The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-06-23
AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS
State Superintendent Irwin's
Remarks Friday Night.
THOUGHT" WAS HIS THEME
His Ideas on Evolution and Gradual
Growth of Lower Organisms
of Nature.

The. following is the speech of State
Superintendent Irwin, delivered at the
high school commencement exercises on
Friday night, and which wus Towded
cut OF yesterdays issue.
Mr. Irwin, who was introduced very
glhcefully by Professor Wright, was
greeted with loud applause us he stepped
on the platform. He said
Ladies' and Gentlemen: There Is a
document dear to THE heart of the aver
age american, which says, among other
things, "All men lire creIted equal and
are endowed with certain inalienabie
rights, among which are life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness. It seems TO
me that in that bill Of rights there is
remarkable recognition of the ability
Of mankind. And turn to another docu-
ment, las dshr and as highly priced, and
read, God said let us make man In our
own Image and let him have dominion"
When bring these two things together,
the one from our Declaration Of Indepemd-
ence, the either from the Bible, 1t seems
to me that I am able to find out some,
thing Of what life Is, hnd what man is,
too He is tine image of God, friends,
and the dominant power in this world.
We cannot fathom the depths of life and
character, for In their grand expansion
they are beyond human understandings.
The domlnion of man is not found in
his physical abilIty. The horse you drive
Is stronger than you are. But the
dominion exists and exerts Its power in
his mind. We are told somewhere that
knowledge is power" but do not be-
lieve that That is so. Thought is power,
and knowledge may exist I'm the mind
In ,NRlf.
behind, 1T. Go out into the world and
you find everywhere the dominance OF
Thought. Enter a machine shop ana
watch the combination OF mechanical
forces, hhe betting the great wheels, the
engines, all combining In one grand hum
of9industry, and you will reach the con,
clusson that somewhere in somebody's
brain those wheels a:d betting were
running and buzzing before they took
orffhair material form or power. We read
In history OF great generals winning bait
Ties when they themselves never drew
a slbre. But Tho brain was there direct
ing, maishalling, ordering and combat
ting everything. Napoleon, THE worlds
great military genius, always fought his
BATTLES in his head before he gave fight
on the open plain. Knowing SOMETHING
of the field on which the carnage wis to
rage, he would sit ait night In his tent
with map before him and while all
around him slept There, with red pins
DO represent the British, blue pins to
represent the Rrussians, and white pins
his own soldiers, he would fight the en-
counter alone, moving bajutalllons, mar
sh'blling columns, throwing one body or
men on another and with eager mind
planning surprises and traps for the
mfrrow. Go and read the history Of cre>
alton, l don't care whether you take
the divine or sclenafic side of 1t, for they
both march through the same highway
You find that the great Creator brooded |
over chaos, he gave 1t Thought and after |
the five periods or days had elapsed, |
when the birds were in the air, the noun |
tains towering 10 the sky, the trees wav-
Ing In the wind He made man, and gave |
him dominion over AN THE earth. That |
dominion has come to man by the same |
process us gave God dominion over chaos. |
He brcoded over chaos and brought out |
order, man broods over that order and ie |
every day bringing forth new results. |
don't bslieve In evolution. / believe in |
growth, believe tIhlat by the power OF |
something higher than THE rndeveloped |
material THAT material Is shaped and |
fashioned and raised TO higher life. God |
put nsln on this earth to develop 1t, while |
He himself develops all things. These |
mastnihcerlt flowers In front of me had |
their origin in some shapeless miseormed |
veC5nrdon growing rank and wild ages |
ago over the hills and valleys Of the |
earth. Nun took hold of them, gave them |
lis Thought and care until today we have |
the symmetrical thing of beauty that / |
see here In such profuslon tonight. Re- |
move your agencies from bhem let them |
blow In your gardens unheeded, and they |
will begin to go back sttIdily and surely
to their primitive sJate. Oregon is land |
of big red apples. We boast of them to |
our eastern friends. We exhibit them |
at exposltlons and they win us fame ana |
substantial rewards besides. They have |
been developed by centuries OF cultiva-
tfon and thlought Turn them loose, ana |
they win nlst recede Ito their worthless /
state that the thougtlt OF man has
brought them out OF. The word has
moved onward and Improved just Us fast
aus man has got hold OF VI and lifted 1t |
up.
''tn the vast atorehouse of the world |
everything on which no thought has been |
expended Is raw material. Once on a time |
the lightning flashed over the heavens,
terrorizlng everybody, breeding supersu- |
ton, awe and fear But Franklin thought,
and ne brought THE dread element down |
through a kite from the clouds and Inn
prisonsd IT In a glass bottle. Morse
thought about Ut, ne got hold of It, he
STARTED Vt spinning round the earth, then
more thought encompassed II and today
that dreaded and powerful element has
been trained TO Tight our houses, cook our
dinners, drive our cars and do our balk-
ing. Conditions about US are only pow
erful by virtue Of Thought. The only TRUE
wealth in tIhe world Is the wealth OF
thought. Here at my falnd is fhls beau
tifui piano. Where did It come from?
The tree howied and blew In the wind !
and the iron ore was hidden in nhe fast