The Portland daily press., 1895-07-09

from the utterances of some Of its most
advanced thinkers. 1t is a noble creed
and you are engaged in pious work,
begun by the fathers when the founda-
tlons OF the Republic were laid in blood
and tears, and it will be carried on by
generations of your successors until thai
glorious day when all men shall see eye
to eye.
When turn back to that memorable
page in the genesis of New England,
whereon is recorded the efforts of these
noble men to establish popular education
in this country, and, realizing the hard
conditions Which surrounded them, turn
to the present, and behold the complex
and magnificent system which now pre-
walls, l can but conclude that the men
who have wrought these marvels are
worthy sons of worthy sires and wish
them God speed. Among these worthy
sons of men who made education and re-,
llgion the corner-stones of our social fab
ric, are the members of the American In
stitute of Education, and as such, in be-
half of the citizens of Portland, I ex-
tend to you hearty welcome to our city.
President Stetson then said he was in
a position to appreciate the kind words
of Governor Cleaves and Mayor Baxter,
for he was " to the manor born, - but
he must refer to the grand hospitality
and beautiful decorations that a gracious
host knows so well how to extend 1t
seemed singularly appropriate that the
Institute should hold it's sessions in a
city noted for it's beauty and it's culture
and acquaintance with the things for
which we are looking and he stood here,
tonight to thank all for this hearty
welcome. #.
n in A r,d, .f
Brown University, was next introduced
as ssa man famous on two continents.a
President Andrews is a tall, fine-looking.
gentleman. He lost an eye at the hands
of rebel sharpshooter during the war,
but the misfortune is not noticeable
President Andrews prefaced his remarks
with an aneedote of the first Episcopal
Bishop of Maine, who preached in log
ging camp in full canonicals, but without
the use of notes. At the conclusion a.
tall woman stepped up to him and said. !.
'This is the first time [ ever saw one of
you fellows shoot without a rest
Presidents Andrews used the story in
explaining that he must read his paper.
The subject was "The Public School
System as an Instrumentality for Social
Advancement He said:
PRESIDENT ANDREWS'S ADDRESS.
fact No other phase of our life seems to
me SO sad. Every fifth child Of Adam
dying in New York city is buried at pub
lie expense In every city in the world it.
is much the same. All of them contain.
caravans of people, not specially dissi-l
pated, indolent or thriftless, who are
poor, very poor never free from fear of
want, doomed for life to the alternative
of hard labor OF starvation, often no real
alternative either, because they cannot
find the work, people as thoroughly cut
off from all means of culture, as COM
pletely precluded from the rational living
of life as were the Helots Of old Sparta.
| "What profits it, - asks Professor Hux-
ley, what profits it to the human Prone
theus that he has stolen the fire of heaven
to be his servant, and that the spirits of,
the earth and the air obey him, if the
vulture of pauperism is eternally to tear
his very vitals and keep him ON the brink
of destuctions'i, Huxley says that "if
there is no hope of "a large, improvement
in the e'condition of the greater part of the
human family he would hail the advent
of some kindly comet to sweep it all
away"
| Henry George says: - 1t is my deliber-
ate opinion that if, standing on the
threshold of being, one were given the
choice of entering life asa Terra del Fue-
gan, Black Fellow of Australia, an Es-
quimaux in the Arctic Circle. or among
the lowest classes in such a highly civil
zed country as Great Britain, he would
make infinitely the better choice in S e-
lecting the lot of the savage. y
| And John Stuart Mill, so sober, so ju-
dicial always, having propounded the in.
qIlries whether a disposition to rise can
be created among the laboring classes
and, if so, by what means, declares 8 that
unless a satisfactory answer can be made
| to these two questions, the industrial sys-
tenn prevailing in this country (England1
and regarded by many writers as the ne
plus ultra of civilization-the dependence
of the whole laboring class of the COM
mnnity on the wages of hired labor-is
irrevocably condemned. -
| He also says, :" If the bulk of the hu-
man race are always to remain as at pres
ent' slaves to toll in which they have no
interest, and therefore feel no interest,"
drudging from early morning till late at
night for Dare necessaries, and with all
the intellectual and moral deficiencies
which this implies-without resources
either in mind or in feelings-untaught
for they cannot be better taught than fed
selfish, for all their thoughts are required
for themselves; without interests or sem
timents as citizens and members of So
ciety, and with a sense of injustice rank
ling in their minds, equally for what
they have not and for what others have; /
know not what there is which should
make person of any capacity of reason,
concern himself about the destinies of the
human race. There would be no wisdom
for anyone but in extracting from life,
with Epicurean Indifference, as much
personal satisfaction to himself and those
with whom he sympathizes as it can yield
without injury to anyone, and letting the
unmeaning hustle of so-called civilized
existence roll by unheeded :"
With the tenor of these utterances 1 for
/ one certainly agree. and no doubt nearly