The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-06-12
DAVIDSON COMMENCEMENT.
A Scientific Building to be Erected to
the Memory of Col. Martin.


the Memory of Col. Martin.
Davidson College, June 11.-(Spe
cial. long before the hour for the
procession of escort in honor of The
orators of the day, the campus began
to take on its holiday air and show
signs of stir and borrowed activity.
The day was perfect in temperature
and beauty. Strolling visitors from
town and country were seen filing tha
long shady walks. Here and there
would be found animated groups OF old
students who were renewing their col
lege friendships with hearty hand
shakings and cordial greetings of class
mates and companions. rs the hour
for marching 10 the hall drew near,
the campus grew more noisy and soon
was ringing with the insplring-th
not always musical-class yells. These
yells ever llindle afresh the enthusiasm
of young and old-and serve to cult
waite class spirit and loyalty in direct
proportion to the interest with which
they are uttered.
The orator of the day before the two
Thorton, LII. d., chairman of the Facul-
t,y of THE University of Virginia.
His address, following prayer by Rev.
DIR. j. Fl. Smith, of Greensboro, was
read somewhat closely, but with free
dom and ease and perfect distinctness.
1t was ait once polished and elaborate,
elegant in diction and characterized by
thought fresh in expression and Sbrik-
ing in form.
His subject was The Material De-
velopment and Political Stability of
the South as Related to the Progress
OF Scientific and Technical Education"
The opening thought of the address was
the three elements in Southern life.
LIST. \ class some thing akin to an arts
tocracy; End. a class of serfs formally
slaves; 3rd. a great middle class. If
one turns his eye from the moral spec
tacle presented by these with their
varied surroundings and conditions, he
finds no fitting correspondent in the
material development of this country.
Not only are agriculture and mining
relatively undeyeloped but manufac-
lures still more so.
Contrast this state of things with
that obtaining i'm the old world in
country like England and the c0ndi-
tions are found widely different The
point was then deliberately argued
that as an essential TO the proper adj
yancement of the moral and intellec-
tual growth of the South, there must
first come material advancement and
prosperity. The speaker would ac-
count for the bacllwartlness of indus
trial development in the South, not by
reason of the aristocratic organization
OF Southern society nor as result of
the war, but as due to an inaptitude
for the struggle of modern life which
results from a faulty and partial train
ing of the mind. This failure is attribu-
tai to the wrong spirit and method of
our educational system. The charac-
ter of its defects may be seen in the
South's treatment of the question Of
negro education-a training altogether
unnatural for a race just from slavery
what kind the negro needed, it was
left for Northern General to dis
cover; he had no need for the rudi-
merits of literary education; these
made him no better nor a more useful
citizen, but that which would make
him a skilled, practical and systematic
laborer was desired. So the South
must have for herself wider and more
general industrial scientific training
the historic but now distorted view of
education that once produced in the
growth such noble results needs to
have engrafted on it greater open
ness to new truths and new influences.
If the aim of education lie in Mr.. Ar
nold's words ''to know ourselves and
the world" the latter part we have for
gotten. We are too much lacking in
the scientific spirit which seeks truth
based on evidence, have no true appre-
citation of the mission of cause and eff
feet and that false theories and bad
doctrines lead inevitably to disastrous
results. Unusual suffrage in the South
has corrupted the fountains of politi-
cal power. At this very hour when the
nation is called upon once more to
choose between an honest dollar and
a debased currency, when evils which
can only be corrected by industry and
economy both public and private
threaten to bankrupt our National
credit, the men who should rectify
public sentiment are driven on by it's
intoxicated violence and are useless
alike for counsel and control. The
correction of these ills can only come
by planting the seeds of reason and
righteousness, a work for the educated
men constantly being sent out into the
world by the colleges and universities.
Immediately at the close of this adj
dress DR.. w. j. Mckay, President of
the board of trustees formally in
Quoted into Office the newly elected
professors, mentioned in yesterday
report.
Following thiS~eame the alumni adj
dress by Rev. &C. Vardell. His adj
dress was a eulogy of the late and
dearly loved Col Martin, and was
made as a preface to the introduction
Of plan just formulated and for the
first time brought before the public
that of erecting as a memorial to Col.
Martin a scientific hall, to cost not
| less than $4,000. Mr.. NardelPs tribute
was beautiful, touching and eloquent
and the plan when presented by him
| met with a hearty approval in the au-
I;o,oo Tho apaotio, Of e1rab a build-