The Indianapolis journal., 1883-03-08
Hon. r. w. Thompson Pays an Eloquent
Tribute to the Generosity of the
Founder of the School.
Points from the Address of the Presi
dent of the Faculty.
The Institute Fully Organized, Glass OF
Twenty-Five Admitted and Instruc-
ton to Begin at Once.
speOial TO the 1ndianapolis Iournal.

by the late Chauncey Rose, was formally
opened to the public to-day with appropriate
ceremonies and exercises. This event is one
of the most important in the history of edu-
cation in this State, the institution being the
first of the kind established in the West. The
institution, in addition to the buildings and
property, has an endowment fund of near
$500, 900, left to it by its founder at the time
of his death in 1878.
The dedication exercises to-day were held
in the audience room, on the third floor of
the building, which could not accommodate
the vast crowd gathered to witness the GER
emonies. The exercises commenced
with prayer by Rev. Pitman Craft,
of the Congregational Church, after which
Hon. R. W. Thompson, ex-Secretary of the
Navy, delivered the opening address, Gov
ernor Porter had expected to deliver the
opening address, but was unable to attend,
as was the case with Senator D. W. Voorhees,,
who was to have delivered an address
Colonel Thompson, who was intimately
associated with Chauncey Rose, the founder
of the institution, paid high tribute to his
many noble qualities. In closing he said;
"The many who have already been re-
lleved by his benevolence will unite in the
bestowal of blessings upon his memory.
Hundreds of Others yet to come, who shall
share the benefactions he has so bountifully
provided will repeat his name with sincere
and heartfelt praises; but there will be
none louder or more earnest in this than
the recipients of the blessings whicA
foundations he has laid with so
much wisdom and foresight and around
which his affections clustered with the most
intense ardor of his nature. As one of the
survivors of that circle of which he was for
so MANY wears conspicuous part a circle
growing smaller and narrower almost every
day, it is only left for me to say, in closing
my part of these exercises, that as 1 knew
him in life to possess integrity which no
temptation could shake, and honesty which
no tongue ever assailed, join earnestly and
heartily in whatsoever expressions of praise
his character and his deeds of love, of mercy
and of benevolence shall call forth. May
the noble charities of his long
life continue to shed their beng
nant influence upon society when We
too, have passed away. May his earthly
remains sleep gently in the narrow sepui-
chre of the dead, and may his immortal spirit
freed from the shackles of earth, dwell for
ever in that House not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens where the good
deeds of well-spent life are rewarded by the
dispensation of a God whose love is as
bouudless as eternity, and whose mercy en-
dures forever
General John Eaton, of Washington D.
G., United States Commissioner of Educa-
ton, next followed in a lengthy address,
after which short recess was taken.
After recess there were short addresses by
DR.. Lemuel Moss, president of the State Uni
versity President White, of Purdue Univer-
sity, and Hon. Barnabas c. Hobbs, ex-
Superintendent of Public Instruction Jo-
sephus Collett, president of the board of
managers of the instruction, then presented
DR.. Charles o. Thompson, president of the
faculty, who replied in few remarks prefa-
tory to his inaugural address.
Address of President Charles o. Thompson.
Mr.. Thompson began his address by de-
fining the purposes of polytechnic school,
which he finally summed up in the state
ment that it teaches the principles of
physical science and their application to
the industrial arts. After citing a number
of striking instances of successful engineer
ing, Mr.. Thompson sad
mo graduate of any school is at that time
an engineer. The qualities of good Judgment
balance, etc, are of slow growth and only
grow in the atmosphere of experience
Hence no diploma can be regarded as mean
ing anything more than that the possessor
has passed successfully the examinations
that are set at any particular school. When
they begin, it should be at the bottom and
their school training will tell hest and most
effectively in the rate of their advancement.
They will advance more rapidly than Others
along the lines which are determined by
their natural aptitudes.
"The Almighty makes superintendents
and leaders OF men--no school can. But the
training required for a perintendent must
be that of his subordinates All the best ex-
perience of the world sanctions this rule.
A superintendent who has not had the train
ing of the shop is as useless as Achilles
without his weapons; he may seem and as
sumo to direct and to lead, but he does not.
On the other hand the man who Attempts
to lead without natural leadership is as use
less as the weapons without Achilles.
The Marquis of Worcester imprisoned in
the Tower of London in 1915, working indus
triously upon his steam and water engines
cast eyes upon a lot which he could see from
his window, and instructed his agent to buy
it, intending he said, as soon as he was set
at liberty to erect a school wherein BOYS
might learn something of the principles of
the mechanic arts But he was never allowed
the opportunity to carry out his idea
"There is an interesting letter from Presi
dent Leonard Hoar of Cam bridge, to Robert
Bayle. in which the good man. after ac-
knowledging some favors from Bayle, dis
closes to him some darling projects of his
own about the improvement of the course at
the university and says:
"I wonld have large, well-sneltcred garden
and orchard for students addicted to planting
an ergasterium for mechanic fancies, and a
laboratory chemical for those philosophers that
by their senses would cultivate their under
standing; for the students to spend their times
OF recreation at them, for reading or notions are
but husky provender'
"Bayle did not encourage the President
and his project slumbered for two centuries,
but was at last realized in the Lawrence
Scientific School.
1.-THE first independent polytechnic school
was the Ecoe Polytechnique in Paris