The news & observer., 1897-01-28

wise followers, of those who know some
thing of government and political ecOno-
my and science, as Of those who can
read and cipher.
1t is the precious few who maintain
the liberties Of the many for those who
most need help are generally least able
to help themselves.
(2) The University tends to develop
and elevate the people.
Leaders rule, education develOas lead
ers, the poor can not get education save
by organized help, therefore universities
have everywhere been the nurseries Of
equality and the benefactors Of the poor
preventing education from becoming an
exclusive privilege Of the powerful 1t
is of interest to know that two-thirds OF
the students who have ever attended
American Colleges were sons OF poor men
and to such everywhere come the main
benefits of Universities. Ia our own State
the average prOperty-hOlder pays less
than 4 cents to this University.
There was time in this State when
a few families ruled the State, but since
the State began a more liberal educational
policy by making education accessible to
the many, see how the sons Of the poor
have focked hither and thence to the
front in life. Call the roll of the leaders
in our life and see out Of what manner
Of homes they came.
The voluntary principle or the princi-
pie which relies on private philanthrophy
for educational foundations is a very
noble and beneficient idea when united
with and stimulated by State action. In
deed, as / have elsewhere said the spIen-
did Denevolence Of our men OF wealth is
the glory of American life. But remove
the energy of the State entirely and rely
exclusively on the voluntary principle and
You have aristOcracy in education, pure
and simple. incidentally you would kill
the voluntary spirit itself by removing
its stimulus. Who would contend that
the churches would have their magnificent
array Of schools, but for State action
and its stimulus? Sole reliance on the
voluntary principle would mean simply
that every man should either educate him
self or wait on the whim of the rich and
powerful to educate him. If one is rich
and powerful, therefore, one can be very
prohtably exclusively voluntary. As
Matthew Arnold has pointed out the
gallows was once a voluntary institution
administered by the lord of the manor.
ping-post, the ayslum and the school and
they are still SO in despotic countries. But
q different spirit shines out of your life.
America is organized brotherhood striv-
ing to equip democracy for its task. and
the University is one expression Of this
brotherhood acting for noblest aims. (3).
The State University can serve the State
by gathering together in common effort
all its citizens. This was the thought
present to the mind of Mr.. James Bryce
when he declared in the American Com
monwealth, 'the American State Univer-
sites hold the greatest promise for the
future" Here should be the place where
the believers in every creed and the ad-
herents of very party should be able to
meet on common grounds and partake of
a common pride. The darkest day in any
State would be the day when it would
cease to have a University rallying
place where youths could learn to respect
and sympathiZe with each other, where
men OF all shades of thought and tempera-
ment and belief could gather as upon a
hilltop and shedding the skins Of their
rigid beliefs and forgetting the passions
and fevers Of the life-struggle breathe
into their lungs a diviner ether, and see
with just and unclouded eye how vast q
thing is life and how close akin we all
are the one to the other. Let a State
once elect to make education difficult to
obtain and it has gone far toward divid-
ing society into two classes, the educated
rich and the ignorant poor and these
are the conditions for social hell 1t
ought to be our grandest boast that no
worthy man, however poor, shall ever be
turned from these doors. Let me say
here that the University has no desire to
limit or curhail the usefulness of any
institution. 1t recognizes the
value and services of its fellow colleges
in North Carolina and it believes in emul-
ation, but not competition, for there can
be no such thing in such vast and vital
business. Two colleges striving to make
men in a self-governing community can
no more compete hurtfully with each
other than two lighthouses striving TO
give light and placed at different angles
along a bleak and stormy coast. At the
outset of my administration, extend to
every college in the State my assurance
of friendship and good will. Whether
we will or no, we are all bound together
by the ties of culture and learning There
rests upon us the dignity and respon-
sibility of scholarship and in the sense
in which the Master spoke the memor-
able words to Simon and Andrew, wesare
fishers of men. There is room for all and
work for all The University asks for
no monopoly, and it will yield none. The
University is here 10 stay. 1t will always
attract men OF all denominations. The
various denominations should rally
around the State University, and avail
themselves OF it's educational facilities.
Might not the denominations well pro-
mote their interests by coming to the seat
of the University and erecting dormitOries
and halls, to take care of the home and
life of the University students
of their faith and giving in these halls
such moral training and religious instruc
tion as they may deem for the best in
terests OF their respective denominations?
These halls and dormitories should be un-
der the control and management of the
supporting them, while
the students living in them should avail
themselves OF the facilities and able in
struction which the State maintains in
the State University. This movement