Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1902-01-24
Tributes to Senator Dillingham;.
Huntington Free Press


The Christian Advocate of New York,
which is edited by Rev. James M. Buck
ley, one of the most brilliant men of the
Methodist Episcopal church, pays a
splendid tribute to United States Senator
w. p. Dillingham; In connection with the
latter's address at the Twentieth Century
movement meeting at Hanson Place
church in Brooklyn, on which occasion
the principal speaker was Bishop Gal
loway. The Advocate says:
"Senator Dillingham; Of Vermont gave
an address of remarkable quality and
value. He went back to the days of the
colonists and In mastery way showed
the value Of education to the common
people from that time until now, con-
trasting the course pursued by England,
where only the upper classes had the
privilege of the schools, with the plan
followed by the United States where the
schools were thrown open to all. He
claimed that the school system had en-
abled the nation to absorb and assimilate
the vast mutitudes who had come to the
United States during the past century,
and had it not been for this system the
nation would have gone down under
the fearful weight of an Ignorant foreign
population thronging its cities. He sur
prised many in the audience by saying
that the grant of public lands by the
government for the public schools cover
ed wider area than all of Great Britain
and Ireland, and that within these
schools about 1900, 900 children and
Young people were being educated.
Then in vivid and most suggestive sur
vey of the nations progress he presented
number of the most serious and press
ing problems of the immediate present,
outlining, at the same time, even greater
problems which of necessity must present
themselves at the bar of public consider
alton. These, Senator Dillingham; con-
tended, could only be met by men OF
trained minds, men, who had secured
from the schools and universities the
strongest equipment possible. There
was not a tinge of pessimism in any part
of the address. On the contrary, it was
bright, hopeful, encouraging. Neverthe
less, the senator presented thoughtfully
the perils incident upon the accumulation
of vast wealth in the hands of a
limited number, the crowding of people
from the towns and rural districts into
the great cities, the eagerness with
which young people leave schools to en-
ter upon business life, the sordid, mater.
ialistic standards of success which sc
many set up, and consequently the
greater need of such institutions as
Wesleyan University, with its training fol
life In its nobler forms, and the POSSIBLE
tiles of the highest usefulness which
were opened to its students. Most elo
quently he acknowledged the vast ser
vices rendered by the church to the
cause of education, and closed his impress
sive address by saying that the May
flower had not merely sailed across the
ocean, but was sailing across the cen
turtles, and that the voyage would moi
cease until her precious freight of lib
erty, conscience, freedom to worship
God, the brotherhood of men, the right
of each child to the best teaching the
state could afford, and all other blessings
consequent upon pure. free citizenship
had become universal possession.
"From every point of view this was
magnificent address, worthy both Of thu
speaker and the OCCASION"