So it is in civic affairs. Study not only what Washington and Washington’s supporters did, but study what was done by those who brought the Continental Congress to absolute impotence. Study what was done by those who nearly undid the good work of Washington. Study what has been done in the past by the men who have made errors no less than by the men who have won triumphs, and profit alike by the study of the triumphs and by the study of the errors. Talking among ourselves, man to man, each of us will admit to the other that there are things in our life that he does not like; but when one of us gets on his feet to address the rest he often seems to feel as if somehow he ought never to speak save in indiscriminate praise of all. The same man who will take an unwarrantably pessimistic view of all our governmental matters in private will feel obliged to speak in unwarrantable praise of all these matters in public. We ought to avoid ignorant praise as much as ignorant blame. It is only by making a correct diagnosis that we can find out how to treat any given disease. A good physician in making a diagnosis is not either an optimist or a pessimist. He wants to find out the facts; for to take either too dark or too rosy a view may be fatal to the patient. Just so in our body politic. Try to find out what the facts really are, try to find out what the good qualities, what the defects; what the good side is in any portion of our Government, what the defect is in any portion of our Government. State the truth; do not hysterically exaggerate what is good; do not hysterically exaggerate what is evil. Find out the facts; and then with your whole heart set to work to preserve and make better the good and to cut out and do away with the evil. ADDRESS TO THE GRADUATES OF THE UNITED STATES NAVAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, WASHINGTON, D. C., MARCH 25, 1905 _Ladies and Gentlemen; and especially the Members of the Graduating Class_: