The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-06-12

and this is due in great part to the lack
OF the fierce impulsion of urban life.
Whenever a true conception OF what a
real University is gets into the bone and
marrow of North Carolina this institu-
ton will have the finest chance In Amer
lea TO realize its ideals. Whenever il
IS understood what an adequate system
Of public education means in productive
power 10 a free people. the percentage
Of illiteracy will drop like a thermom-
eter in a blizzard and the pitiful IDEAL
Of a four months school will be replaced
by the juster ideal Of q nine months
school. / believe that this day Of large
things is dawning in North Carolina.
pray that il is. II is dawning in other
Southern States. Fifteen years ago the
States educational duty towards its chill
drcn was a debatable proposition but to
day it is an axiom and measures the
growth of the public conscience and the
sweep Of the public vision during that
reriod. The church approves it. the
statesman proclaims it. the rich man
sees its force in society. and the poor
man thanks God fer it. | believe that
the educational policy of the State viii!
Re shaped for half a century within the
next decade. II is true to say. however.
that now it is atOmistic and chaotic.
mere IS no JuSj correlation OF the various
elements. Primary education is set over
against itself. higher education is la
belled and stood in its corner, sometimes
with the fingers OF detraction pointing At
it and seeking to have us believe that
it stands for the monstrous theory of the
benefit Of the few at the expense OF the
many. The preparatory school is not
ftly artlculated in the great scheme. The
schools of the churches and the schools
OF private enterprise do their work and
stand for their ideas. The unity of the
educational process is not fully recognized.
The conception Of it, however named. as
q social servant is not realized. The con-
structiOn of 4 true educational system
IS a fine piece of work as difficult as il
is essential to democracies. Let US make
no patchwork job CT this great subject.
We have been struggling with it for sixty
years. but intelligent study of the whole
subject has not been made since Archi-
bald Murphy submitted his celebrated re-
port in 1916. A good public school sys-
tenn is our supremest need, and | may say,
with Jefferson. that as my first plea in
life was public schools, my latest plea
here shall be for them also, but the Uni
versity is as much q part OF this system
as the log school house. The point for
the coming educational statesman (and
that wholesome variety of statesman has
indeed arisen among us), to see and to
act uron is the intimate relation be-
tween higher and lower schools and to
afford them coordinate growth. The
University is the dynamo, the public
school the incandescent light. To spend
ell the money on the dynamo and neg
lect to provide for any lamps would be
q crime for any community, bat to spend
it all on the lamps and neglect to pro-
vide for the dynamo would be q farce.
| believe the new Governor and the Cen
eral Assembly would act wisely to APP
TOint q commission to study and report
in great detail on this great question
before our educational policy hardens
into law and becomes fixed for genera
tons.
The time has come to decide what sort
Of a University we are going to make out
of this noble foundation. Shall it be a
good, honest disciplinary college seeking
no new truths, dealing with letters and
| records and traditions and arts. or shall
| it become 4 great modern force. doing
that also. but alert to ali social needs
from the problems of suffrage to the
problems Of the transference Of electric
force? There can be but one answer to
this question. While | do not believe that
any Yale or Harvard can ever be built
here, yet | do believe that the State OF
North Carolina has the opportunity to
make here a far-reaching and powerful
institution, call it University or what you
will. There can be no limit set to the
ideals of a State University. 1t must be
the source of power to all below it, or
fail miserably, and everything may be
taught III it necessary to citizenship,
livelihood and character in the goth CEN
tury. After Isolation, war, submersion
we are entering into membership into the
modern world. Immense combinations of
endeavor and capacity face the isolated
individual. Not only is there needed the
directive brain and the cunning hand,
the factory and the blast furnace, but
the man who has the right public spirit
and the force to make himself felt. the
thinking man who sees that civic unity
and community effort must replace the
raw individualism and the disuniOn and
rage of section, party, and sect. This IS
the social engine to create that benign
force. Three great needs appear in or
der to bring about this result:
/. An appropriation Of fifty thousand
dollars 4 year as an investment in man
hood and directive capacity.
2. A scientific, business-like organiza-
ton of the alumni demanding what is
| right and getting it. and opening their
! own purses for the good OF alma mater.
8. A broader and more effective scheme
Of administration.
The University has grown amazingly
since 1875 as these gentlemen can see.
In the last nine years the numbers have
increased one hundred and fifty per cent
, while its income has increased only
twenty-five per cent. Its standards have
been maintained and advanced. | have
! some pleasure in declaring that today
it is at it's high water mark in numbers,
equipment and income, but | have a
trucr and finer satisfaction in declaring
that this is due largely to those who
| went before me and to the labors
of those who have worked with me, to
the Observation-Disclosures, the faith and sa-
gacity of Kemp p. Battle, to the energy
and resourcefulness and power of Geo. f.
Winston. TO the loyalty and cooperation
Of the faculty and trustees through all
the years. This splendid achievement
has been made through grinding ecOnO-
nv cen SeIpSS toll. Vigilant. Qulck-eyed