The herald., 1896-12-06
!: THE STATE AND THE UNIVERSITY ;
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lie meeting at Turnverein hall on Thurs.
day evening:
1t Is not to be supposed that argument
Is necessary to fix in our minds the rela-
tions Of the university to the higher in
terests of the state. Concerning this
matter, cultivated men and women need
not to be persuaded. OF whatever party
sect or creed, on one point we are united;
one desire We have in common. In spite
OF dinerences of residence, of social affil-
lations, or of private purposes, as men,
, bers OF a young community we are in
| terested not merely in the increase of
| our wealth, but also in the development
of those qualities by which our rank in
civilization is determined; we are inter-
, ested in the maintenance of large de-
gree of social equality, in the elevation
| OF our practical moral status, in the i'm
| provement Of our cultivation and in the
expansion of our intellectual horizon.
| We are interested in maintaining So
cial equality. because it lies at the basis
of political equality, which is the con-
| spicuous characteristic of our demo-
cratic institutions. The preservation of
this equality may be sought either by
| pulling down those who have become
| prominent or by providing opportunities
| for all to rise. The first method has
never been an ideal of the American peo-
| pie. If 1t has been advocated here the
| discontented factions of the old world.
Whenever. by energy. foresight and de-
votion wealth or place has been achiev-
| ed, the principles of our society do not
demand that the successful shall be
Overthrown, but that the accumulated
wealth and the accumulated wisdom of
the nation shall be so used as to provide
opportunities for the advancement of the
worthy of every rank. American de-
a n
serving essential equality, and it's meth
cd is not to hold back those who are
pushing forward, but to clear the way
and make easy the advance of those who
lag behind because of the burden of
their impedimentS. In the pursuit of
this purpose the public schools furnish
the most effective agency. They act as
a levelling force, not by pulling down,
but by lifting up. Some of the richer
members of the middle class in England,
who are able now to pay the expenses of
educating their sons, object to the in
PRODUCTION of free public instruction, be-
cause 1t would give the sons of the poor
opportunities to prepare themselves to
compete with the rich. in the profess
sions and in all callings requiring edu-
cation, and thus rob wealth of one of its
advantages: it would throw down the
barrier Of inequality, and clear the way
for the ambitious poor to advance. Free
public instruction opens to the great
mass of the people, the persons of small
fortunes, the opportunity of placing
their sons in successful rivalry with
those who have the support of great
wealth. And in America, and in Califor-
mia as nowhere else, the sons and daugh-
ters Of the men of small fortunes are
especially favored in that instruction
from the lowest to the highest is free.
1t is particularly important from this
point of view that the university is free,
since this form Of instruction Is OF all the
most costly and the most difficult for
individual effort to furnish. II all the
lower schools were free and the univer-
sity were supported by the fees of stu
dents, this order of things would con-
stitute an insurmountable obstacle to
the poor and to all persons of inferior in
comes; 1t would give us the condition of
things which make the rich man of Eng
landr rejoice that his sons are released
from the necessity Of competing with
the poor. A free university is, therefore,
the best expression of the democratic
spirit. But it must not only be free; 1t
must also be great. 1t must be great in
order that those who are unable to go to
the conspicuous centers OF learning in
foreign countries, or in distant parts OF
this country. may be as well equipped In
knowledge and training as their rivals,
of all the advantages the world has to
offer Thus the great and free univer-
sity stands as the most efficient contrib
utor to equality on the higher planes OF
social existence.
A monarchy may exist in stability,
even though the great body of the peo-
pie is corrupt; but the continuance of our
democratic institutions. with their at
tendant advantages, requires not only
q
the maintenance of a high standard of
public morals and private virtue. To
every lover of the liberty of his country,
therefore, it is of the first Importance
that all the forces which tend to enlight-
en- and clarity the mind should be up
held and magnified. l am aware that
there are those who affirm the complete
separation of moral and intellectual cul-
ture; but the moral condition of those
countries where this doctrine is carried
out furnishes it's sufficient refutation.
You may make the human being depend
ent, and by superior authority force him
to obey specific positive injunctions. but
by that process you may not give him
high moral character, which, under con-
ditions of independence, will furnish
worthy guidance for his life, and make
him a fit counsellor for his fellows. The
moral and intellectual life are but differ
ent phases of the manifestation of the
human spirit and in the normal man the
higher moral life attends the fuller de-
velopment and education of this spirit.
AS commonwealth, we have not less
need than other communities for the ele-
walton of our moral status, and conse
quently not less need for the broadest
and completest education. In compare
tive isolation, where the strong moral
currents which proceed from an older
society are wanting, we have special
need of an education that will give san
ity of understanding and: clearness' e.
moral discrimination. Such an educa-
tion can be attain ed only under the di-
rectng care and stimulating influence of
great university; and such an edu
cation will be possible in the University
of California, when it shall have been de-
veloped to such proportions as to make
it's seat the fitting moral and intellectual
capital of this great state.
1t is, morever, to the university that
we must look for the influence which
will establish the independence of our
social life, and make us state. instead
of a colony. BY our geographical posi-
ton, and the conditions under which
our civilization in this region began,
the society of California necessarily as
sumed the characteristics of colonial
life. All our higher interests and am
bitions were the result of the training
and the traditions of older communities.
We had the excellence and the weak
nesses of a colony; and one of the weak
nesses of our lie, as of all colonial life,
s~I