“In the government of our cities,” says Dr. Holland, “we could very well afford to get along without scholars, if we could have only modestly educated gentlemen. If the heavy-jawed, full-bellied, diamond-brooched bully, who now typifies the city politician, were put to his appropriate work of railroad building, or superintending gangs of ignorant workmen, and there could be put in his place good, quiet business men, of gentlemanly instincts, and of sound moral principle, we could get along very comfortably without the scholar, though there would not be the slightest objection to him. In brief, we want better men than we have, a great deal more than we want brighter or better educated men. Scholarship is secondary, rather than a primary consideration: the gentleman first, the scholar, if he is a gentleman, and not otherwise. If Christian gentlemen were in power, many of the questions that appeal to us for settlement would settle themselves. As long as notorious scamps, scholarly or otherwise, are in power, not much headway can be made in politics. Until we demand something more and something better in our politicians than knowledge or scholarship, until we demand that they shall be gentlemen, we shall take no step forward. George Washington got along very well as a politician on a limited capital of culture, and a very large one of patriotism and personal dignity. Aaron Burr was a scholar, whose lack of principle spoiled him for any good end in politics, and made his name a stench in the nostrils of his country.”