The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-03-27

4 Z
the students at the State University, delivered
at Berkeley on Thursday last by President Har-
per OF the Chicago University, thoughtful
scholarly and earnest exposition of the historical re-
ation Of university training the development OF
man. He traced that relation back to its origin and
through its successive phases down to the present
century, and enforced with great power the centra
thought of his address, that the university had Deen
the source Of that democracy rapidly pervadng the
world. which he Justly pronounced the highest ideal
of human achievement the only possibility OF true
national life
1t was not within President Harpers purpose 10
discuss the fundamental cause OF the controlling part
taken by the universities in human progress lie
proved and illustrated the fact with dehniteness and
with completeness that could not be surpassed But
underlying the fact is one the imperishabe truths
that demonstrates the alsity of pessmism and ex-
plains the growth of civilization. The freest thing on
the earth intellect 1t may be restrained. warped or
hampered in its expression, but it cannot be per
manently suppressed From the beginning OF history
under all forms OF government intellectual power has
constantly wrought for liberty more precisely tor
the democracy meant by President Harper which is
simply liberty voluntarily restrained for the common
GOOD at the point where otherwise it would degener
ate into license
In both ancient and modern times this democracy
Of corruption. 1t is for this reason that despotsm
and corruption within themselves within the range
Of their operation and influence contain the seeds Of
their own destruction. Mind is too restless and too
aspiring to work in chains. 1t may initiate servility
and apparently submit to the humiliation OF purchase,
but it will not stay bought This is why even in Our
own country low politics submerges intelligence and
the debauchees of party while they control reduce
the standard of ofhcialism to their level. This
incontrovertibe truth strkngly illustrated during
the recent Senatorial deadlock in this State
Universities originate in the aspirations Of intellect,
and are points for its concentration its discipline its
training and its effective struggles for emancipation
The Egyptian priests lived above the ignorance of the
people and modified the tyranny of the Pharoahs The
schools of Athens set loose the globe the forces
CT independent thought that blended with the Deistc
ervtr of the Hebrews eavened the hard rationalism
Ct Rome and dug channels for the fraternity OF the
Christian era. This combined inheritance descended
the universities OF Europe which indeed it largely
created and filled them through the darkest ages with
embalmed learning and with struggling thought.
Thus was the world prepared for the intense move
ments of the Middle Ages which III modern times, and
especially in this century, have carried man forward
toward the perception and the enforcement OF his own
sovereignty,
1t was on this continent and through the painful
CESSATION birth and growth of this Republic that the
democracy Of intellect last burst into the full splen
dor of constitutional liberty and threw off every
shackle OF bgotry and Of tyranny 1t is in this country
therefore that the university should reach its highest
and its most democratic influence and power. From
the Atlantic to the Pacific in magnificent institutions
exempfed at Chicago, at Palo Ato at Berkeley, the
grandest standards of citizenship and of manhood
have been raised, and such Jordan, Harper
and Kellogg, with their associates, some of them
equally conspicuous, training young men who are
to grasp the opportunities and the problems OF the
Twertieth Century into the practical comprehension
of that Amercansm which includes all that is best for
humanity in the past the present and the future, and
which, unless enervated by internal disease stf1ed
within the artnor of revived imperialism will fulfill the
Hottest antcipatons OF manifest destiny,