Excerpt from Charles W. Eliot: President of Harvard University, (May 19, 1869 May 19, 1909) And power of education. A truly feverish craving for instruction and knowledge animates all classes. Education is conceived as the most important structural element in the edi fice of democracy. Education and self-edu cation mean the development of self-centring, independent personalities, without which free institutions cannot endure. Hence education is of all the social duties of America the most urgent. Not until this is fully understood, can the national importance of President Eliot's labors be appreciated. While shaping and guiding the destinies of Harvard Univer sity, he has always been conscious of being at the same time in the service of his people and of democracy. In this spirit he has taken the widest and most active interest in the great public questions of American life. Without ever holding public otfice, as the head of a wholly private institution for such is Har vard in its complete independence of local, state or federal authorities he has for more than a generation been a force in the nation's life. Again and again one hears or sees him characterized in America as our first private. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.