Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-03-06

Ample provision or buildings, laDOfa
tories and libraries are needed, but there
is no magic in costly apparatus or splen
did cabinets which will turn out scholars
1t is the men and women who are to use
them to whom we must look for those
results which are to be of lasting benefit
to the people.
Therefore, while we, as the agents anc
servants of the legislature, have thus fal
done our part in providing these ad'
mirable equipments, as to which we cal
justly say,,,''If you wish a monument, lool
around you'-it is on you, Professor
Hewitt, and your associates and co
laborers, that the people must after al
depend for the due accomplishment Of
the noble purposes for which this seat Of
learning has been established. Upor
you 10Y rests the responsibility, and tt
you will belong the honor which will at
tend upon successful achievement. Thai
this responsibility will be met with fidel.
ity and courage, and that the honors anG
rewards of faithful and intelligent ser
vice await YOU hereafter, we have an
abiding faith, based on what we have
already seen. In this belief, with the
assurance of our cooperation, sympathy
and support, and with our most earnest
good wishes to you and those who are tc
labor with you, we now commit to youl
hands and keeping the future of this
university.
President Edgar Edward l.. Hewitt's
address was considered by his listeners
the most masterful educational talk
ever delivered in the territory. 1t is well
worthy of repetition, and is as follows:
In assuming the presidency of this in
stitution, my first duty is to correctly
interpret the will of the commonwealth
that created it, the citizens who main
tain it and the regents who, in the name
of the state, are responsible for it's Or
%ganization.
In addressing myself to this question
I have looked first to this massive pile
of stone. Its solidity and ruggedness
speak of the eternal hills from whence
it came. Its architecture displays the
wisdom and artistic sense of a master,
who has comprehended the past and APP
pretended the future. The first truth
that I recognize is, you have not built
this for yourselves. Your needs are
transitory, yet you have built this for
all time. When every hand that con
tributed aught towards it's creation
shall have been dust for ages, this
structure will stand, as it does today,
an epitome and a prophecy of civiliza-
ton.
Then the conclusion is, this institu-
ton does not exist for you: it exists for
the children who now live, and for those
in coming time shall live, in New
Mexico. You stand as the trustees of
the civilization of this commonwealth.
1 have so interpreted the spirit of the
people who have created this school.
That spirit has dominated our legisla-
tive assembly.
1t has prevailed in every act of this
board of regents. In no instance has
self or sect or party or prejudice been
manifest. This thought has been upper
lllOSl, tlldl dll llldl Tic Llullluil rave HIS
wrought out, with infinite toll and pa
thence, is the Inheritance of every child
that lives. 1t belongs to the child of
New Mexico as well as to the child of
Massachusetts, and he shall be brought
possession of it. Furthermore,
that, having that inheritance in his
possession he shall be given a chance to
the scope of human knowledge
and human power; to become a living
in the life and progress of the ma
ton.
This, then, is the premise on which is
based the theory of administration for
this school-that it exists for the chill
lren of New Mexico, and that New
Mexico demands for her children the
literature, the sciences and the arts;
% the end that her sons and daughters
may be the peers of any on this planet.
My second administrative duty has to
10 with the equipping of the institu-
ion for it's work. This involves three
vital questions, each calling for the
most searching analysis, before we have
right to open u doors, and for un-
study. unprejudiced judgment,
and unfettered action so long
Is our present relations exist. These
questions are,
First, What is the nature of the
'hild to be educated?
Second. What Is the nature of the
'ducation to be given the child?
Third. Who are competent to be
eachers of the child?
That first problem, the nature of the
hid, has occupied the mind of every /
Intelligent parent for ages. OF late |
ears it has become the subject of the
most searching scientific investigation. |
Child study is the oldest and the new
st of the sciences. 1t has led to some of
he profoundest of scientific generaliza-
ions. 1t has led to the r~ationalism of
eaching. Biology physiology, psychol-
.y, sociology, anthropology, all have
he'd light upon this question. And as it
lands thus illuminated, we see that
hildhood is the mightiest factor in CIV
i~zation. "And a little child shall lead
has always impressed us as a
oetic thought. We may not have
unprecedented it's deep philosophical
gnificance. The child has led human
y out of savagery. 1t has led the way
every phase of family and institu-
onal life that we enjoy. 1t is the in