The times., 1899-06-01
With COLUMBIAN'S
Seal OF APPROX Al
Over Two Hundred Students
Receive Diplomas.
The Graduating Exercises He'd in
Convention Hall.
An Immense Crowd Present Despite
the Downpour of Rnin-Ionor-
AIRY Degrees Conferred.

AIRY Degrees Conferred.
The Columbian University graduated 26e
students at Convention Hall last evening.
II was the seventy eighth annual COM
mencement of the institution and the event
was probably the most memorable the uni
versity, with its various schools and COL
leges, has ever seen. The vast auditorium
was filed, fully 5000 persons passing with
in its doors. Notwithstanding the exceed
ingly heavy rainstorm during the early
part of the evening. interest in the grad
Uation exercises was so great that the
storm had no apparent effect upon the
crowds desiring admission. The hall was
magnificently decorated. All the expensive
flags and bunting which had been attached
to the heavy arched ceiling for the Peace
Jubilee revelries were in place, and the
delicate tints of the thousands of yards of
muslin contrasted with striking effect with
the bowers of potted ferns and tropical
growths which had been installed in va
rious parts of the auditorium. Long
strings of evergreen were festooned from
one heavy steel girder TO another. and in
tertwined among these were long curved
lines Of Oriental lanterns.
On a large rostrum which had been built
along the western wall of the hall were
seats for the officers of the institution.
members of the faculty, and invited
guests. while on a similar platform on
the east side of the hall were seated the
many graduates.
AT o'clock the Marine Band, under
direction of Prof. William H Santelmann,
struck up stirring introduction. seiec
tion from Rossini, William TELL then
a selection from Victor Herbert's charm
ing opera. THE Fortune Teller" and
lastly the latest march of Sousa, entitled
Hands Across the Sea" While the latter
selection was being rendered the process
sion entered from the north end. and
marc,B in the following order to the re-
spective platforms: The president of the
university, the Rev. Dr. B. L. Whitman.
and the commencement chaplain, the Rev.
Samuel Fl. Greene, d. D., the chairman
and the treasurer of the board Of trus-
tees, the board of trustees of the uniyer-
sity, the official guests of the university,
the dean of the faculty, the faculties of
the university, and the candidates for de-
grees. The long meter doxology was then
sung by the assemblage and an invoca-
ton offered by the Rev. Samuel H. Greene.
After Werners Parting Song" by the
Marine Band. the president of the univer-
sity, DR.. Whitman, delivered his address,
1t was entitled The Task of Freedom"
and in part was as follows:
President Whitmau's Address.
The citizen cf republic needs to be a man
Of many parts Warrior, diplomatist statesman,
bearer OF burdens in common ways, every man in
4 republic is bound TO stand four square to the
world. The secret of this obligation rests not in
the trappings OF time and place and outward
circumstances, but in the nature of the Republic
and in manhood. The foundations OF the Re
public are laid in the conception Of equality Of
rights and equality Of obligations Difference of
circumstance does not count. The whole power
Of the Republic is pledged TO the welfare Of
each citizen. Service 10 the limit Of his ability
Is required of each citizen What each shall do
is determined by what the Republic needs to
have done. To be brave on the field Of batte
be open eyed in the courts where the world 5
political web IS woven; to be large minded in
matters of public concern; to be clean and strong
and true in the ways OF common toil-every
service faithfully rendered is Offering of the
citizens devotion. And every offering in which
the heart OF the citizen speaks is counted a
precious thing.
We greatly mistake when We fail to see this
More than is well misled by badges of
place and power. The spear still ranks the
pruning hook, and sword and piowshare are still
used in the old way. The misfortune
Is that sword and spear what mean
when we speak Of the symbols of duty and Of
glory Safety lies only in the larger thought
IS spent in war To limit loyalty to good
fighting is 10 lose sight Of the bulk Of life
where stout heartedness tills the SOIL opens the
mine. uperates the factory, and builds the home.
Bsrrack and mining camp may be equally the
abode q loyalty. The hum OF industry echoes
the national voice as truly as the roar Of
| cannon. The day of election tests a nation no
| les than the day Of battle. To vote straight
| IS as sacred duty to shoot straight.
This does not mean that TO be unmind-
ful Of those who bear arms in the national de-
fence The Republic deserves TO perish that day
| when she forgets her defenders on land and sea.
| II means simply that when we have exalted
their yalor we shall begin to ask whether their
| loyalty in the ways of war is paralleled by our
| loyalty in the ways Of peace.
Tested by this principle the facts warrant
! grave concern. Men come to the birth citi-
/ zens in the grandest nation the world has seen
| and by consent or ignorance barter their birth
| right Intelligence and character discounted
| in whole ranges OF political endeavor Place
| and office are the reward of audaciOus humbug.
| Only the virtue inherent in a free people saves
the higher tribunals from the humiliation COM
mon further down. The low grounds OF life are
yiciousy prolific. The philosophy of life at
the bottom is startiingly simple. Enough to keep
| soul and body together tHday-what more would
one haye2 Nor Is the political creed at the
| bottom more encouraging. Law, ordinance 10
| oppress the lowly; police regulation, the most
| CALLING exhibition Of law; property, the product
| OF theft; virtue, the pretence OF hypocrites;
| State the Organized body Of oppression: church.
| God for the service OF the devil-these are ar
! tices OF political faith with thousands. Higher
| in the scale grave misconceptions are not un.
| known. Deialcatons, entertainments. malfeasance
in offce-these high sounding terms only roughly
| conceal criminality Of various forms. Slipshod
divorce regulations only partially cover the peril
| Of legalized prostitution. Careless admnstra-
| tion of inadequate naturalization laws makes
voters by wholesale from material that would
put the collection Of a nenagerie to shame. Gain
is counted for godliness- State power is regarded
| as a strong TO be invoked indiscriminately
| to club the tough into righteousness to reprcss
! the strivings of intelligent labor in behalf Of
honest work and honest wages Church member
| sh p is looked upon rs a talismau whose magic
| displaces the line dawn hard between saint
and sinner. Thus all too much the interests that
! lie nearest the life Of tortured into sin.
J lister meaning. Religion, the expression OF the
! spiritual instinct. is made instrument of un-
| Righteousness, misrepresenting God and man.
| Business, the daily concern Of the worker, is
made a tool OF oppression. compelling unbroth-
erly relations Politics, the profession of citi-
zefs, is made symbol Of trickery, until a
clean man stakes his reputation when he under.
| This IS a great and sore evil What can be
done7 To deny is not 10 change To ignore
! is not 10 correct. Indifference cures nothing.
General finding of fault avails nothing This
Nothing 50 needs reforming other peoples
| habits" a bli-d rush into the task of reform
! accOmpshcs hing but 10 prove how much
more common zeal is than sense. We cannot
| move faster than nature II WAS of our
! American humorisis who suggested that il would
| save a deal Of trouble II a man married his
! second wife first That, however, is not always
| feasible Sometimes have to take things az
| they come. It is better TO do what be done
| Today toward realizing ideal than spend life
| in a dream. Better patch the old coat than
cut new one out of Il rainbow Disregard Of
| the principles Of development does not change