Omaha daily bee., 1889-06-26
WITH BATTALIONS OF BRAINS
How the Battles of the Future Will
Be Fought.
THE FATE OF THE REPUBLIC.
IL Depends Not Upon Her Cannon But
Her CoiIeges-Editor Grady's Mag
nificent Address Before tho
Alumni ut Richmond.
The Schools Are the Safeguards.

Oifauy, tne southern OraVOr anu gouFualistJ
delivered an address before the alumni Of
the university of Virginia to-day MIR.
Grady spoke IN substance as follows:
MIR. President. Ladies aud Gentlemen: We
are standing in the daybreak of the second
century of this republic. The fixed stars
are fading from the sky and we grope in un-
certain light. Strange shapes have come
with the night Established ways are lost
new roads perplex, and widening fields
stretch beyond the sight. The unrest of
dawn impels US to and fro--but doubt stalks
amid the confusion, and even on the beaten
paths the shifting crowds are, halted, and
from the shadows tho sentries cry, "Who
comes therel" In the obscurity of the morn
ing tremendous forces are at work. Moth
ing is steadfast or approved. The mir
acies of the present belle the
church is besieged from without and be-
trayed from within. Behind the courts
shoulders the rioters torch and looms the
gibbet of the anarchists. Government Is the
contention of partisans and the prey of
spoilsmen. Trade is restless in the grasp Of
monopoly and commerce shackled with linn
itaton. The cities are swollen and the
fields are stripped. Splendor streams from
the castle, and squalor crouches in the
home The universal brotherhood is dis
solving, and the people are budding into
classes. The hiss of the nihilist disturbs the
covert, and the roar of the mob murmurs
along the highway. Amid it all beats the
great American nearU unulsmayeu, anu
standing fast by the challenge of his con
science the citizen of the republic, tranquil
| and resolute, notes the drifting of the spec
| tral currents, and calmly awaits the full dis
closures of the day.
Who shall be the heralds of this coming
| dayl Who shall thread the way CT honor
| and safety through these besetting prob
| lemsl Who shall rally the people to the de.
| fense of their liberties and stir them until
| they shall cry aloud to be led against the en-
| emies of the republic! You, my country
men, you'll The university is the training
| camp of the future. The scholar the cham
| pion of the coming years. Napoleon over
ran Europe with drum-tap and bivouac-the
next Napoleon shall form mis- battalions at
| the tap of the school house bell and his cap
| tains shall come with cap and gown. Water
| loo was won at Oxford-Sedan at Berlin.
| So Germany plants her colleges in the
| shadow of the French forts, and the pro-
| fessor smiles amid his students as he notes
| the sentinel stalking against the sky. The
| farmer has learned that brains mix better
with his soil than the waste of seabirds,
| and the professor walks by his side as he
| spreads the showers in the verdure of his
| field and locks the sunshine in the glory of
| his harvest. a button is pressed by a child's
| finger and the work of a million of men is
! done. The hand is nothing-the brain every
| thing. Physical pro|ess has had its day and
| the age of reason has come. The lion hearted
| Richard challenging Saladin to single COM
| bat is absurd, for even Cog and Magog shall
1
look not upon the blood that runs to the
| bride bit. Science is everything! She
| butchers hog IN Chicago, draws Boston
| within three hours of New York, renews the
| famlshed soil, routs her viewleSS bondsmen
| from the electric center of the earth, and
| then turns to watch the new Icarus as. mount
| ing in his flight to the sun, he darkens the
burushed ceiling of the sky with the shadow
| of his wing.
| Learning is supreme and you are its proph-
| cts. Here the olympic games OF the republic
| and you its chosen athletes. 1t is yours
| then to grapple with these problems to con-
front and master these dangers. Yours to
| decide whether the tremendous forces of this
| republic shall be kept in balance, or
| whether unbalanced they shall bring chaos;
| whether sc, 900 900 men are capable OF self
| government, or whether liberty shall be lost
| TO them, who would give their lives to main
| tain it, Your responsibility is appalling.
| You stand in the pass behind which the
| worlds liberties are guarded. This govern
| ment carries the hopes of the human race.
Blot out the beacon that lights the portals of
| this republic and the world is ad'ift again.
| But save the republic; establish the light of
| its beacon over the troubled waters, and one
| by one the nations of the earth shall drop an
| chor and be at rest in the harDor OF universal
| liberty.
The germ of the best patriotism is in the
| love that man has for the home he inhab-
| its, for the soil he tils, for the trees that
| give him shade, and the hills that stand in
-
| to love the soil that he stands on-the
| body of my old mother-the mountains that
| are her springng breasts, the broad acres
that hold her substance, the dimpling valleys
| in which her beauty rests, the forests that
sing his songs of lullaby and Of praise, and
the brooks that run with her ripping
laughter. The love OF home-deep rooted
and abidipg--that blurrs the eyes of the
| dying soldier with the vision Of an old home
stead amid green fields and clustering trees
| that follows the busy man through
the clameriug world, persistent though
| put aside, and at last draws his
| tired feet from the highway anu leads him
through shady lanes, and well remembered
| paths until, amid the scenes of his boyhood,
he gathers up the broken threads of his life
and own the soil his conqueror-this-this
| lodged in the heart of the citizen is the saw
ing principle of our government We note
the barracks of our standing army with its
rolling drum and its tiuttering flag as points
OF strength and protection. But the citizen
standing in the doorway of his home-con-
tented on his threshold-his family gathered
about his hearthstone-whiie the evening OF
q well spent day closes in scenes and sounds
that are dearest-he shall save the republic
when the drum tap is futile and the barracks
are exhausted.
Exalt the citizen. AS the state is the unit
of government he is the unit of the state.
Teach him that his home is his castle, and
his sovereignty rests beneath his hat. Make
him self-respectlng, self-reiant and re-
sponsible. Let him lean on the state for
| nothing that his own arm can do and on the
government for nothing that his state can do.
| Let him cultivate Independence to the point
of sacrifice and learn that humble things
with unbartered liberty are better than
| splendors bought with its price. Let him
| stand upright and fearless-a freeman born
of freemen--sturdy in his own strength
lowering his family in the sweat of his brow
| loving To his state-loya! 10 his republic
earnest in his allegiance wherever II rests,
! but building his altar in the midst of his
| household gois and shrining in his own heart
the uttermost temple of it's liberty.
Honor and emulate the virtues and the
faith of your forefathers-who, learned
were never wise ABOVE a knowledge Of God
and His gospel-who, great, were never ex
alted above an humble trust in God and His
mercy!
Let me sum up what have sought to say
in this hurried address Your republic-or
the glory Of which depends all that men holC
dear-is mcnaced with great dangers
Against these dangers defend her, as
| you would defend the most precious con
Germs Of your own life. Against the dangers
of centralizing all political powers, put the
approved and imperishable principle of loca
self government. Between the rich and tn,
poor, now drifting into separate camps
build up the great middle class that neither