honesty in public life, and to stand for the creation of an opinion
which shall demand truth and decency in the press and the magazines.
Do what you can, by private effort, but especially by organized effort
and by pressure upon those who are your representatives, to bring about
the day when the man who wilfully misleads the public, and wilfully
lies to the public, on any question of interest to the public, shall
be amenable--if possible to the law, if not, at least to the force of
public opinion--exactly as if he were a malefactor of any other kind.
And now, my friends, in closing these five lectures I wish again to
thank you from my heart for having come here and listened to me as you
have listened. I appreciate it more than I can say. My plea can be
summed up in these words: I ask you men and women to act in all the
relations of life, in private life and in public life, in business, in
politics, in every other relation, as you hope to see your sons and
daughters act if you have brought them up rightly and if you prize
their good name and good standing among decent men and women.
Good-bye and good luck.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been left unchanged.
Obvious typographical errors silently corrected.