The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-09-20
The Opening Of the Cniver~ity.
Chapel Hill. y. c., September 10.
Editor Messenger:

Der OF the faculty and citizens OF the
village, gathered TO hear the annual
address OF the president 1t was an
inspiring sight to see gathered so
many strong. earnest, enthusiastic
young men, full Of desire for learning
and enthusiasm and loyalty for the
university. President Alderman spoke
to them for an hour and received an
enthusiastic reception. He welcomed
them TO the great fellowship Of the
university, and spoke Of the duties
and responsibilities hat rested upon
them by reason of this fellowship.
The first part of his address was de-
voted to the life OF college students.
The last part was a consideration of
some lessons TO be charmed from the
recent Spanish-American war. He
spoke OF an increased respect the con-
duct of the war had given US in the
eyes Of foreign nations, Of the human
ity which had marked its progress n
Of the elevation of the moral lone of
the youth of the land through the ex-
amples Of such young men as Hobson,
Bagley and Ship. He discussed the
grave responsibilities resting upon the
nation in the new problems of the
administration of the foreign lands
that had fallen to it through the might
Of our arms. He declared that the
first lesson TO be learned from the wal
was the lesson that ever in military
affairs the trained mind and the train
ed conscience were the determining ele-
ments of success and that the war was
not really a war between Spain and the
United States, but between education
and i~lliteracy. He concluded his
speech with the following statement
of the part that institutions of learning
had to pla yin our development:
1T is a common tendency of men to
think of the days that lie behind them
as the stirring eventful times, but il
is not wholly so. 1t was indeed good
TO have been young with Dante in
Italy in that sweet morning time of
the human spirit. 1t was good 10 have
been young with Shakespeare in Eng
land, when the bud of our glorious
race was bursting into flower. but it
is equally good to be young now and
to have opportunity and to walk with
knowledge when a new world is round
ing into shape before our very eyes and
a strang new century is calling in our
ears, when the westward march Of en-
pire has doubled up Upon itself and the
stored east is falling to pieces before
the impulses of humanity and adven-
ture and trade. 1t is indeed something
to be alive and young and have power
| when the flag of the great republic has
advanced so high in the heavens that
the eyes of all peoples behold its stars
and perceive, some with dread and
some with pride through the vividness
of war, the noiseless might that dwells
| within it's folds. Uplifting and eXpan-
sive as all this is, compelling us not
to shirk any responsibility forced upon
us by the might of our own arms, We
should not be deluded by it nto fellow
ing the career of an imperial freeboot-
er, howsoever fascinating that career
may seem. Our manifest destiny is
peace. Just so surely as Greece spread
abroad her beauty and her art, shall
We preach the doctrine of human SYM
pathy, not as a term of sentiment but
as a political expression. AS the Ro-
man cast his net work of law about the
world we shall prove the fitness of de-
mocracy as the final form of govern
ment By democracy, l mean equal
opportunity, not equal possessions, for
nature, by memorable degree, has rem
dered that forever impossible. And as
the Englishman established many of
the primary rights of men, we shall
devote our unmeasured strength to the
problems of industry and economics,
of wealth and poverty, of labor and
capital.
Has this university a part to play
in the vital struggle? You should
know that out of such quiet places
have come the creative movements and
the creative men of the world. Adam
Smith and Martin Luther, Isaac New
ton and John Wesley, speculated and
struggled and prayed in such places.
From such spots come the captains of
thought, industry, faith and enthus-
iasm that mould the world. Our mot
to here is Lux, Libertas. Here the
truth is sought whether in nature, in
literature in law, or in society. Here
is where sanity reigns and judgment
is sober, and federation prevails and
| 0unll1Cy seems d virtue. mere we
would see things straight and clear
with vision undimmed by passion or
prejudice or %zealously. Here men may
met on the level of equal opportunity
and may rise by the might of merit to
the quiet power of Christian manhood.
A university is a mighty piece of ma
chinery, but it can never be an organ
or a propagandist- 1t loo not stand
for the rich as against the poor, nor
for the poor as against the rich, but
for rich and poor alike, that each may
know the best of the other. 1t does
not stand to bend to any breeze of pop
ular delusion, but rather to withstand
and to lead the people in quiet ways
to the larger view. 1t does not exist to
lie snugly and costly in the arms OF
power, but rather to remind power OF
its high duty, to approve when tina,
power is nobly used, to condemn when
UNANIMOUSLY put forth, whether by