The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-06-20

~ tenance of institutions of learning Wher
e all who will may receive without none
% and without price, as free as the air I
d weary man the benefits of collegiat
e training. The scope of this UniverSit
. must be brOadened new department
e must be added until the training neces
/ sary for the prosecution of any characte
of investigation or labor can be receive,
e within its walls. Heretofore young mel
! of energy and ambition in Texas have t,
u too great an extent been forced into tn,
e professions of law and medicine becauS,
Of their inability to receive the specia
= training necessary for other department.
4 of labor. Henceforth we must educat,
: our labOrers; we must train our own ma
chinists; we must make skillful our owl
mechanics; we must tutor our OWL
biologists and mineralogists; we mus
= produce our own architects; we must EN-
plOy our own electricians; we must ado
- new dignity and honor to these and al
) other forms of educated labor by adding
t new capacities and higher qualifications
, to the laborers. By this means prosperitg
may be wood and won; by this means
our waste places may be built up; our ex-
i haustless treasurers utilized; our towns
i developed into cities and our land be.
decked with the coronet of peace and
plenty. Say you that Texas is too pool
to thus endow and equip such an inStitu-
/ ton? If she is deaf to the admonitions
of the fathers and the experiences of the
past; if she is blind to the ext
gencies of the present and the
possibilities of the future; if she is content
to remain the newer of wood and drawer
of water to the rest of mankind; then she
may be too poor. But such is not the
case; she is abundantly able to support
her educational system and she must be
taught to do so. For years we have
| strained our eyes looking for the dawn of
a brighter day for this institution but
hardly a CLEAN has appeared; we must
hew down the mountain of opposition that
keeps us in the shadow; we must rift the
clouds that keep back the light. To whom
can this institution look for help if not
to us, her children; what ear will be
open to her cry if our own is deaf? What
arm will be raised as her defender if orr
own is palsied with indifferenece or fear?
What voice will announce the approach
of hostile Goths or Vandals if our own
sentinels are asleep upon the watch
tower! implore you arouse yourself TO
the cry of your State and the needs of
this institution. By the love YOU bear
to each; by the memory of the DAYS VIXEN
you were sheltered by this institution: by
the glories of the fathers who gave her
life, by the hopes of the future l beseech
you rush to her aid. There is vet time
for victory to be snatched from the Jaws
of defeat. At the battle of N1arengo
when the battle had been all but lost to
the French, one of the lieutenantS of
Napoleon swept upon the fields with fresh
troops and said to him: "Sire, the battle
has been lost but there is yet time to
gain another one" and it was done. Let
us covenant one with the other that this |
institution shall become one worthy of
Texas. Let us raise her up from the posi- |
ton of a mendicant which she has too |
long occupied and let her demand from |
Texas what is her due. Let us so labor |
to educate public sentiment that legiSla- |
lures will hasten to do the bidding of this |
University and governors will doft their
hats to her as to a power greater than |
themselves-the power that makes gov
errors.
This is the duty that Texas owes to
this institution and it is an urgent duty.
We must not longer be content with the
admonition to wait. The sunshine says
to the oak, "wait. Let me hestow my
warmth else where for season and
then I'll smile on you" The leaves fade,
the branches droOp, the trunk decays; the
oak is dead. 1t could not wait. The
showers say to the ripening grain of June
time wait and the blades are ground in
to dust and the winds scatter the chaff
md the world grows hungry. The har-
vest field can not wait. Texas says to
the great rolling tide of intellectual
-hought and energy as it sweeps over our
borders, wait" and with conyulsive
surge it stops, but there is an irresistible
power urging it on, it must roll on to the
Tea and around our border it glides, carry
ma 20 70 OF lt,t laaN vim |
,arched and bare. Texas can not wait.
These are some of the duties due from
he State to this University, the duty to
it, to add to it different schools
Until it becomes the training ground not
one for law and medicine and the profess
ion of teaching but for the avOcations of |
ife as varied as the desires and necessities 5
f human existence. The young men and '
7omen leaving these halls owe an obi {
alton to the State no less binding. They I
ave been the wards Of the State, the ben c
ficiaries of its bounty. They are bound I
0 it by ties of affection and gratitude /
tronger and more enduring than are q
hose who have been less favored. The
ischarge of this duty is matter of no 70
mall moment. 1t is not enough that you I
hey and uphold the law. That is ex- y
ected of all. 1t is not enough that you 0
Sercise at appropriate times the right of 0
lffrage. That is a universal right in this u
Ind. The duty rests upon you to dedi a
ate yourselves to the development of the I
lateral resources of the State, but even V
lis is not all. We owe her a duty in
Olitical way that will tax our highest
nergies to pay. We are wont to look upon G.
lese as uneventful times. We are prone !,
} cast our eye backward to the time when :,
lie current of our national life was thrown | 1t
ito a whirlpool of conflicting and clash a
g opinions and interests and to think a
lat these alone were the times when =
reat achievements could be wrought in Il
ahalf of the State. We are inclined to I
'rget that while the whirlpool itself is t
ncOntrollable that above it the waters o
re gliding peacefully on glimmering in t
lie sunshine, subject to restraint and can r.
carried on to the sea by paths unbrok- t
by waterfalls and treacherOus eddies i
eceive not yourself with the belief that +
le present age does not afford you a Il
'lendid arena for the exercise of all the Il
Tents with which you are endowed. s.
cross the stage of today there 90 stalk u
g the forms of colossal contentious. a
IL you, we live in the very crisis of the =
ord's history The forces that have c.
EN- gathering up their strength for CEN v
RES nave turned loose their fury upon a.
|. we are the heirs of all the evils of :,
INJURIES as well as of-the good. The a.
ckedneSs of the Seventeenth and the
ttenness of the Eighteenth centuries II
We come down to us with the momentum n,
ages. We have advanced since then: 4,
nave made the elements captive: this e.
" put make the conflict more frightful. dl
N 4 ~