The Portland daily press., 1895-07-10
THE TEACHERS MEETING.


Continued From Page.
professional and social, of the theological
and civil life. but neither has had large
influence in the great community of the
people believe that one cause of the
| lnnuence of Leipsic and of Berlin, of
Bonn and of Munich in the life of the
German people has been the simplicity
and plainness of the life of the student. l
believe that the influence OF the Ameri-
can college would be magnified and deep
ened IN the community if the life of the
student i'll the college was more plain
and more simple. Let the living not be
nigh, let the thinking not be plain; let
there be cultivated much philosophy on a
little oatmeal. know very well that in
certain colleges the life is plain, too
plain; 1t lies at the other extreme of the
scale of luxury it is too bare and it is
barren; it is remote from humanizing
and cultivating inufences. Men are
herded and fdwell in surroundings that
have none of the comforts of home such
conditions are quite as evil as the evil
6hat arises from luxuriousness of environ
menu. But such barrenness is not to our
peril. Our peril is that increaing luxury
shall result in diminishing intellectually
Our peril is that the college will come to
be the home of the rich and the dwelling
place of the magnificent. Our peril is
that in this condition the college will not
and cannot stand for things of the mind.
But for things of the mind the college
must stand. In the age of homespun of
our fathers the college did stand for
things of the mind; in the age of broad
cloth the college must still thus stand.
The bishop Of the wealthiest diocese in
America has lately written me as follows
:" If l were disposed to challenge the
American College of today OH any
prrGl1nd If would ba hacar1co of itc +oplo,e
cy to descend from the loftier level of
plain living and high thinking which
was the characteristic of college life a
generation ago. The passion for build
ing, endowments, material enrichment,
in one word, is likely to smother the love
OF learning and to discourage simple
tastes If we can recover the spirit which
educates in young men a love of learning
for its own sake, and which teaches them
that character is of int,mparably more
consequence than belt n gings, the col
lege OF today will do them the best SER
vice. -
l have no doubt but that the American
college will despite the increasing luxury
of American life still be able to maintain
the scholastic ideals. I have no doubt
but that the American college despite the
vigor of athletic interests will be able to
maintain its intellectual methods and
purposes but the peril does exist and
must be crushed The college to bless
American life as it ought must stand for
things of the mind.
The college may further help the life of
the nation through an intelligent and
sympathetic treatment of all sociological
questions. There can be no doubt but
that the twentieth century is to be a
sociological century The eighteenth CEN
tury was theological one the nineteenth
has been scientific one and the twentieth
icf 10 BNa al t4a1
nature, from nature to man is the pro-
gress. The college is the most importa n )
agency in this progress For this great
being that we call the community is an
organism of very delicate functions. To
endeavor to correct any one part which
may be out of order may result in harm
to dozen other faculties. Therefore
great wisdom is needed in the treatment.
Ii it is only the trained physician who
should minister to body diseased, if it is
only the trained physician who should
minister to the mind diseased, it is also
only one well trained who should minis
ter to the diseased of the community of
both mind and body. The man who is
called the practical man is not by any
means the best fitted to deal with the
ills of the community. 1t is the man
who is at once practical in his aims and
scientific in his training who is the best
fitted. Professor Won. Helmholtz was
two years ago in New York No man
was more distinguished in his great spec
ialty than Professor Won Helmholtz. He
passed his entire career in a university.
No man has in recent times made more
important invention than Alexander Gra-
ham Bell. Mr.. Bell said to Professor
Won HelmholtZ that the invention of the
telephone rested absolutely upon and was
suggested by the discoveries of Won
Helmholtz in relation of the laws of
CfJ md fy,n j
and practical agencies for benefitting
humanity must rest upon scientific con-
sderations. Ii they are not made thus to
rest, the application of those methods may
result in disaster.
One of the masters of this great sub
ject, Carol D. Wright, writes me as fol-
lows 81 think that the department. of
political economy, as usually conducted
in college and universities. rather an
tagonize the public at large, and this has
done something towards Grating more or
less strained feeling between universities
and the working men in particular. They
(the working men) find that political
economy is not adequate to the solution of
the questions which they raised. Stu
that while political economy cannot and
ought not to be ignored, there is some
thing deeper and more vital concerning
the relations in life than political econ
omy teaches; so ethics comes in to sup
plelnent, or rather to complement. the
teachings of political economy. To my
own mind, if colleges and universities
would broaden their economic work they
would do something to aid American life
as it appears to us at the present time. /
would not in any way abridge the
academic work of colleges, but l would
extend the elective studies and bring the
college into more intimate relations with
the people themselves. In one word
make the college vital-vital in giving
wisdom for the solving of the great social
problem, vital in having these problems
pressed home to itself
The college further may aid the national
life by the presentation of Christianity
which is nationally intense without being
sectarian. I assume that what is called
Christianity represents a system of Divine
truth. This system has in many periods
of history been presented as system, the
belief in which was bought by too heavy
an intellectual price, demands of the in