, ex-president of the United States and professor of Law at Yale University, delivered a series of three lectures in Webster Hall on the evenings of March 10, 11, and 12. These lectures, which were made possible by the generosity of certain members of the Board of Trustees, were very largely attended and most enthusiastically received.

In the first of these lectures, on "The Presidency," Professor Taft defined the powers of the president, laying stress equally on. their breadth and their limitations. Numerous and interesting citations of historic instances illustrative of the ways in which various presidents had exercised their power served to make clear his points and to add a narrative charm to the address. The sec- ond lecture treated "The Signs of the Times" as manifested in three important ways: combination arid organization, illustrated by the growth of large business corporations since 1873 and the growth of the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission; the tendency toward a purer democracy; and the growth of altruism. The last lecture, on "Popular Government and the Supreme Court," outlined clearly and logically the present position of the Supreme Court in the view of its historical development, attacked severely the theories of initiative, referendum, and recall, and defended sincerely and enthusiastically the integrity of the Constitution. In all his addresses, Professor Taft's clear thinking, his interesting use of a vast knowledge of the legal and political history of the United States, his delightful informality of delivery, his broad command of pure English style, and his genial humor caught and held throughout the enthusiastic attention of his audiences.

Ample opportunity was afforded the student body and the faculty to meet Professor Taft while he was in Hanover. After the lecture on the evening of March 10th, an informal reception was held in College Hall to which the entire undergraduate body was invited, and at 4 o'clock on the afternoon of March 12, a tea was given in the Trophy Room of Alumni Gymnasium. On the latter occasion, at which President Nichols and Governor Spaulding assisted Professor Taft in receiving, all members of the college community were invited to be present.