It is clear, he pointed out, that we have not availed ourselves of the opportunity to educate more than a small proportion of the later brain-power available in our population. . . There is plenty of unused native capacity in our population to improve our democracy and make it more equal to the necessities and responsibilities of our times if only we have the vision and courage to plan for it, to invest in it and to carry it through. Governor Cherry s address described ignorance among many of the people of this state as Public Enemy No.1 in North Carolina and called for richer opportunities of education among the citizens on North Carolina. Governor Cherry traced the development of East Carolina from the first bill to establish the school, introduced in the legislature in 1905, to the present time. Think of the vast possibilities and opportunities which East Carolina Teachers College enjoys, he said in summarizing the service of the college.
Greater achievements are ahead.
In these counties are the earliest traditions and the history of our commonwealth. Here are scores of progressive and rapidly growing towns. Here is one of the richest agricultural areas on the entire surface of the globe. And, most important of all, here are some of the finest and most splendid people to be found anywhere at any time. Moving into the Wright auditorium on the campus to a processional composed for the occasion and played by the college band, the group marched to the stage, where they and other guests were seated during the inauguration.