Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1878-06-26
Force Of th9 individual In
ETQEreSS.

I
Our young friend, Fred. B. Rob-
inson, graduated creditably from
the Wisconsin University with the
class OF 1873, last week. BY per-
mission We give TRIBUNE readers
the benefit Of Ills graduating ora
tiOn:
We I've IN an era Of progress. The
signs OF progress are the changing
OF questions, and the shifting OF
grounds. Old questions are put in
new forms, old grounds are defend
ed on new principles. The progress
s've tendency pervades every de-
partmcnt OF life-its theories, its
material developement and spiritual
convictions. But ia what does this
progress consist! In growth of pro-
ducts or increase OF population
in mere material development
and results of abstract thought.
Progress comprehends all this and
infinitely more. Because prog
ress is shifting and indefinite, mans
conceptions of it are often par
tial and indistinct /; bat the es-
sential idea underlying all progress
is indiriduol liberty.
There is progress when the slave
is released from his bondage when
the inquisition is condemned as an
Instrument Of torture; when the
priest ceases to he the sole interpret
er between God and man. The
advancement of every age is marked
10y some distinguishing characters
tic. 1t is the popularity of the
progress of the 10Th century that it
boldly and clearly distinguishes be-
tween truth and error; it tolerates
, no man with truth in one hand
and falsehood in the other;
it puts every theory and belief
to crucial test. TO day doctrines
which but yesterday were thought
to have been established in wisdom,
are being weighed in the balance
and found wanting.
There are two inseperable elements
in progress-the individual and the
race. OF these the former is most
important only through the indi-
vidual is the progress of the race
possible. Whatever brushes indi-
viduality initiates ignorance ana
slavery. National liberty is gained
only as man breaks the shackles of
individual bondage. The individual
must initiate and regulate the move
ments of the race; he is the center
Of growth and change, thu main
spring and pendulum of progress.
In all ages the growth of the race
has owed its peculiar character to
The efforts OF the individual. We
know the military powers of Greece
through the efforts Of Alexander
we know the character of Gre
elan and Roman oratory through
the master efforts of Demosthenes
and Cicero; through Napoleon
comes to us the character of the
French Revolution. The indi-
idual has always been the iniiia-
tory power in national growth. He
has stimulated original thought;
aroused the world from the slumber
OF fixed decided opinions, and thus
kept it from lapsing into barbarism.
Aristotle led and controlled the sci
entitic and speculative world for
years.
The force of the individual is seen
in the fields of discovery and inven-
ton. The safety-lamp, the electric
telegraph. the loom and steam engine
have each come from individual
minds. The individual asserts him
self with equal force in reformations.
Luther denounced the blackened
sins of corrupted church, aud
henceforth man sought anew to
know religious truth and religious
duty. Bacon threw off the CALLING
yoke of false philosophy, and ush-
cred in n new era of thought and
Investigation. No less prominent is
the force of the individual in nation
al progress, National progress is
the sum Of individual effort; the
personal effort OF every citizen. The
worth and strenth of n nation depend
upon the individuals comprising it